Tough times

By Don Shilling

Author hopes book draws attention to workers’ crisis

YOUNGSTOWN — Richard Brown doesn’t need a visit from a New York Times reporter to tell him times are tough.

The 47-year-old West Middlesex, Pa., man lost his job in April when Indalex closed its aluminum extrusion plant in Girard. He’s surviving on unemployment compensation until he can find a job or get retrained.

But perhaps others would benefit from the message of the book from the Times reporter, “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for American Workers.”

“There is a silent crisis for a lot of workers that isn’t getting enough attention,” said the author, Steven Greenhouse, who spoke several times Tuesday at Youngstown State University.

The crisis involves workers facing stagnant wages who have to pay more for health care and deal with a less-secure retirement because pensions are being replaced with 401(k) investment plans, he said.

The book also details how corporate managers, faced with pressure to cut costs, have erased hours from workers’ timecards and even locked workers inside a store so they couldn’t leave. It also shows how companies have felt pressured to close plants and move work overseas in order to cut costs.

“Something seems to be out of whack in the nation’s work force,” said Greenhouse, who has been the Times’ labor reporter since 1995.

Brown said he intends to get his work life back on track by taking classes to become a heavy-equipment operator. He was one of hundreds of people who attended a job fair Tuesday by the state’s One Stop employment system.

“If I can get work before December, I won’t have to start schooling,” he said.

Brenda Austin, 53, of Youngstown, also was at the Chevrolet Center downtown looking for work. She has been looking for work for a month.

“It’s very difficult. I have applications everywhere,” she said.

Rising prices for gasoline and other products make it difficult, she said.

“Everybody has to cut down a little. If you don’t, you can’t survive,” she said.

She and her friend, Emma Goins, 50, of Youngstown, have been working since July for a company that coordinates petition-signing campaigns, but that job is ending.

Goins’ husband works at WCI Steel in Warren, but she still wants to work because of the increasing costs of daily living. She was filling out applications for manufacturers, nursing homes and trucking companies.

“It’s a hard money crunch for everyone. You just have to manage your money a little better,” she said.

These workers are not alone.

“I see things getting harder and harder for families,” said Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO,

As costs have risen, work hours for many people are going down, especially in construction, he said. Though some companies such as General Motors in Lords- town and Turning Technologies in Youngstown have added jobs, others have laid people off, he said.

People have had to cancel vacations, day trips or visits to families, he said.

Padisak, who serves on the executive board of the Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way, said food banks and other agencies are reporting that more are showing up for assistance. Pastors are reporting that donations to churches are down, he said.

“It’s a squeeze all the way around. I don’t see anyone who is not affected by it,” he said.

Greenhouse said he wrote “The Big Squeeze” in the hopes of getting the attention of the nation’s big media outlets and politicians. He said he’s particularly concerned that there’s been little national debate over the loss of more than 20 percent of the nation’s manufacturing jobs in the past five years.

Greenhouse said the U.S. hasn’t done enough to help the manufacturing sector, including pushing for a fairer valuation of Chinese currency and encouraging more students to get a college education.

New industries are emerging that the U.S. can succeed in, such as making hybrid vehicles and wind turbines, he said.

“There are opportunities to create jobs. With a little thought and a little creativity, we can do better in protecting manufacturing jobs,” he said.

shilling@vindy.com