The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Dave Philpott

Residence: Vale, OR, OR

Age: 47

Occupation: Electrician, Amalgamated Sugar

Affiliations: BCTGM Local 290G

Snapshots

"“If I had five minutes with Gordon Smith I would ask him how he thinks CAFTA would be good when so many jobs are being lost. Is he not aware of the jobs that were lost? Do they not count? Am I unaware of things that are good that are actually happening because of this or is he just listening to the big money, the big companies and what they want?”"

"“When they closed our mill (Nyssa’s Amalgamated Sugar Plant), they didn’t just close a factory, they broke up a family up.”"

"“There are people who’ve been working the sugar beet campaign since the 1960s. They are guys in the 70s and 80s still working there, just the campaign. There are a lot of seniors working there. Guys who were within a year or two for retirement. The average seniority time in the plant was 20 years.”"

"“As far as the impact, Nyssa is really going to get hit card. There used to be two gas stations, but they’re closed. The chancing of them reopening aren’t there because people are going to have to start going elsewhere to work. If you want to work – they talk about the onion packing sheds in Nyssa. They pay barely over minimum wage.” "

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