For too long, debates over international trade have been dominated by corporate elites and economic ideologues, rather than rooted in the experiences of ordinary Americans.
The Trade Stories Project allows people who have been affected by policies and institutions like NAFTA and the WTO to share their views on a matter crucial to the global economy.
This includes displaced workers, farmers, small business owners and immigrants who have been typically excluded from the trade debate.
Countdown to Change: Week 30
The Trade Stories Project is featuring the story of another displaced worker each week of the Obama Presidency until necessary trade reforms promised on the campaign trail are enacted. Read additional stories here.
Sean Beeman
Roseburg, OR
Sean moved to Roseburg from California to work in a Dell Call Center. The Roseburg call center closed without warning in 2007, shifting much of the work to its new center in El Salvador. Employees came to work on "dress in your pajamas day" to find a note on the door saying they'd lost their jobs.
“This was an old lumber community, but that has gone downhill over the past years. [The Dell Call Center] was a big positive for this area... A lot of people moved here because of it, and the community is dying because Dell left...
"Businesses in town are no longer accepting applications because the market is so flooded... I was looking to move out of here and rent out this place [his home], but it's damned near impossible because nobody has money. Nobody has a job. Everybody is looking to get out of this town, not into it... There's no jobs here."