According to the Almanac, Sawtown is in for a cold winter. The squirrels seem especially busy storing away nuts, perhaps we should too.
In August housing construction permit applications fell by 2.4%. Housing starts are down 6.2% in August and 22% for the year to date. The housing affordability index which measures the average family’s ability to buy a home has declined by 20% since 2003. The price for framing lumber is below the five year average for the month by 18%. The housing market still represents over 50% of the demand for our products. We have not had a national housing program of any substance for decades.
Poverty rates are approaching numbers that 30 years ago caused a national disgrace and lead to the launching of the war on poverty. Income inequity continues to grow and is approaching levels similar to 1929. The poorest 20% of the US population now have access to less than 3.4% of national income.
Cold seems to be the forecast and equally a description of the present climate. There is a coldness that is pervading our country that hasn’t been experienced for decades. Some economists refer to it as a yoyo economy. YOYO (your on your own) once called laissez faire, contributed to both the cause and prolongation of the great depression of the 1930’s.
Like so many other places, the number of homeless in Sawtown is on the rise. Local food banks are constantly making appeals for assistance. The realization that we are one strike away from being homeless ourselves has given the corporations a new courage to drive forward their efforts to completely undo the New Deal. Best described as a raw deal, the neo-liberal agenda rewards those who already have and requires the rest of us to work longer hours for relatively less income. Long gone is the old social contract which was based on the premise that as worker productivity increased so would wages.
In Sawtown as forest jobs were contracted out and then deskilled the social and political support for the industry washed away at a rate almost equal to the erosion of wages. The days when lumber was king are gone. Reducing workers’ ties to the companies through out sourcing and reducing wages relative to productivity means higher profits for the corporations but less loyalty from the workers. We were once proud of what we did not only because we were paid well but because we were respected in our communities. People wanted our jobs and our wages helped drive rural economic development forward.
Nowadays it is difficult to attend a gathering of forest and wood workers without hearing about recruitment problems. The new workers aren’t motivated, don’t have the skills, or aren’t willing to work long or hard. This is occurring at a point in time when increased demands are being put on forestry workers to harvest using sustainable techniques and for mill workers to be more productive and to minimize waste. No one seems to want to recognize that even in the labor market, in the end; you get what you pay for.
The conservative right raises the issues of family values but seems not interested in valuing families. With low wages, workers must live off of their overtime. As hours increase family time decreases. During the 1960’s 1/3rd of all married couples had two wage earners. Today it exceeds 2/3rds. Today average weekly hours worked by men with children under the age of 18 in their household exceed 50 hours per week. For women in the same category work hours exceed 41 hours per week. Hard to have a family when no one’s home.
The union movement in Sawtown began about 70 years ago or so with a call for fair pay for an 8 hour day. There hasn’t been a contract signed in the past 20 years that reduced working hours. In fact, the opposite has occurred. The Corporations have taken back the fixed work week, time and half for work over 8 hours, and double-time for Sunday. Each one of these concessions begrudgingly surrendered was another nail in the life of the community and the strength of the family.
If we want a true pro-family agenda perhaps it starts with family wage jobs for a 7 hour day. Mandatory overtime for week end work, a month’s vacation after 5 years instead of 20 years would be a good pro-family package. If we are unable to get this through our contracts then perhaps its time to organize our communities and change the wage and hour laws in our states.
A squirrel outside my window just got his last acorn up the tree as the first snow flake hit the ground. It will indeed be another cold winter in Sawtown.
September 28, 2006
