German Firm Moves 4,000 Kelowna Jobs to U.S. Auto Industry Squeeze Hits Hard Dutch Vacuum 200 Jobs from Bloomington Normal ![]() North America is the world’s richest industrial economy, with the most productive workforce on earth. But for how much longer? What will be left if we continue selling off our best jobs? Revitalizing North America's Might Return to Contents Page |
The
boom could never bust, or so it seemed. In the late 1990’s,
Freightliner’s Portland plant churned out 112 trucks per day. Two
shifts and lots of overtime vanished as interest rates soared. Today,
the lots for finished trucks are almost empty. The Freightliner
membership at Local 1005 plunged to 900, down 1,700 in a year. Norm
Abel made quality control fixes to the trucks, and was at the top of the
pay scale. “It was awesome pay, about $800 per week, enough to pay our
bills, take care of our kids and go out to dinner sometimes. “March
30, 2001 was my last day. My income dropped to about $240 per week,
after taxes, on unemployment. It was hard, but we kept our faith in the
Lord and hoped we’d survive.” Norm’s
wife Vicki tracks the family finances. “Unemployment was no match for
how much Norm made at Freightliner,” she said. When the $800 per month
offer for medical insurance under COBRA came, “I was shocked. We
needed the coverage, but we couldn’t live off unemployment and pay
COBRA, too.” With
unemployment running out, Norm enrolled in truck driving school. His
first long-haul job kept him away from his family too long and the pay
was terrible. So, he landed a job with a local company. Last
November, Norm was riding off-road motorcycles near Mt. Hood. Disaster
struck. A serious accident left him permanently paralyzed from the waist
down. “If
our only option was COBRA, we would have gone bankrupt and lost our
house, everything. We’d be living in a box under the Burnside
bridge,” said Vicki. After
the accident, Vicki quit her part-time job to care for Norm. Their
income is almost non-existent. Help from family and friends gets them by
for now. “I’m
happy to be alive.’ said Norm, “When things are going great, don’t
take it for granted. At Freightliner, the medical, pay and benefits were
worth everything. When it stops, there’s not a lot out there to
replace it.”
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