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.
Todd Mahar
Salem, OR
Todd is a former warehouse manager and plant superintendent for AgriFrozen Foods, which closed in competition from imports.
“I think when it comes down to the day of the announcement, when they brought us all into the plant—they actually set up hundreds of chairs in the plant itself, because it was the only place big enough to hold all the employees—and they told you that, ‘We’re done. We’re closing. This is a WARN Act notice, and within a certain amount of time you’ll all be done,’ I think there was a lot of shock.
"Even the people who could see it coming, when it actually comes down to, ‘Boom, this is the day,’ it’s a shock. It’s a big shock.
“It was a lot harder on the employees that worked for me, obviously. I had many employees where that was the only job they’d ever had. I mean, they’d worked there since high school, 30, 35-year employees, and it was a lot more difficult on them. Some of them, I think to this day, have not really found other work…
“I felt sorry for the people in the Salem-Woodburn area that were trying to find $15/hour jobs. People that worked for me, that worked in the freezer, they were forklift drivers, and these were upper-paid positions... It’s pretty tough to equate those wages somewhere else, at least for starting purposes.
“I don’t see anything else going on. I think there’s a real danger that all the
new jobs are moving to service-level types of jobs.”