A low-wage insult

ON FEBRUARY 11, 2009, two weeks before I was laid off from the job I had building railroad cars for 20 years, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski held a press conference.

He was explaining how federal assistance would be "put into action--for schools, health care and improvements to our public infrastructure, creating thousands of jobs across the state immediately."

He continued: "I have a transportation package before the legislature that will create and sustain thousands of family wage jobs for the long-term."

The unemployed in Oregon, where joblessness is over 12 percent, have discovered what family wage jobs Kulongoski envisioned. On May 13, he unveiled a plan that would create 12,000 low-wage jobs in food banks, on forest trails and in state campgrounds. And this would be paid for out of the state's unemployment insurance fund.

These jobs are only temporary, which, according to Kulongoski, will "help turn the economy around and give at least some of the growing ranks of jobless the sense of dignity that comes with a paycheck."

I think Kulongoski's remarks gives the ranks of jobless a sense of outrage, not dignity. People are already struggling to get by on unemployment. Now we are expected to get by on a low-paid job. How on earth is this going to "turn the economy around"?

The governor likes to cite his harsh upbringing, bought up by nuns, working in low-paying steel jobs, etc. But now, as governor--and getting by on $93,600 a year--it seems he has really forgotten the bad old days.

But the bad old days are getting worse for more people all the time. Nike has just announced 500 layoffs in Oregon alone. The minimum wage in Oregon is now $8.45, yet it is reckoned that a single person needs at least $12.50 an hour just to get by.

The unemployed need to get organized like they did in the 1930s. We need to know our rights regarding unemployment benefits, eviction, non-payment of bills and medical treatment. We must not be taken advantage of or be used as an army of low-wage workers to undercut real family wage jobs (if they exist).

As unions have the resources, they need to help unemployed workers organize. When those workers do work again, they will be unionized workers. Kulongoski's plan is just another attempt to push wages down for everyone and make workers pay for the crisis.
Paul Dean, Portland, Ore.