Livelihoods Traded AwayTrade-Related Job Loss in Oregon as Described by Those Most Affected

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign’sOregon Stories Project

www.oregonfairtrade.org

“Livelihoods Traded Away”

Produced by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign

For more information, please contact:

Arthur Stamoulis, DirectorORFTC

310 SW 4th Ave #436Portland, OR 97204

(503) 736-9777 · orftc@citizenstrade.org

www.oregonfairtrade.org

Americans are often encouraged to believethat the global economy is primarily shaped bythe forces of nature.

If true that the economy is a natural phenome-non, like hurricane dynamics or quantum physics,then questions about why the economy behavesthe way it does are too complex for most peopleto spend time worrying about and are probablybest left to the experts—people with PhDs fromthe University of Chicago or MBAs from theWharton School. Likewise, there’s really no oneto hold accountable for the economy’s inevitable

ebbs and flows—that would be like trying to findsomeone to blame for gravity or a cloudy day.

Of course, the economy isn’t really governed bylaws of nature. It is very much shaped and mold-ed by rules and regulations written by humanbeings and voted into place by our elected offi-cials. You do not need an advanced degree tounderstand how certain economic policies areaffecting your own community, and there are peo-ple much lower down the Totem Pole than GodAlmighty who are responsible for putting thosepolicies into place.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign’s “OregonStories Project” has interviewed over 150 peoplein more than two dozen cities and towns acrossthe state to learn their perspectives on how oneimportant set of economic policies—free tradeagreements—have affected their families andcommunities.

Most of these individuals are men and womenwhose jobs were shipped abroad to, or displacedby increased imports from, countries with whichthe United States has a trade pact. Some arealso local elected officials, union leaders, unem-ployment office and food bank staff who have wit-nessed this phenomenon play out over the pastdecade-and-a-half. In addition, some are immi-grants, who were driven to Oregon only after los-

ing their livelihoods in Mexico in the aftermath ofthe North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA).

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (ORFTC)believes that the shared experiences of workingpeople across Oregon are a very legitimate wayof gauging how well our nation’s trade policies areor are not working. These experiences shouldserve as the basis of how our elected officialsview existing trade agreements and should guidehow they approach proposed changes and newagreements.

In this report, displaced Oregon workersdescribe in their own words how free trade agree-ments have impacted their livelihoods and theircommunities. These first-hand accounts are cou-pled with data from the federal government andelsewhere to present an even fuller picture of howtrade deals have affected this state. ORFTC thenuses this information to write a set of policy rec-ommendations.

This report would not have been possible with-out the hard work of Stories Project organizersKari Koch, Denice Martin and Rusa Fischer, andfunding from the McKenzie River GatheringFoundation, Ralph L. Smith Foundation, Fund fora Just Society and Solidago Foundation.

ORFTC also thanks our friends within theAssociation of Western Pulp and Paper Workers,CAUSA Oregon, International Association ofMachinists and IAM/Woodworkers, NorthwestTreeplanters and Farmworkers United (PCUN),Oregon AFL-CIO, Unete, United Brotherhood ofCarpenters and United Farm Workers for theirhelp lining up recent interviews.

“Oh, they [Freightliner] weren’t hurting as far as money. They made a lot of money

here. They did well. But they want the pot to be bigger. They get greedier. The

corporate hands want to make more money and so… They’ve taken advantage of

saving a buck on the backs of workers and the working class families.”

— Tony Mims, Portland

Introduction

Free trade pacts like NAFTA and those withinthe World Trade Organization (WTO) have costpeople their jobs in all corners of Oregon andacross a wide range of industries.

People making circuit boards in Dallas, Frenchfries in Hermiston, bike trailers in Eugene androck climbing gear in Bend have all been affect-ed. So have technical writers in Beaverton, callcenter representatives in Roseburg and comput-er programmers in Lake Oswego.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign estimatesthat 74,500 Oregonians have lost jobs as a resultof free trade policies since NAFTA went into effectin 1994.

Through its certification process for the TradeAdjustment Assistance (TAA) program, the U.S.Department of Labor tracks some plant closuresand layoffs that have resulted from shifts in man-ufacturing to or increased imports from countrieswith which the United States has a trade agree-ment. The TAA program allows certain workers toapply for federally subsidized job retraining bene-fits. Examining TAA records, ORFTC foundapproximately 35,000 Oregon jobs certified asbeing displaced as a result of U.S. trade policiesbetween 1994 and 2007.

This data source is by no means representativeof the full number of Oregonians who have lostjobs as a result of U.S. trade pacts. One majorreason is that the TAA program does not cover allcategories of employment. Both historically, andin the most recent year for which data is available,the Labor Department has denied more TAAapplications from Oregon than it has certified. Areason for many of these denials is that certaintypes of workers are automatically disqualified—even if their jobs are directly offshored to a coun-try with which the United States has a tradeagreement.

In addition, only those displaced workers forwhom petitions are filed are represented in theTAA data. If no petition is filed, no data is cap-tured—even if an individual would have qualifiedfor the program. Likewise, many companieschose to reduce their payrolls through attritionbefore finally resorting to layoffs. Those job loss-es are not accounted for in most TAA statistics.

As such, the estimate of 74,500 Oregonians dis-placed by trade is just that—an estimate. ORFTCis confident this figure is a solid, conservativeestimate, but would nonetheless welcome effortsby the federal government to more precisely tracktrade-related job losses.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (ORFTC) sa statewide coalition of labor, environmentaland human rights organizations fighting for fairtrade policies that:

· prioritize quality jobs in communities acrossthe state;

· create markets for Oregon products by rais-ing living standards in neighboring coun-tries;

· enforce consistent standards for labor andthe environment across borders; and

· allow local producers to compete on a levelplaying field.

Individuals can learn about ORFTC’s latestcampaigns, sign-up to receive our free, month-ly e-newsletter or make an online donation atwww.oregonfairtrade.org.

Organizations interested in learning moreabout joining ORFTC should call (503) 736-9777.

“I worked twenty-five years at Simplot and gave my life there. Any time they

needed me, I was there, because they were the ones that put food on my table.

After they shut down, I was left with nothing… Life without work and without

medical insurance is hard.”

— Antonia Morales, Hermiston

Trade-Related Job Loss in Oregon

Shattering Oregon Families’ Self-Security

Behind each up-tick in the number of Oregon jobslost as a result of U.S. trade policies is an individ-ual family’s story. It is no exaggeration to say thattrade-related job loss is shattering many Oregonfamilies’ sense of economic security. Manydescribe the feeling of rejection that comes whenlaid off—even when a downsizing or plant closureis no fault of one’s one. Often, this initial psycho-logical blow becomes overshadowed by difficultdecisions regarding how to make ends meet on areduce income.

Joan Miller lost her job during one ofFreightliner’s many downsizings as it shifted itsPortland-based truck manufacturing to Mexico.She describes the pressure she felt:

“You kind of hit bottom line and you’re going,‘Man, nobody wants me.’ You know? Therejection you feel is depressing. Then you’redepressed because you don’t have theincome. It’s just like, depression from every-where.”

Debbie Risehman, who was also laid off fromPortland’s Freightliner Truck Plant, describes asimilar feeling:

“When they posted the layoffs, it was kind ofoverwhelming and now that it’s happened ithas made a schismatic change in how we’regoing to live and how we’re going to try tomake it, because I’m a single parent, andactually, Freightliner has enabled me to havea better life. And basically, they just took itaway.”

William Kemp, who worked at the Dell CallCenter in Roseburg, says:

“I lost my medical insurance. I had to use my401k to live on. They did offer severance,which we were grateful for. But being 41, Ihad to redirect my whole entire life again.Going back to school. Taking care of my kids.Being on unemployment. All of that stufftakes a toll on the family. I think all of us, inthe first month, were in depression.”

Larry Durfee worked at Roseburg ForestProducts for 22 years, before losing his job whenthe mill shut down due to increased imports underNAFTA. Approximately 300 of his co-workersalso lost their jobs. Larry went back-to-school

and eventually found new work, but it pays signif-icantly less than his job at the mill did:

“All I can do is go to work every day and hopethat the job will be there next week. I don’tknow… I’ve worked all my life and will havenothing to show for it. You have no security,no benefits. You’re just working from day today and existing. And hoping that somethingawful doesn’t happen… The security isentirely gone.”

A Widespread, On-Going Problem

Trade-related job loss is a problem that hasaffected communities throughout the state. In just2006 and 2007, the two most recent years forwhich data is available, the U.S. Department ofLabor certified 53 Oregon worksites as havinglost jobs as a result of trade pacts. Layoffsoccurred in Benton, Clackamas, Coos,Deschutes, Douglas, Grant, Harney, Jackson,Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn,Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Wallowa andWashington Counties—a full half the counties inOregon, representing urban, suburban and ruralareas across the state. In past years, most othercounties have been also affected.

Layoffs resulting from U.S. trade agreementshave not only covered a wide geographic area,but a wide array of industries, including agricul-ture, forest products, heavy manufacturing, high-tech and even services.

The experience from one part of the state toanother, and one economic sector to another, isoften very similar. Free trade agreements areforcing local businesses to compete with compa-nies abroad that often take advantage of sweat-shop working conditions, lax environmentalenforcement and sometimes even direct or indi-rect government subsidies. It is a losing proposi-tion that is costing tens of thousands ofOregonians their jobs.

Mark Wettstein, a sugar beat grower fromOntario, describes how this dynamic plays out forOregon farmers:

“In sugar, we can raise sugar beats as cheapas anywhere in the world, but the problem isthat you’re not working with a level playingfield. When you’ve got some 8 or 9-year oldkid who can got out and harvest that crop witha machete all day long and get paid $2 a day,it’s pretty hard to compete against that kind of

wages. They don’t have the medical. Theydon’t have to worry about insurance. Theydon’t have the minimum wage.”

The same phenomenon hurting Oregon’s agri-cultural community is hurting it’s high-tech work-ers. Jim Scheet, who worked at Tyco Electronicsin Dallas conducting quality control for circuitboard manufacturing, describes how trade led tohis plant shutting down:

“Wages in [other] countries are so muchlower than they are here, and they pay peo-ple like, what, a dollar an hour or whatever, tomake the same thing that I was making for$12.50. They’re still selling it for the sameprice as when I was making it, but becausetheir wages are so much lower, their profitmargin is higher.”

Competition with poorly paid workforces abroadhas affected a wide-range of manufacturingfields. Mark Weiss was a 19-year veteran ofRoyal Oak Enterprises, a charcoal briquette plantin White City that shut down in late 2005 as aresult of increased foreign competition:

“China was infiltrating the market with lesscostly briquettes, due to them paying penniesfor the man-hours and lesser restrictions onwhat they put into their products.”

Increasingly, service sector workers are alsofacing the same issues. William Kemp worked atthe Dell Call Center in Roseburg for two-and-a-half years and was one of the top sales represen-tatives during his time there. When the call cen-ter closed in 2008, the company said the jobswere “reabsorbed” into their other facilities world-wide. Kemp explains one school of thought onwhat happened:

“They outsourced us for other countries andstuff like that. Downsizing. Outsourcing orwhatever. There’s always been sales jobs inIndia and places like that for Dell… They hadpeople from Dell in Roseburg going over to ElSalvador to train workers there. It was a cou-ple months before we closed.”

The sweatshop wages paid overseas is perhapsthe single biggest reason why Oregon is losingjobs under “free trade,” but the lax environmentalenforcement often found abroad is another factor.Greg Pallesen, currently vice president of theAssociation of Western Pulp and Paper Workers,

explains how this affected the mill where heworked in southern Washington:

“The machines I worked on were closed.Weyerhaeuser had invested about $20 mil-lion on rebuilding the paper machines—theywere huge machines, very expensive. Theyclosed them stating the reason they closedwas that they could not compete on the worldmarket…

“The machines were sold to China. Theywere completely dismantled. Every nut, bolt,every piece of conduit and wire. Hard tobelieve. Over 300 containers shipped toChina. And as we speak today, thosemachines are still operating, competing on aworld market. Now I only know of two rea-sons why: cheap labor and no environmentalstandards.

“On the machines that were sent there, guesswhat the one part was that they didn’t buy?The effluent treatment… So there’s morethan just a job loss impact. We have that.But the impact on the environment is just ascatastrophic.”

Marty Demaris of the IAM/Woodworkers in

Klamath Falls speaks at an ORFTC press

event in Medford about trade-related job loss

in Oregon’s forest products sector.

Bill Kluting, now of the Carpenters IndustrialCouncil, mentions the third major factor undercut-ting Oregon businesses on the global market-place—government subsidies—in describing howhe came to lose his union-wage job:

“My plant in Dallas, a plywood plant, closed inthe year 2000. 180 people. Imports fromCanada. They can make plywood cheaperthan we could. Canada subsidizes their tim-ber companies up there.”

The nation’s so-called “free trade” agreementsare pitting Oregonians in a race to the bottomagainst workforces that are denied basic free-doms of speech and assembly; that suffer frominadequate environmental protections andenforcement; and that are, at times, propped upwith direct and indirect government subsidies.

Earl Aylett is farmer from Umatilla County. Hegrew potatoes for the Simplot plant in Hermiston,which made frozen French fries for fast foodrestaurants around the country, until its opera-tions moved abroad under NAFTA in 2004.According to Aylett, the negative effects of freetrade agreements were immediately clear tomany Oregon vegetable growers, but have onlysince become evident to people working in othersectors of the rural economy:

“It all started out simply as agricultural freetrade. Now everybody’s becoming awareafter the fact…[because] it’s hitting the otherpart of the economy. It’s starting to hit that kidthat needs that job, needs to be that operatorthat gives you directory assistance.”

As the same trends that have hit Oregon’s agri-cultural and manufacturing sectors begin to affectthe state’s white-collar, salaried professions,awareness of free trade agreements’ true impactson the state’s economy may become even harderto ignore.

The Ripple Effect

Whenever a large employer closes its doors,there is a ripple effect throughout the wider com-munity. Companies that counted upon the largeremployer as a client lose business, as do restau-rants, retailers and service providers whose cus-

tomers included many of the laid-off employees.

Howard Jenkins, a former janitor at Freightlinerin Portland, explains:

“It’s a really sad situation for everybody. Notonly just people that work at Freightliner, butpeople that work all over that deal with partsthat Freightliner uses. They are affected byit.”

Bill Johnson, of Salem, who handled procure-ment for the digital projection company InFocusbefore it moved its production to Asia, has alsoseen this effect in action:

“I worked with a lot of the local manufacturingcompanies. One in Hillsboro, specificallyArrow Electronics, manufactured all ourreplacement lamps for the projectors. It wasa huge account. When I got laid off, thataccount went away. I was the glue holdingthat relationship together. They had set upthree separate production lines just to manu-facture our lamps, and two project managersto head that. When I went away, the majorityof their labor force had to get let go. Again,the domino effect.”

Roy Jay, president of Portland’s AfricanAmerican Chamber of Commerce, describes aneven broader domino effect reaching “corner mar-kets, barbershops, lunch counters and flowershops” as a result of Freightliner’s offshoring:

“This is all about economics for [Freightliner],but this impacts an entire community.”

Brandon Maupin, of Merlin, who worked atTimber Products in Grants Pass before it closeddue to competition from imports, has also seenthe far-reaching consequences of trade-relatedlayoffs:

“Since we’re not making anything, and somany people have lost jobs, this is alsoaffecting the rest of the economy in this area.The father of a good friend of mine, he worksat an auto dealership. He’s worked there forabout 25 to 30 years, and this dealership hashad to cut back on all of its departments andcut it down to bare bones since no one isspending any money. He is actually lookingat losing his job after working 25, 30 yearsthere. It’s kind of affecting all of the economyin this area.”

If Imports Cost You Your Job… Apply for TradeAdjustment Assistance,” recommends a factsheet published by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Some workers whose jobs are lost a result ofU.S. trade pacts can qualify for job training bene-fits under the department’s Trade AdjustmentAssistance (TAA) program. For certain cate-gories of displaced workers, the program willcover up to two years of training for a new careerin certain pre-approved tracks, as well as extend-ed unemployment benefits for part of that timeperiod. The program may also even provide jobsearch and relocation allowances.

While many displaced workers are cynicalabout the TAA program, most seem to agree thatit is better than no program at all. Clearly, individ-uals can benefit from the opportunity to take newcourses or have a portion of their moving expens-es reimbursed.

Criticisms frequently leveled against the pro-gram are that it is not affordable enough for manydisplaced workers; that its offerings are limited;that it does nothing to protect against age discrim-ination in employment; and, most importantly, thatjob retraining cannot help if there are not enoughgood-quality jobs to train for.

Many Find TAA Benefits Limited

Cheryl Rouse has worked at Freightliner’sPortland Truck Plant for more than fifteen years.She and her husband are still employed there, buton a reduced schedule since most of the plant’sproduction moved to Mexico:

“My daughter says, and people say, ‘Well,you can go to college and become some-thing,’ but if Frank and I didn’t have the jobthen we couldn’t afford to send our daughterto college.”

The TAA program does not allow displacedworkers the opportunity to get a four-year collegedegree. It provides two years of “approved” train-ing that typically covers a basic certificate pro-gram, remedial education or English as a secondlanguage.

During that time, people have to find a way tosurvive on reduced-income unemployment bene-fits. Displaced workers with mortgage payments,childcare expenses and healthcare concernsoften consider this an unrealistic option.

Derek Roane, who was laid off from Freightliner,describes it this way:

“They pay for schooling and what-not, but alot of people can’t afford to go to school.They depend on that employment to pay theirbills, to support their family… They can’t takeadvantage of it.”

Mike Fassler, who worked at Roseburg ForestProducts for eight years and currently works asan independent contractor doing kitchen andbathroom remodeling, says:

“We were given the opportunity to go throughthe unemployment office for [retraining bene-fits]. I thought it was limited on what you wereallowed to retrain in, from what I’d like to haveseen done. I don’t know that it was managedall that well. It was a lot of money thrown outthere to people with limited options. So it wasa ‘either do this or don’t get any benefits’ typeof thing.”

Bill Kluting, who has worked to help over 2,000people access the TAA program, says that suc-cessful navigation of available retraining benefitscan require real pushing and negotiation with pro-gram officials and educators. Even then, certaininsurmountable problems built into the programcan force people into less-than-ideal tracks:

“[Free trade agreements] are beneficial to businesses, not beneficial to American

workers. The bottom line is that when they passed those trade pacts, they shipped

our jobs overseas. They shipped our jobs overseas and then their Band-Aid was to

try and retrain people.”

— John Hilkey, Central Point

The Shortcomings of Retraining

“Most of your two-year courses start in thefall. If you’re not approved for [TAA] benefitsby then, you either have to sit out—andremember, your unemployment benefits onlylast 24 months. Once you’re approved, theclock starts ticking. So people take othercourses.”

Age Discrimination a Significant Barrier

Losing on-the-job seniority can cost you vacationtime, retirement benefits, a good shift and more.Folks who worked at the same place for decadesbefore their job was offshored face many chal-lenges in finding a new career, not the least ofwhich is age discrimination.

Blill Kluting puts it this way:

“It’s against the law to discriminate againstage, but let me tell you. They may not askyou what year you were born, but they’ll ask,‘What year did you graduate from highschool?’”

John Breedlove, who worked at RoseburgForest Products for 31 years before, explains thedifficulty he had finding a new job after training fora new career:

“I graduated… with an Associate of AppliedScience degree in business marketing and aCertificate of Proficiency in retailing… After Igraduated I had more difficulty than expectedfinding long-term employment… I have notbeen able to locate a permanent long-termjob here… I am 58 years old and part of myproblem might be my age.”

Larry Durfee, who worked at Roseburg ForestProducts for 22 years, faced a similar situation:

“I tried to get a number of jobs and I felt it wasage discrimination, even though I can’t proveit. At 60 years old, I would be the first one tobe notified that I wasn’t needed in that partic-ular position, and there were 8 or 10 jobs Iapplied for throughout the month. I finally gotthis one that pays $8 an hour, and I wasgrateful to get in.”

Antonia Morales, who went through the TAAprogram and has spent years looking for workafter losing her 25-year position at Simplot, hasno question in her mind why she’s faced difficultyfinding new employment:

“Right now I do not have a job and am notable to find good work because I am olderand most companies only want young peo-ple.”

Accepting Less Pay Is the Norm

Greg Pallesen, a former displaced worker andcurrent officer in the Association of Western Pulpand Paper Workers, describes the major short-coming of the TAA program this way:

“Politicians who vote in favor of free tradeagreements often act as if retraining alone isthe answer. It isn’t. Job retraining programscan be beneficial for individual displacedworkers, but on the whole, these programsare inadequate if the jobs being shippedoverseas aren’t replaced with long-term, newjobs that provide equal pay and benefits.”

Unfortunately, many Oregon communities thathave been hit the hardest by trade-related plantclosures and layoffs simply are not seeing thefamily-wage jobs shipped abroad be replaced.This reality has forced many Oregonians who lostdecent-paying jobs as a result of U.S. trade poli-

Ron Rodgers of the United Steelworkers

speaks at an ORFTC rally in West Linn

opposing the Colombia Free Trade

Agreement.

cies to accept much lower-paying jobs to replacethem.

Debbie Risehman, a single mother who lost herjob at Freightliner in Portland, found new work rel-atively quickly, but it pays less:

“I haven’t been able to sleep a full night. I gotsleep before we got laid off, and I’m haveproblems sleeping… [because] now I’m work-ing at—earning—about a third less of what Iwas being paid, which is a lot considering Iwas accustomed to living one way. We’regoing to make it. I just don’t know how.”

Jim Scheet, who worked at Tyco in Dallas, saysof his former coworkers:

“I’ll never forget the day of the closureannouncement the looks on the faces ofsome of these people. Absolute terror… Isaw people crying uncontrollably. They hadno idea what the hell was going to happen tothem. I saw a lot of my friends, 35, 50-yearsold—it still creeps me out. That’s what thisthing has done to them. Most people get tomy age and they think they’re going to beokay… I don’t know of many people who

have jobs, and of those that are working, onlya handful are making as much money as theywere.”

Pallesen describes a GovernmentAccountability Office study of the effects of TradeAdjustment Assistance benefits for displacedworkers at the Weyerhaeuser plant where heworked, one of only five worksites studied nation-wide:

“The end result, to make a long story short, isthat… The people that were the most suc-cessful ended up at 80% of the pay and wagebenefits as what they previously had. Weknow no one else who has done better.Absolutely no one.”

Former Salem mayor Mike Swaim speaks at

the Mid-Willamette Valley Assembly on Free

Trade and Job Loss. Jim Gourley and Bill

Kluting are also pictured.

The 2008 Financial Crisis

The failure of AIG and other financial institu-tions in late 2008 has further shattered theWashington consensus that free markets arethe solution to the world's economic problems.

For decades, economic "experts" from gov-ernment and business have argued that regula-tion is bad and that trade should take placewithout any significant public oversight or con-trol. This overall framework for organizing theeconomy has failed time and again to solve thecountry's most-pressing problems regardingtrade deficits, job creation, education, healthcare, global warming and, now, finance.

The latest financial meltdown provides addi-tional evidence that economies require demo-cratic oversight and public regulation.

No amount of education and training can keepfamilies afloat in communities that have fewgood-paying jobs to offer. In many communitiesimpacted by trade-related job loss, the jobs beingoffshored simply are not being replaced with any-thing new. This is especially true in rural commu-nities that do not have as diverse an employmentbase as other areas.

Larry Durfee, who was employed in the forestproducts sector, describes the impact that trade-related job loss has had in Roseburg:

“There’s no good solid round to stand on.The community is falling down more andmore with the wood industry—and that’s whatwe pivot around, the wood industry itself, andit’s falling apart. There are a lot of jobs outhere at minimum wage. Most people can’tafford those jobs. They’ll lose everything.You just drive through the area and look atthe ‘FOR SALE’ signs. It’s terrible.”

Sean Beeman, who moved from California toRoseburg to work for Dell, says the call center’smove under the Central America Free TradeAgreement (CAFTA) has hurt the communityeven more:

“This was an old lumber community, but thathas gone downhill over the past years. [TheDell Call Center] was a big positive for thisarea… A lot of people moved here because ofit, and the community is dying because Dellleft…

“Businesses in town are no longer acceptingapplications because the market is so flood-ed… I was looking to move out of here andrent out this place [his home], but it’s damnednear impossible because nobody has money.Nobody has a job. Everybody is looking to

get out of this town, not into it… There’s nojobs here.”

Jim Scheet, who worked in the high-tech sectorin Dallas, moved out-of-state after losing his job incircuit board quality control:

“[Staying in the area] was never a questionbecause it was just a given that the job mar-ket was dead. In the first half of ’07 roughly1,500 jobs were lost in the Salem-Dallas areadue to either mass layoffs or to closures, andin my opinion, retraining would have just leftme waiting a year or two and then competingfor the same lack of jobs with the same peo-ple. It would have just delayed the inevitable.My only option was to move so that I couldsupport my family.”

JoAnn Harris, who lost her job at the Simplotpotato processing plant in Hermiston, worriesabout a similar trend playing out in easternOregon:

“Umatilla County, Morrow County. They’reboth just so dependent on food processingfor tons of their money… The problem we’reseeing is that if Simplot can pick up andleave, then any of them can pick up andleave. Unfortunately, with the laws that are inplace right now, it’s pretty easy for them tomove overseas…. What would happen if allthese big processing plants left? We’ll be aghost town.”

Downward Pressure on Wages for

Everyone

When a community is suddenly faced with largenumbers of people out of work and looking foremployment, it can create intense competition forthe jobs that remain. Debbie Risehman, laid offfrom Freightliner, gives voice to the stress and

“Either fix [NAFTA] or get rid of it, because it’s killing the communities.”

— Jim Scheet, Dallas

Community Impacts

desperation that can rise when one is strugglingto figure out ways to make ends meet after a lay-off:

“We went to the [TAA] orientation, and thatalone… They said, ‘Yeah, we know it’s over-whelming. It will be okay.’ … I’m still not overit. It’s, it’s a lot to do. They’re asking a lot ofyou. And when it was just so simple to just letme keep my job. Let me keep my job. I’llwork really hard.”

Hundreds of people in need of work and “willingto work really hard”—especially in those commu-nities where, as Sean Beeman describes, “busi-nesses in town are no longer accepting applica-tions because the market is so flooded”—can cre-ate a downward pressure on wages and benefitsin those jobs that do remain.

Jim Scheet describes the mentality of manage-ment when he worked making circuit boards inDallas:

“‘Shut up and get to work, you can bereplaced.’ That was something Tyco’s CEOemphasized. You can be replaced…

“Somebody said that the place would close ifanyone tried to form a union… What wouldhave happened after that, nobody knows,because nobody called their bluff. I certainlycan’t afford to be out of work. I’ve got a wifeand a teenage daughter to support.”

The economic data backs up what people’sexperiences predict. Worker productivity hasincreased in Oregon in recent years, yet the bot-tom 80 percent of Oregonians’ incomes did notkeep pace with inflation between early 2003 and2007 according to a May 1, 2008 revision of theOregon Center for Public Policy’s study “AnEconomy for the Few.” Working harder for lesscompensation is a common experience through-out Oregon.

When Communities Compete, Taxpayers

Lose

JoAnn Harris points out that plant closures notonly effect employment, but can also hurt a com-munity’s tax base:

“If these processors, the companies and allthe other big manufacturing move out… wewon’t get all the taxes that they pay.”

Some Oregon communities have alreadymoved past the idea of collecting taxes from largeemployers, just so long as there is someone leftto employ people. Anna Braun, a former citycouncil member from Salem, describes how thishas played out:

“What we wanted was family-wage jobs, butwhat we didn’t do was get any guaranteesthat they would stay. Often we would find thata corporation would come in, and we wouldgive them tax subsidies and taxpayer dollars,and they would turn around and leave afterthey got the benefit. The community as awhole, in a long term kind of way, would notget the benefit that we were hoping for.”

Former Mayor Mike Swaim describes the phe-nomenon in greater detail surrounding the City ofSalem’s attempts to attract high-tech companySumco to the city:

“[Sumco] was given significant tax benefits tocome to the City of Salem and expand. Weput them in what was called an ‘enterprisezone.’ How does this affect taxpayers here?

Trade and the Environment

By facilitating a shift in Oregon-based manu-facturing and resource extraction to countrieswith weak environmental standards, free tradeagreements are massively increasing pollutionlevels and ecological degradation worldwide.Free trade deals also undercut efforts at localsustainability by flooding Oregon markets withartificially-cheap products produced in areasthroughout the world with weak environmental,product safety and worker rights standards—apractice that establishes an unfair competitiveadvantage that makes it harder for local busi-nesses doing the right thing to survive.

Different people have different views on thedegree to which Oregon’s environmental pro-tections create an incentive for local companiesto offshore jobs—just as people have differentviews on the role that Oregon’s minimum wageplays in this practice. Where labor and envi-ronmental advocates strongly agree is that iftrade policies were enacted requiring imports toeither meet local standards or else pay tariffs,the incentive to offshore would be eliminated.

Like many developing countries, Mexico’seconomy is heavily dependent upon agriculture.NAFTA required that Mexico end the majority ofits subsidies and credit programs for small farm-ers. NAFTA also required Mexico to eliminatetariffs on agricultural imports from the UnitedStates. This resulted in a flood of cheap staplefoods into Mexican markets. Corn imports aloneincreased by more than 500%.

Imports from the United States are cheaperthan food grown in Mexico because U.S. staplecrops like corn receive billions of dollars in U.S.taxpayer subsidies, allowing large agribusinessexporters to sell them on the international mar-ket for less than what it actually costs farmers togrow them.

The flood of imported food from the UnitedStates has forced well over a million Mexicanfarmers out-of-business. According to theEconomic Policy Institute, by the end of 2004,there were 6.8 million unemployed agriculturalworkers in Mexico. The poverty rate in ruralareas has climbed to over 80 percent.

This has led to an exodus from Mexico’s agri-cultural communities to Mexican cities and bor-der towns—and, ultimately, to the United States.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the num-ber of Mexican-born people living in the UnitedStates increased by more than 80 percentbetween 1990 and 2000. Hundreds of thou-sands of Mexicans continue to migrate to theU.S. each year, with more than two-thirds com-ing from corn-producing regions.

“Frank” from Woodburn describes the impactthat NAFTA has had on his grandparents’ farm inCentral Mexico:

“My grandparents still work in the fields, liv-ing the farm worker life… [Their community]was always a really, really poor place, butthere was always enough food to give toother people. Now it is difficult for them toeven provide for themselves. Every single

year becomes more difficult. People have tomove to the cities to survive. My grandpar-ents are very old now, and there are noyoung people even left in the community tohelp them in the fields, because everyonehas left.”

“George,” who currently lives in the Salemarea, describes how increased corn importsaffected his tortilla-making business inMichoacán, first by lowering his expenses, butthen by reducing his customer base:

“I was buying the corn that was cheapest,not even knowing where it was from,because that is what we had to do for thebusiness… I wanted to use the corn thatwas grown in the community, but it wouldn’twork. It would maybe be enough to pay theupkeep of machinery, but I wouldn’t be ableto earn a living in competition with other tor-tilla-makers…

“I put another tortilla-making machine in thefactory. I did not really understand why thebusiness was struggling… People told me,‘This idea that you will stay here and work inyour factory is a good one, but there aresome problems. First of all, there’s no peo-ple left. They’re all going to the UnitedStates, and they’re not coming back.They’re leaving their land untended.’ At thetime, I didn’t understand why so many peo-ple were leaving our community, abandon-ing their land, and moving to the UnitedStates…

“I eventually understood that it wasn’t evergoing to work, and I sold my business’assets. I’ve seen this phenomenon happento others, too… Without a doubt, these freetrade agreements have affected us… Themore and more time I’ve spent in the United

“I lived in a small town in Oaxaca with 60 homes, 60 families. Before NAFTA, we

were able to support ourselves. Now it is basically abandoned and is sort of like

a ghost town. There aren’t any young people or kids there. It’s only old people.”

— “Carlos,” Woodburn

Free Trade and Forced Migration

When we put a business into an enterprisezone that relieves them from the responsibili-ty of contributing taxes by way of real proper-ty taxes and personal property taxes to ourgeneral fund. They’re in our canoe, but theydon’t have to paddle.

“With little start-up businesses, maybe someof that makes sense, but we’re talking about… a wholly-owned subsidiary of one of thewealthiest corporations in the history of theworld. They came here begging for—demanding might be a better way to describeit—these tax incentives or they would gosomewhere else. So they’re constantly jug-gling the opportunities that they would havefor a handout from the public.

“I said that they don’t give any commitmentthat they’ll stay, and they don’t, and they did-n’t, and they’re no longer here. It’s an expen-sive proposition investing in an illusion thathas a disastrous impact when they leave, andleave a lot of their workers behind who thensurcharge the unemployment statistic as wellas your social services.”

At one point, Sumco employed 660 people inSalem. It no longer employs any. According toSwaim, inadequate attention is given to job qual-ity and job longevity when playing the “tax break”game:

“Too often we hear the ‘rah, rah’ of ‘jobs, jobs,jobs’ without a question of what type of jobsand at what wages and what benefits. So wehear of a call center going in, 600 jobs, andpeople are jumping up and down and about

to hold a parade on Main Street about thatannouncement, and then you find out theyare minimum wage jobs.”

States, the less and less I see a possibility ofreturning to my community.”

The ripple effects of NAFTA have impactedmore than just Mexican agricultural workers.“Cecilia,” who also lives in the Mid-WillametteValley, was affected by NAFTA in another way:

“I lived in Mexico City, and I always thoughtthat free trade agreements wouldn’t affectme because we lived in the capitol. It was areally big surprise to me when the clothingfactory where I was working closed, and Ilost my job. One of the reasons they told usthat it closed was that it would be more con-venient for them under the new free trade

agreement to be closer to the border, sothey were moving there.”

According to Dagoberto Morales, who foundedand directs Unete, an immigrant and farm work-er rights organization based in Medford:

“Many of the immigrants living and workingin southern Oregon risked their lives cross-ing the border only after losing their liveli-hoods in Mexico due to the unfair tradepractices imposed by NAFTA. Trade dealslike NAFTA are extremely harmful for work-ing people on both sides of the border, andwe need to show unity in opposing them.”

Dagoberto Morales of Unete speaks about

the connections between trade and immigra-

tion at an ORFTC forum in southern Oregon.

In the early 1990s, President Bill Clinton citedNAFTA and other free trade policies as the cor-nerstones of “our country’s first national exportstrategy,” and promised they would be particular-ly good for workers in high-tech industries. Hesaid that some workers would be hurt under then-pending trade agreements, but that these work-ers would be retrained for better jobs.

The strategy of acknowledging some jobs lostdue to trade, while promising better jobs tomor-row, continues to this day, with presidential candi-dates like Senator John McCain saying in 2008, “Iunderstand free trade is not a positive for every-one. If a worker loses a job we must retrain themand prepare them for 21st Century jobs.”

The notion that what could presumably becalled “20th Century jobs” in heavy manufactur-ing, textiles, forest products and agriculture are insome way expendable is highly offensive. Just asoffensive is the idea that low-paid workers over-seas are somehow unable to compete in the so-called “21st Century” fields of computers, biotech-nology, finance and more.

Mitch Besser, a high-tech worker from LakeOswego with a Masters in Software Design andDevelopment and more than 20 years of experi-ence in the sector, says:

“High tech is often presented as a field wheredisplaced workers can find a six-figure salarywith minimal training. If you work in high-techindustries it is extremely likely you will bethreatened with having your job sent over-seas. Companies across the board are look-ing globally for the cheapest sources of laborthey can find.”

Ben Joy of Portland worked for approximately10 years at InFocus, a Wilsonville company thatproduced top-of-the-line digital projectors. In2004, just months after being praised by

President George W. Bush during a visit toOregon, the company moved its manufacturingoperations to Malaysia. At first, Joy, did notbelieve his white-collar job would be impacted:

“My job was not directly eliminated becauseof the manufacturing outsourcing, because Iworked with the development teams. Lateron, a decision was made to outsource theengineering, research and development…You put so much into your job, doing anythingnecessary to make it succeed. Overseascompanies won’t ever value me as a workerin that way—and we don’t value overseasworkers in that way.”

Bill Johnson, who worked in the InFocus pur-chasing department, lining up contracts with local

“Working in the high-tech industry is not the promised land for displaced workers.”

— Mitch Besser, Lake Oswego

The Future of Offshoring

Jobs Vulnerable to Offshoring

A 2007 study by Princeton economist AlanBlinder ranked occupations by their vulnerabili-ty to offshoring. Its list included:

1. Computer Programmers

5. Actuaries

9. Film and Video Editors

21. Computer Systems Analysts

30. Architectual and Civil Drafters

39. Multimedia Artists

40. Graphic Designers

47. Biochemists and Biophysicists

52. Atmospheric and Space Scientists

59. Financial Analysts

60. Financial Managers

74. Software Engineers

76. Fashion Designers

78. Accountants and Auditors

84. Biomedical Engineers

vendors, describes how his job was movedabroad:

“You started to see, not just the laborers’ jobsgo overseas, but the supervisors’ jobs—thejobs that supported manufacturing and pro-duction… They gave me almost three weeksworth of notice, but in that two to three weeksthey said, ‘Ok, we’re moving the entire pur-chasing department to Singapore, and we’regoing to have two people from Singaporecome over here and you’re going to trainthem how to do your job.’ So they basicallyhired two people in Singapore for what theywere paying me, which I guess they felt wouldbe more efficient.”

According to Besser, things could be worse:

“My friend was sent overseas to train hisreplacement, and upon returning found outhe was not even eligible to receive TAAbecause he ‘did not produce a tangiblegood.’”

Diane Newell, a technical writer living inBeaverton, foresees things getting worse:

“It started with contract manufacturing:‘Here’s our product, you make it.’ But now wedo what’s called co-development. So theirengineering team over in Asia and our engi-neering team work together to develop theproduct, and then they produce it, which ourengineers don’t like because… we’re basical-ly teaching other people how to do our jobs.”

In 2007, Princeton economist Alan Blinder, whohad served as Vice-chairman of the FederalReserve under the Clinton administration, pub-lished a study that ranked hundreds of differentU.S. occupations according to which are mostvulnerable to offshoring. Many of the job cate-gories most vulnerable to being shipped overseasare relatively high-paying, white-collar “21stCentury” positions, such as computer program-mers, insurance underwriters, graphic designers,network systems and data communications ana-lysts, architectural and civil drafters, microbiolo-gists, film and video editors, chemical engineers,accountants and auditors, fashion designersand—irony of ironies—economists.

When the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) con-ducted an analysis of Oregon jobs using Blinder’smethodologies and assumptions, it found

279,000 existing Oregon jobs vulnerable to off-shoring—a full 18.3% of the state’s workforce.According to EPI’s findings, the percentage ofjobs vulnerable to offshoring in Oregon is slightlyhigher than the national average.

Oregon politicians banking on high-tech jobsreplacing those that have been lost in other sec-tors should heed the warning Intel ChairmanCraig Barrett voiced to a USA Today reporter sev-eral years ago. In describing the opportunity tosave his company money by moving jobs fromthe United States to tech-savvy communities inIndia and China, Barrett said, “From an Intel per-spective, I’m as happy as a clam… As a U.S. cit-izen looking at the future for my grandchildren,I’m more pessimistic.”

The Increasing Difficulty of

Estimating Job Losses

As more-and-more jobs in service-orientedsectors of the economy are lost to internationalcompetition, estimating the number of Oregonjobs eliminated as a result of U.S. trade policywill become increasingly difficult.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign relies ondata from petitions to the U.S. Department ofLabor requesting Trade Adjustment Assistance(TAA) when estimating the number of jobs lostdue to trade pacts.

This data pool was never intended to providean accurate count of the number of jobs lostdue to trade. For starters, only those workersfor whom petitions are filed are counted in theTAA tally. More importantly, because the TAAprogram typically applies only to workersinvolved in some way in the production of phys-ical goods, large segments of the workforce areautomatically excluded from the program, andas a result, from its data sets.

As service sector jobs—in science, technolo-gy, financial, customer service, entertainment,government and other fields—continue tomove overseas in higher numbers, TAA datawill become an increasingly inadequate tool indeveloping an estimate of total trade-relatedjob losses in any given state.

The federal government should specificallytrack the numbers of jobs lost and created as aresult of U.S. trade policies across all sectors ofthe economy.

It doesn’t take any special training to recognizethat existing trade agreements are not working forthe majority of Oregonians. Job loss, wage stag-nation and undocumented immigration are just afew of the easy-to-read signs in our own commu-nities that the government’s current trade policiesare fundamentally flawed.

The more than 150 interviews the Oregon FairTrade Campaign has conducted with affectedindividuals across the state suggest some veryobvious solutions.

Stop Replicating the Failed Trade Models

of the Past

There were plenty of people arguing before

NAFTA was passed that eliminating tariffsbetween the United States and developing coun-tries would shift good-paying American jobsacross borders to wherever labor is the cheapestand regulations are the weakest. These peopleshould have been listened to then.

Fifteen years later, there are tens of thousandsof Oregonians who can tell you from first-handexperience that the “NAFTA model” of trade iscompletely busted. But even with all these storiesto point to, there are still politicians right here inOregon who continue to vote for new NAFTA-style trade agreements and who refuse toacknowledge that a different model of trade ispossible.

Sterling Allen, a ten-year veteran of RoseburgForest Products who lost his job due to increasedimports, says it well when he argues:

“[Corporations] go where the labor is cheap-er. So basically that’s what is costing every-one their jobs. If they kept it more local to thecountry, we’d be a lot better off.”

The first step towards “keeping it more local” isto stop passing new trade agreements that pitAmerican workers against poorly-paid workers

overseas, costing Oregon and the nation evenmore jobs.

At a minimum, this means refusing to approveany trade pact that fails to include, in its core text,strong and enforceable labor and environmentalmeasures that put the International LaborOrganization’s core conventions and existingMultilateral Environmental Agreements on equalor stronger footing with trade provisions that pro-tect against things like copyright infringement. Italso means opposing investment, procurement,agricultural and food safety provisions that facili-tate the offshoring of Oregon jobs.

It wouldn’t hurt to go a step further and actuallyspell out some goals for future trade deals.Commonsense goals that go beyond existingtrade pacts’ de facto goal of simply expanding thevolume of international trade include straightfor-ward ideas like creating new jobs and increasingwage levels in both the United States and othernations.

Study and Address the Problems in

Existing Trade Pacts

Mike Swaim, the former mayor of Salem,believes:

“Workers are essentially being sacrificed tothe name of profits in these multinationaltreaties. I am not in favor of them at all. I feelthey need to be renegotiated.”

Taking the time to fix what’s broken with thenation’s existing trade pacts should not be a novelidea. Yet fifteen years since NAFTA was firstimplemented, the federal government has yet toconduct a comprehensive review of its impacts onour economy—or the economies of our tradingpartners.

A comprehensive review of existing tradeagreements should examine not only their impacton the volume of trade or countries’ Gross

“Big business cares about the bottom dollar, not the human being. So we need

politicians out there looking out for constituents. Somebody has to.”

— Sean Beeman, Roseburg

Recommendations

Domestic Products, but also their impact on regu-lar working people. How have the pacts affectedjob loss and job creation in the United States andabroad? How have they affected income levelsacross different sectors and occupations? Howhave they affected things like immigration and theenvironment?

These are the questions elected officials needto be asking, and as noted here, manyOregonians are ready with answers. With thisinformation in hand, policymakers should then getto work renegotiating our existing trade agree-ments so that they better meet the goal of improv-ing living standards for Americans and others.

People in other countries are just as anxious torewrite global trade agreements as Americansare—but should another nation’s governmentrefuse to negotiate, we should not hesitate toremove ourselves from these pacts altogether.

Greatly Increase Public Participation and

Oversight

Antonia Morales, who has struggled to supportherself and her family since losing her twenty-fiveyear food-processing job under NAFTA, says:

“I am one of many people who have lost a jobbecause the company we worked for movedto another country… I am not in agreementwith trade policies that help companies moveabroad. It’s time for Congress to listen to myfamily’s concerns.”

Large, transnational corporations have alwayshad a seat at the table when international tradepacts are written. The voices of workingOregonians who have lost their jobs as a result ofthese policies are rarely heard. Elected officialsresponsible for approving the nation’s trade poli-cies need to pay much greater attention to theexperiences of their constituents.

The expiration of “Fast Track” trade promotionauthority in mid-2007 was a positive first step. Byrushing trade pacts through Congress in a processthat circumvented ordinary hearing, amendmentand debate procedures, the Nixon-era policymak-ing procedure led to some of the most damagingtrade agreements in our nation’s history.

Fast Track should not be reauthorized for anypresident under any name. But the death of FastTrack alone is not enough to guarantee thataffected individuals have an effective voice intrade policymaking.

The review process for trade pacts recommend-ed above should include a public comment peri-od, with open hearings across the country andopportunity for written testimony to be submitted.These processes are in place when it comes toenvironmental regulations and broadcast mediapolicies; they should be applied to trade policy-making as well.

Beyond that, elected officials should go out oftheir way to solicit feedback on trade proposalsfrom their constituents—and listen carefully towhat they are told. All too often in Oregon, poli-cymakers have turned their backs on displacedworkers whose lived experiences should be thestarting point for any consideration of how to bestconstruct new rules for international trade.

Closing Words

Increased trade can ultimately be a good thing,but only if it benefits working people in Oregonand around the world.

For the past fifteen years, U.S. trade policieshave been written to facilitate the movement ofgood-paying jobs around the globe to whereverlabor is the most exploited and environmental pro-tections are the weakest. This is not good for

Displaced mill worker Mike Carroll talks

about the lack of family-wage jobs in his

community during an ORFTC forum in

Portland.

American workers—nor is it sound policy forimproving living standards in developing countries.

The experiences, needs and desires ofOregon’s displaced workers should guide deci-sions regarding the renegotiation of existing tradepacts and the negotiation and approval of futureagreements. Policymakers should be listening totheir concerns, and Oregonians should be organ-izing to ensure that these concerns cannot beignored.

Victor Pierce is currently employed as aMachinist at the Freightliner Truck Plant inPortland. He points out that Freightliner no longer

makes “Freightliner” trucks there, since produc-tion has moved to Mexico; he now works onanother line of trucks purchased primarily by themilitary. Pierce has been forced to work areduced shift since production has moved underNAFTA, and he worries that what’s left of his jobmay soon be shipped abroad, too. He argues:

“NAFTA affects everyone in the United Stateswho wants the quality of life of our parentsbefore us. The cream of Middle America isbeing skimmed off. We have been asleepand in the dark for too long.”

Clockwise from top left: Intern Briana Carp speaks with a reporter outside an event featuring

the U.S. Trade Representative; Mexican community organizer Centolia Vasquez decribes the

impacts of NAFTA in Mexico during an ORFTC press conference; laid-off Freightliner workers

participate in a rally opposing the extension of Fast Track; and displaced workers from the

forest products, manufacturing and high-tech industries speak at the Portland Assembly on

Free Trade and Job Loss.

Profiles of People Quoted

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign thanks the following individuals—as well as those who wished tobe anonymous—for sharing stories that were quoted in this report. For additional “Oregon StoriesProject” interview highlights, please visit www.oregonfairtrade.org.

Sterling Allen

Myrtle Creek, OR

Allen was a 10-year veteran of RoseburgForest Products until the plant where heworked closed its doors in 2003 due toincreased imports.

Earl Aylett

Hermiston, OR

Aylett is a potato grower in Umatilla Countywho lost a major market for his crops whenthe Simplot potato processing plant movedunder NAFTA in 2004.

Sean Beeman

Roseburg, OR

Beeman worked at the Dell Call Center inRoseburg until it moved its operations under CAFTA in 2007.

Mitch Besser

Lake Oswego, OR

Besser has a Masters in Software Designand Development and more than 20 years of experience in the high-tech sector.

Anna Braun

Salem, OR

Braun served on Salem City Council from2001 to 2004.

John Breedlove

Roseburg, OR

Breedlove lost his 31-year position atRoseburg Forest Products when the plantwhere he worked closed in 2003 due tocompetition from imports.

Larry Durfee

Roseburg, OR

Durfee worked at Roseburg Forest Productsfor 22 years, before losing his union-wagejob when the mill shut down due toincreased imports under NAFTA.

Mike Fassler

Roseburg, OR

Fassler worked at Roseburg Forest Products for almost 8 years, before it closed due to imports in 2003.

JoAnn Harris

Hermiston, OR

Harris worked at J.R. Simplot until it movedabroad under NAFTA in 2004.

John Hilkey

Central Point, OR

Hilkey is a staff member at theIAM/Woodworkers union which representsemployees at Roseburg Forest Products.

Roy Jay

Portland, OR

Jay is president of the African AmericanChamber of Commerce in Portland.

Howard Jenkins

Portland, OR

Jenkins worked as a janitor at theFreightliner Truck Plant until laid off during a shift in production under NAFTA in 2007.

Bill Johnson

Salem, OR

Johnson worked as a purchasing agent atInFocus in Wilsonville until his job movedoverseas in 2004.

Ben Joy

Portland, OR

Joy was on a development team at InFocusuntil his position was shifted overseas in2004.

William Kemp

Roseburg, OR

Kemp lost his two-and-half year job at theDell Call Center when it closed in 2007,moving many positions to El Salvador.

For more interviews and profiles, visit: www.oregonfairtrade.org

Bill Kluting

Monmouth, OR

After losing his job at a plywood plant inDallas due to trade, Kluting eventually tooka position with the Carpenters IndustrialCouncil helping displaced workers obtainTrade Adjustment Assistance benefits.

Brandon Maupin

Merlin, OR

Maupin worked at Timber Products in Grants Pass until his job was cut in 2006due to increased competition from China.

Joan Miller

Portland, OR

Miller lost jobs due to trade at both theFreightliner Truck Plant and ReynoldsAluminum.

Tony Mims

Portland, OR

Mims lost his job at the Freightliner TruckPlant when it shifted production to Mexicounder NAFTA in 2007.

Antonia Morales

Hermiston, OR

Morales worked at Simplot for 25 yearsbefore the potato processing plant movedabroad under NAFTA in 2004.

Dagoberto Morales

Medford, OR

Morales is the founder and director of Unete, a farm worker and immigrant rightsorganization in southern Oregon.

Diane Newell

Beaverton, OR

Newell is a technical writer in Beaverton who has worked for InFocus.

Greg Pallesen

Portland, OR

Pallesen lost a job at a mill in southernWashington due to trade, and is currentlyvice president of the Association of WesternPulp & Paper Workers, headquartered inPortland.

For more interviews and profiles, visit: www.oregonfairtrade.org

Victor Pierce

Portland, OR

Pierce is a Machinist at the Freightliner plant in Portland, working reduced hours due to the plant shifting most of its produc-tion to Mexico.

Debbie Risehman

Portland, OR

Risehman lost her Machinist job atFreightliner when it moved productionabroad under NAFTA in 2007.

Derek Roane

Portland, OR

Roane lost his job at the Freightliner TruckPlant in Portland in 2007 when it shifted production to Mexico under NAFTA.

Cheryl Rouse

Colton, OR

Rouse has worked at Freightliner for over 15 years, now on a reduced shift due to themovement of most production to Mexico.

Jim Scheet

Dallas, OR

Scheet moved his family out-of-state insearch of work after losing his job makingcircuit boards at Tyco Electronics.

Mike Swaim

Salem, OR

Swaim was the mayor of Salem from 1997to 2002.

Mark Weiss

White City, OR

Weiss lost his 19-year position at Royal OakEnterprises, a charcoal briquette plant thatclosed in 2005 due to increased Chineseimports.

Mark Wettstein

Ontario, OR

Wettstein, a farmer active in the Nyssa-Nampa Sugar Beet Growers Association,lost markets for several crops due toincreased imports under NAFTA and CAFTA.

For more interviews and profiles, visit: www.oregonfairtrade.org

OREGON FAIR TRADE CAMPAIGN

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