R andy Rhodes, the pres id ent of Harvest Select, a food pro cessing com pany in Uniontown, Alabama, thought he was just hav ing a night mare. He simply could not believe it when he showed up at his plant one day only to fi nd that all of his 160 work ers were miss ing. He had 850,000 pounds of cat fi sh that had to be skinned, gut ted, and trimmed for sale, and it would not be a pretty sight (or smell) if he were unable to get that work done. This was not just a bad dream and this exper i ence was not lim ited to his com pany. In plants, fi elds, hotels, and res taur ants across the state of Alabama, chick ens went unpro cessed, toma toes unpicked, hotel beds unmade, and dishes unwashed as thou sands of work ers van ished, almost overnight.