An American valley : the story of trade adjustment assistance for American workers (1976)

we had three lodged textile plants within a radius of 10 miles between the three plants there were more than 10,000 people would and now there isn't 1500 this was a company town and most of the people lived here and worked you all of their life they had worked for these industries a long time some people 25 30 years for people didn't know where the next dollar was coming from they knew they'd collect unemployment but nothing else I panicked because i knew i was going to be out of a job and i didn't I know jobs were scarce and I wasn't sure I was gonna find more baby been there for a hundred and something years and all of a sudden it was closing with just like that this area is small towns and you throw twelve fifteen hundred people out of a job brenna it does kind of panic the community well I thought it's gonna be head of a job and we really needed a job at that time we've just bought a new home and we need to the main income coming in just kind of kind of scary for a while the blackstone river flows for 50 miles through southern Massachusetts in this river valley in the last century the American genius of old Yankee families and new immigrants built a massive industrial complex in a rural New England setting they push smokestacks into the sky laid steel tracks through the forest invented and built their own machinery and constructed toweling factories of red brick everywhere red brick more than a hundred mils plants and foundries along 50 miles of the Blackstone River for the first 50 years of this century life here was good the pay was decent and jobs were plentiful tens of thousands of Americans lived and worked here manufacturing textiles and textile machinery and shoes many of the plant owners and managers lived here to and build houses that were monuments to prosperity the factory stretched four city blocks they ran all day and sometimes into the night they housed the most modern machinery of their time the Blackstone Valley in its history manufactured enough machines and enough cloth and leather to dress every man woman and child in the world today but in the 1950s something began to happen here foreign competition virtually closed the valley the ships that had carried the valleys goods to the rest of the world began carrying the world's goods back in the same cloth the same machinery but at lower prices there are cities and towns and other parts of the united states with similar stories to tell and they leave some hard questions to answer why do we tolerate the flow of imports that cause unemployment the reality is that our planet Earth has shrunk to one global community in which all of us have to trade with everyone else if we stop buying from others they stop buying from us without international trade unemployment would skyrocket not only overseas but also fear at home sure some of our industries have been hurt but others have expanded creating new jobs new exports but what happened to the people who were put out of work what happens to any worker anywhere in the United States who loses a job because of foreign imports many of these workers need help in finding new jobs some need training in new skills most need some kind of financial assistance until a new job is found the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program was developed to provide these kinds of services in the Blackstone Valley the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program influenced many people's lives one plant had been operating in the valley for well over a hundred years the plant formerly had about 5,000 employees it was the world's largest textile preparatory machinery plan Joe Schobert a union official was involved in the petitioning for Trade Adjustment Assistance over a period of approximately five years the employment dropped from 5,000 down to 1,000 the first step is to petition the US department of labor to certify that foreign trade has actually been the cause of unemployment state employment service local offices can provide information on how to file the petition we filled out a very simple one-page form signed by three members of the local union and mailed it to Washington the next step is for the individual worker to file a claim for Trade Adjustment Assistance at the state employment office this agency is called the job service in many states another company hard hit by imports was Rockwell's draper manufacturers of textile machinery there the Massachusetts division of employment security took claims from workers right in the factory the crew tana personnel manager at Rockwell Draper once the commitment was made we decided that it was an excellent program we wanted it to be a thriving success therefore we set up facilities in the plant desks tables telephones and any other equipment that the people from des would need to assist them which consequently assisted our employees and made it easier for everyone to participate in the program al mucha Roni of the Massachusetts division of Employment Security worked closely with Rockwell to ease the problem of widespread unemployment in the community this was the first time that they had ever been you know totally affected when they started to cut back drastically so that this was the first experience that they had had with any type of unemployment compensation or anything else the first question maybe rancher in mind how am I going to keep my house how am I gonna pay my taxes there's nothing sat at the sea there not a community become a ghost town when an industry moves out well this didn't happen here the merchants didn't have the clothes their businesses the bank's didn't take over houses the employees that were affected did have a certain amount of income to spend and continue spending through the local retail stores and the other merchants in the area or the best part of the program was to see the aid for these people who needed it who these people who had been out of work and we're collecting just the regular unemployment but i think the dollar is the important thing to most of the employees at first the trade i certainly helped them to post their income where they could live at a half decent level and at the same time most of the people want to work the more to go out and find something that they can do this useful this has been their home for many many years they like it here it's a nice place to live they brought up they'd show on you they like it nobody lost their homes the population is still there it hasn't gone down and he might have increased a little bit the number one goal of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program is to get the individual back to work in the shortest possible time matching people to jobs is the everyday business of the job service let's take a look at your aptitude scores and see what they seem to suggest sometimes there is a special problem which hinders the worker in finding a new job take a look at each aptitude I'll tell you exactly what that specially trained employment counselors can assist in making suitable job choices you did above the average which which suggested you have a but the average on verbal acetone special testing facilities are also available to check aptitudes and abilities for other kinds of jobs what about the individual whose skills are no longer needed in the area where he lives the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program can provide job search allowances to look for employment outside of normal commuting areas it can also pay part of the expense for relocation to another city or state where suitable work is available but what about the worker whose skills are no longer needed in the job market and my own opinion the most important one of the other benefits that are available to him is training and if the person goes into training he's entitled to additional weeks over and above the basic weeks that he was normally entitled to under the program Roland Wilson worked at Rockwell Draper losing his job at age 49 he decided to go to school and is now a computer technician oh it's kind of a sobering thought to get back in the classroom which especially with the young kids some of them are real wizards when you've been away from school for that long a period of time you really gotta pushed a little bit to get through but once you make up your mind to it it seems to come easy ok what did Rockwell International weaving machinery division and hope he'll mass and i was antoinette anderson is now being retrained under the program her field is business administration I had been wanting to go back to school for a while but I just never had a time to go back and with this give me the opportunity that I've had been looking for some of these people did seek the training it was so available through the program and will consequently recalled and came back a skilled employee Paul Marsden counselor at the division of Employment Security guides people through the difficult transition from one job to another what I try to do is show them that that they do have specific aptitudes and they do have interests that can be related to other kinds of jobs we work together in trying to identify those aptitudes and interests and relate them to specific occupations that might be suitable for provide the retraining or for immediate placement Freddie Mae Simmons had worked nine years as a utility worker in a rubber plant when it was shut down by foreign imports she is now in training I've always wanted to be a secretary and to me a legal secretary hater kind of special ring to it I think a lot of people had the tendency to just live for the weekly benefits for a year not really figuring what was going to happen afterwards but like all things all good things come to an end and if you don't take advantage of the educational part of it really it's kind of a waste I've had the opportunity to speak with individuals who a little bit apprehensive at first about training about coming in and talking about training but once we had got involved and just talking about some of the things they'd like to do they come up with some sort of an occupation that they've always had an interest in pursuing but because of personal reasons because of family circumstances and financial circumstances they've been unable to pursue that if you lose your job because of foreign trade chances are you're in an industry that has been around for a long time like those in the Blackstone Valley and maybe you've been on the job for a long time that makes the change even tougher nobody's telling you you've got to like it nobody's saying you shouldn't wish for old or better times nobody's saying it's going to be easy there's nothing easy about being out of work but the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program can help it's not automatic workers or unions must petition the US department of labor when the petition has been certified file your claim with the state employment service you'll receive help to find a new job or maybe you need skill training first if you're eligible you'll receive allowance payments to help make ends meet trade is vital to the nation and so is the well-being of its people