ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
JACK ROBERTSON used to make $12 an hour as a carpenter, but now settles for about half that. He and his wife wonder what can be done to create more high-wage jobs.
Jack Robertson and Mary Grogan are doing pretty well when it comes to their family's balance sheet. But they'd like to be doing better.
The Roanoke County couple feel much the same about the economy: Things are OK, but they could be better.
"I'm very fortunate to have the job I've got - I'll be there 23 years in March," said Mary Grogan, who is a senior process operator at ITT Corp. But without advanced education, she said, "I'd hate to be looking for work now."
Both she and her husband, Jack, are worried about the effects of jobs being sent overseas, and about the long-term drop in the average worker's wages. These are the issues the Robertsons say Southwest Virginia congressional candidates should address in the coming election.
Robertson, 47, is used to making maybe $12 an hour as a carpenter. Lately, though, he's settled for a carpenter's helper job that pays around half that, because it's close to home and the hours are good.
"I think things are better now than they were 10 years ago," Robertson said. "But the pay hasn't changed that much. And things keep going up - inflation."
Their kids are grown and out of the house, so they get by. But it's not always easy.
Robertson wishes things would change so "people can enjoy the American Dream, have a home and children, and not have to struggle every week."
"The men at the top are making all the money," Grogan said. But "these big wheels don't realize - if it wasn't for these little spokes down here, they'd be out of a job."
Robertson agreed. "If you treat a person right," he said, "he will stay with you and work hard."
The other day Grogan saw a woman crying on TV about losing her job at a sewing plant. Some executives are making millions and millions of dollars, Grogan said, "and she doesn't even have enough to buy groceries. I think our system has gotten a little off balance."
Robertson worries that recent trade agreements are funneling good-paying American jobs to foreign countries where the wages are much lower." All of our economy is going over there, because of NAFTA," he said.
It's almost at the point where you have to have three different types of tools to fix a car, he said, because "this part's made over there and this part's made over here and this part's made somewhere else."
Of the candidates in the Sixth District Congressional race, Republican Bob Goodlatte and Libertarian Jay Rutledge disagreed with the couple's concerns about jobs and wages slumping because of NAFTA and other trade agreements. Democrat Jeff Grey agreed with Robertson and Grogan.
Goodlatte, the two-term incumbent, said government statistics show Americans are selling millions more in goods to Mexico, thus increasing jobs and wages.
He said employment projects in Virginia are improving and that the government can help improve them by reducing regulations and lowering trade barriers even more.
As a Libertarian, Rutledge said there's not much government can do to improve the economy - except get out of the the way and allow the "free market" to work. "I'm opposed to political regulation of the economy," he said.
Both Goodlatte and Rutledge said Congress can help workers the most by cutting taxes, so they can bring more of their paychecks home with them.
Grey, a Democrat with a blue-collar background, said increasing the minimum wage is vital to helping working families. (Goodlatte and Rutledge both say the minimum wage hurts the economy.)
Grey also noted that American companies shouldn't be allowed to move factories overseas in order avoid pollution and fair-wage laws.
If companies are operating plants overseas and not meeting reasonable environmental and wage standards, Grey said, they should be forced to pay a high tariff to import their goods back into the United States.
Got a question for the candidates? Let us know so we can follow up. In Roanoke, call 981-0100. In New River, 382-0200. Press category 7821.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Many Virginians say there is an exodusby CNBof good jobs from America's borders, leaving a preponderance of
low-wage positions.