The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Gerardo Grimaldo Residence: Nyssa, OR Age: 48 Occupation: Sugar Boiler, Amalgamated Sugar Affiliations: BCTGM Local 290G

Snapshots "My wife was at a funeral when they announced the shutdown. I tried to get a hold of her. Somebody at the funeral actually got up and told her, 'I just got a phone call on my cellphone. They just closed the mill down.' She didn't believe it. When she got back into town, she called me. She said what about the work? Well, I said, they shut it down." "There will be 450 less paychecks just from people working at the plant." "If those people are in town, they're spending money on groceries, food, fuel. A lot of them would bank in town for the convenience. Well we're not going to see that this year. When the fall comes -- when campaign would have started... that's when we'll feel the real impact in this town." "Even after they told us a lot of guys didn't believe it, even three or four weeks later. You sit at home worrying for days. " "I interviewed 5 families. I'm going back to Washington, DC and I want you to let them know how this shutdown is going to affect you. They told me their story. There's an individual who just 2 months prior to the shutdown had bought his house. He had 60 days of pay and his plan was to make the payments for those sixty days. If he had to go on unemployment, there's no way he could make payments on the house. "

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