The Stories Project: Oregon Livelihoods Traded Away

Domingo Vargas Residence: Hermiston, OR Occupation: Retraining displaced workers

Snapshots "My name is Domingo Vargas. I provide education services to former JR Simplot workers who are going through retraining. Though I currently work as an educator, I have a background in drug and alcohol addiction counseling. " "Many of these folks immigrated from Mexico. They are married with kids and grandchildren. And now here they are being asked to go back to school, to soak up lessons and they can't make that adjustment back into the education system." "They have the lack of concentration for their studies driven in large part by the stress and anxiety of having just lost their jobs. The likely impact of Simplot on an emotional or psychological level is hard to measure, like a post traumatic stress disorder but it's similar to what happens to survivors of war or a major car accident." "Trade Act provides education and retraining, but it doesn't address the psychological impacts of job-loss. These are folks who need access to counseling and support, but TAA fails to provide those kinds of benefits. They have terrible mental health services. So when people open up to me and have that catharsis of their pent up tension and emotion and blow off steam, I find myself with cases that are very dramatic and, in some cases, tragic." "It's hard for me to talk about this, but there are a number of cases... not of actual suicide but suicide plans. And there aren't resources to turn to for support on that level -- not in trade act and certainly not in the welfare system." "Unemployment benefits are conditional on continuing the retraining education program. When this term ends in August 19th, there is a short break and then classes begin again in September, but some people will not return. One heard that their unemployment benefits are going to be reduced by as much as $190/week. Another won't return because she just doesn't have the capacity to focus and concentrate on her studies. Lack of motivation, due in large part to depression. A number of students are getting antidepressants prescribed to them by their general doctors. Just now I had the difficult situation of having a person allude to thoughts of suicide and I had to give her a number for a suicide crisis help line. It hasn't gotten to the point of people actually taking their own lives, but the plans are there." "The financial difficulties are on the level of providing for day to day living. Repossession of cars and houses. They're having conversations with their kids about cutting out family outings, vacations of any kind, scaling back just to be able to afford the basics of food and shelter. What kind of message does that send their kids? We're going to see cases of alcoholism, gangs. Folks in the Latino community have strong family values. When families start to disintegrate as a result of financial stress, divorce, tension that's when kids go out on the street looking for the support they get from gangs, alcohol and drugs." "Probably the law enforcement in this town and county haven't caught on to that situation yet, but when it happens, we'll have to get down to the real causes and effects of the closure of JR Simplot in this region. It was one of the biggest regional employers with over 700 employees. They had better wages. The majority of employees in this company were there for 15, 20, 25 years. Big parts of their life were passed working there. They shed tears thinking about the time they worked there, when things were stable and dependable. And now that's a shadow in the past. Now they don't know what's going to happen tomorrow." "It's urgent that these folks get counseling and emotional support. But it's clear to me that the authorities in charge of this program don't have a handle on that. They need psychological services. It's a great benefit to have this educational retraining but it's not enough. Basically, they need more understanding on the part of the authorities. They treat people like numbers but they don't get into the effects in the realm of the emotional and psychological problems. " "The Latino population has grown enormously in this area over the last 10 years. I would say that Latinos accounted for at least 50% of the workforce in JR Simplot. I happen to have that shared culture and insight into the Latino community, but I'm not in charge of the trade adjustment assistance program. They need to get out and talk to people. You've given me the opportunity to share my experience with you, but take this and put it in the hands of people who run these programs so that they understand what's going on and get to the heart of the matter." "It's going to be worse when we're sharing stories about people who have taken their own lives. It's bad enough to be talking about divorces and underage kids getting into gangs or drug and alcohol addiction. There should be resources and prevention. Because this stuff is happening. " "In my personal experience, these folks coming from Mexican culture (including myself) don't have confidence in politicians. We believe that they can accept the daily realities. If the folks you work with have a strong heart and can see the daily reality of what's going on, help out. Reach out your hand and honestly put in a part without a hidden agenda or profit motive. These are real folks who are in need. They are at an advanced stage of stress and anxiety. They have a lot of questions that are unanswered. They need real answers, not a 1-800 help line, not political promises, not the bureaucratic run around. Answers." "I think that's all I have to say. "

Return to The Stories Project