Oregonians who lost jobs due to free trade deliver message to
Rep. Greg Walden ‘s office in Bend
May 11, Bend. 
The KorPine plywood mill in Bend, a division of Weyerhauser Industries. When KorPine closed its doors in 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor certified the KorPine closure was directly related to international free trade agreements like North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
KorPine is not alone. Central Oregon has lost at least 1303 job directly attributable to free trade agreements. Oregon, as a whole, has lost upwards of 50,000 jobs since NAFTA took affect. To make matters worse, this past July, Rep. Walden voted for a controversial new NAFTA-style trade agreement known as CAFTA, expanding free trade to Central America.
This is not about obscure policy or statistics; these policies are about people’s livelihoods, families and communities. That sentiment is what the Bend residents wanted to express with their letter.
Roger Hanson delivered the letter. While sitting with Walden’s staff in Bend Roger asked, “Why does Walden keep voting to outsourcing the industry of Central Oregon and when is he going to start standing up for the working people of his district?”
There was no decent answer to this question from Walden’s staff member, only evasive thoughts on the availability of Oregon’s natural resources.
(See below for a copy of the letter Roger delivered.)
April 2006
Open Letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation:
When it comes to foreign competition and trade, it’s no secret that Oregon is losing its best paying jobs to places like Mexico and China. After ten years of job-loss and outsourcing under free trade agreements like NAFTA, we can no longer pretend that our trade policies are working. We need elected leaders who can chart a course for trade policies that work for Oregon.
Rep. Walden and Senators Wyden and Smith all voted to expand NAFTA to six more countries last year. We cannot afford to keep going down that path.
When Bend’s KorPine closed, 170 families lost their income. When JR Simplot closed in Hermiston, 620 jobs moved to Canada. When Nyssa, Oregon lost 475 jobs at the Amalgamated Sugar Processing Plant, property values plummeted. Those are just three of the hundreds of plant closures due to free trade.
Back in 1993, NAFTA promised new jobs in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In Oregon, we’ve lost more than 40,000 jobs due to outsourcing and foreign competition in the last ten years. We are losing the jobs that pay $15-$22/hour and replacing them with Wal-Mart and Starbucks jobs at minimum wage.
Where are the jobs that are created by free trade? Not in high tech where outsourcing is catching on like wild fire. Not in call centers. Retraining for other jobs only works when there are other jobs to train for. Retraining alone is a band-aid – no a solution to bad trade policies.
If our elected leaders like Rep. Walden and Senators Wyen/Smith did their best thinking on trade policy in 1993, it’s time for them to think again. No more NAFTAs. No more CAFTAs.
We need consistent labor and health standards across borders whether it’s minimum wage or pesticide use. Instead of going to countries for their cheap labor, we need trade agreements with countries where people can actually afford to buy the top quality products we make in Oregon. But most of all, we need vision and leadership from the people who are elected to represent us. Who will step up to the plate?
This letter is signed by the following Oregonians whose jobs where lost when Bend’s KorPine plant closed due to free trade:
Bill Hedger, Roger Hanson, Brian Hanson, David Ipock,
Evelyn Marshall, Oakley Taylor,Chuck Desully, Jeffrey Stormont,
Clayton Forney, John Bartey, Taddy Gogenola