'Tis the Season for...Unemployment?
| Published 12/10/04

Graphic by: Erin Vesser

Unemployment is rising. Unfortunately, this time of year is the worst time to be unemployed -- not that there's a good time to be so. This time of year is when we all have to buy (or feel we have to buy) gifts for those we love to show them (in that materialistic way) just how much they truly mean to us. When you have no income, you have no means to buy gifts, decorate, and sometimes even no way to fix a Christmas dinner just to celebrate and be with your family.  

For many people, being unemployed is a reality they wish to have never encountered. Sinking into the depths of poverty brings feelings of depression and worthlessness. I know, we all would like to make money without having to work, but for some people, working is all they have. When that is taken away from them, it doesn't take a lot for their life to fall in after it.

Of course, there's always the option of going to the Virginia Employment Commission and filing for unemployment, but that only serves its purpose for a limited time, leaving the unemployed person with an ultimatum. Find a job or run out of unemployment and be screwed. Of course, when a person has been with a company for a number of years, then finds themselves unemployed, it's hard to find another job that will offer them the same rate of pay. Let me give you an example.

My mom has been a hard worker all her life. My dad decided to run away, so she's been supporting me single-handedly; I think she's done a very good job of juggling a child, a full-time job and her expenses. She's done factory work most of her life, and she enjoys it.  

She worked at AT&T for a while in Dublin, but, the government's damn NAFTA agreement said that the company could move out of the country if it liked. So, AT&T executives decided to move the company to Mexico and exploit the natives for cheap labor. I say they're a bunch of greedy jackasses, but that's just my opinion.

So, my mom decided to go back to college while searching for a job. When Federal Mogul offered, she accepted.

Last December, she had been with Federal Mogul for 12 years. The company decided to have a lay-off to reduce spending. I refer to them as the "greedy bastards."  

My mom was sent out the door, and she signed up for unemployment. Her hopes were high for being called back to work, but as the months passed by, she realized her hopes were going out the door. She went back to school for a while, but after being out of school for 12 years, it was really hard. She complained the entire two months. Every day.

Then, a miracle happened. She got called back to work! She was ecstatic. I was just happy that she was happy. The employer told her it was going to be a long-term job and that there were no impending lay-offs.

Two months later, they had a lay-off. Who was the first to go out the door? My mom. Why? Because some guy got her job that has been a slacker at the company for many years. Just because he's been there longer than her, he decided to bump her out of her job and screw her over this holiday season. To beat it all, it was the week before Thanksgiving, just so the company wouldn't have to pay holiday pay to those workers being laid-off.

At the moment, my mom is seeking employment. She only has three weeks of unemployment pay left, she doesn't want to go back to school. The only possible job available is a 14-hour-per-day job working at Volvo. She's turning 52 -- unemployed and worried -- on Christmas day. 

This has come as a real kick in the ass this season. I really couldn't care less if we didn't have Christmas presents (which she already bought before the lay-off anyway), but it's just that she's not happy at all. She's been trying really hard to find a way back to her job. Dec. 2 would have been her 13-year anniversary of being loyal to the company. She's only missed a few days in those 13 years, and this is how she's repaid.

On the flip side, George W. Bush brought in 15,000 refugees from Kenya this past month and placed them in communities with houses, jobs, cars and lives. Five of the families have been placed in Blacksburg, Va. Yet, no one seems to be able to take care of the willing workers that are already here.

Merry Christmas.

Comments:
I agree with Leigh Anne in that the government should do something about unemployment in general. Of course people are going to be upset, stressed, and angry about not having a job in a country where money means everything. Who is to fix it if not the government? We certainly have enough money and power to make a difference...

Name: Leigh Anne
Comments:
First of all, just how many people in the United States have children every day? And how many of them are single parents? And, how does my dad factor into her situation? Secondly, she quit school because if she had turned down the offer of a job back at Federal Mogul, they would have cut off her schooling as well. She HAD to take it. She's a hard worker; there is honestly nothing I have ever seen her attempt that she hasn't tried her best, even if it was something she could not accomplish. I even suggested once that she should go into some kind of management program or something, but she's a very quiet and shy person... at this point, I don't think there's much she's going to be able to do to change that. Disagree if you'd like, but unless you know her, your opinion is void. She was in nursing classes 13 years ago, but it was a temporary fix while she was laid off from another job. And she knows plenty of people who stayed on that path who are jobless today with nowhere to turn except back to factory work. If she were to go into the nursing program today, there's a waiting list of at least a year. A year with no job?? And, hell yes I blame the government. Not specifically for the problem my mom is having, but for the problem of unemployment all together. And, to get more specific, the problem of having WILLING-TO-WORK unemployed people, while the government is busy shipping in foreign workers and giving them lives, and shipping businesses out to foreign countries to exploit cheap labor via NAFTA. I sure hope this is cleared up. It's just my opinion. My mom's not the only one out there getting screwed over right now. But, of course, there's plenty of people on welfare who are definitely able to get and keep a job, but they just do not want to work. I assume a reply of "that's life" would be justifiable in this case, because nothing is fair, I agree. But, this section wasn't titled "vent" for nothing. I guess it's all up to hopes and prayers from here on out, I really have nothing more to say.

Comments:
I'm not blaming anyone for this...it's not my problem...it's Leanne's mom's problem. I'm saying she should learn from her past mistakes instead of repeating them and resolve the problem instead of waiting for the government, VEC, or Volvo to fix them for her.

Name: Zoe
Comments:
Obviously we have different viewpoints, and despite what you may think, I really have no problem with you expressing yours. You're right in saying that blaming people isn't going to fix anything...so what do you think blaming someone for their past decisions is going to accomplish...?

Comments:
Sorry if I'm blunt, but I really don't see the need to be "nice" when I have a point to make. I don't understand your confusion about Leanne's mother's decisions...she didn't decide her husband should leave, but she did decide to have and keep a child with an unreliable man. I'm sure he wasn't a saint right up until the point he deserted his wife and child. That would seem like a big first step to take towards being a crappy guy. In hindsight, was having a kid with a guy like him a good step to take...probably not. I can only hope she made better relationship decisions since then. Her mistake involving her employment is that she keeps trying to get the same kind of factory job that's NEVER going to be stable instead of educating herself and trying something new. As for "my problem," Leanne struck a nerve when she insinuated that the government or her mother's employer was responsible for fixing her mother's life. That seems to be her opinion, I completely disagree, and decided to see if she wanted to clear up some questions I had. I reacted so strongly to it because SW VA is full of people who are waiting for someone to fix their problems, and it's high time that they realize that it's never going to work that way. If I offended you or the author or her mother by not being PC enough for you, I apologize for hurting your feelings. However, that doesn't change the fact that Leanne's mom made poor choices that led to her being unemployed, broke, and unemployable. Until she realizes that SHE needs to change this pattern she's in instead of waiting on someone else to fix it, she will continue to have financial problems. Blaming other people isn't going to fix anything. I don't think that's a pompous viewpoint, and I merely presented it in a public forum as a counter-argument. If you don't want opposing viewpoints, Zoe, get rid of the feedback feature. Besides, Leanne seems pretty damn tough to me...why would she care if I'm an asshole? She wouldn't have spread her life out for review if she was sensitive about it.

Name: Zoe
Comments:
Anonymous poster: Who is to say that if Leigh Anne's mom made the "right decision" (or the one you would make) that she wouldn't be in a bigger jam than she is now? How do you know what the "right decision" is? It's very easy to cast judgement when all you have to go on is the actual decision and none of the alternatives have been tried out. I don't see how you can say that obtaining a job and being let go from it would be a "bad decision" on her mom's part. God forbid she expect her job to be a stable one! Also, I find it humorous that you can even imply, let alone state, that her dad leaving her mom was a "bad decision" on her mom's part..."she has to take the good with the bad and own up to making that decision." Whose decision are you referring to? It was her DAD that decided to leave, not her mom. Finally, I really have to ask: what IS your problem? Do you find it satisfying to leave (frankly) rather rude and pompous replies on an article which had no intention of offending you? Some of your suggestions were good ones and it goes without saying that you are entitled to your own opinion...but show a little tact next time! There's a difference between being opinionated and being just plain insensitive.

Comments:
I'm not trying to be Scrooge here, but how is this the government's fault? Your mom DID make decisions that affect her life today and she is still making decisions that aren't going to help her tomorrow. First, having you with a guy who ran off and left her to raise you alone...bad decision. You might call that a mistake or not her fault, but she has to take the good with the bad and own up to making that decision. It sucks. It's not fair. However, neither is life, and it's not the government's responsibility to fix that. Second, she works factory jobs in an area where there are 50 people for every job...so many applicants that Volvo apparently uses a computer lottery system to schedule interviews. That's why I say she is overpaid...labor is a surplus so it's cheap. A "living wage" isn't realistic in a capitalist system. Supply and demand regulates the price of EVERYTHING and labor is not worth much in places like the NRV because there's so much of it. But no one made her choose that career or makes her stay in an area where labor is worthless; she chose it...bad decision. Third, when she got canned because of a layoff, she had the chance to go back to school, but, quoting you, "She went back to school for a while, but after being out of school for 12 years, it was really hard. She complained the entire two months. Every day." It was easier to go back to an unstable job, so she quit and went back to the same kind of job (short term fix) rather than finishing a degree that would have gotten her out of the situation (a long term fix)...bad decision. Regarding her financial burden on society, the difference between the taxpayer paying her tuition v/s paying her unemployment is that the tuition payments would eventually end and she could contribute to the system; unemployment that carries her between crappy jobs never ends. You need to stop looking to the government for a solution to this problem because that's not what the government is for...YOUR MOM needs to fix her situation in life by changing her path. By the way, a job at Yokahoma isn't going to fix her problems long term, either...it's the same crap. She should go back to school and find a more lucrative career. With a 2-3 year nursing degree, she could be an RN and pull in $30K/year with guaranteed employment until the day she dies. A real estate license could pay twice that if sales and working with people are her cup of tea. Going back to school might be hard for a while since her income will drop DRASTICALLY. She'll definitely take a pay cut or work multiple part time jobs, may need to buy a more affordable car, may not be able to buy new stuff as often. You might have to help her pay her bills for a while. She might have to sell her house or move into a mobile home or subsidized apartment, but she could do it. It's not easy now, but it would pay off in the long run. If she had done it 30 years ago, she wouldn't be in the mess she's in today at 52.

Name: Leigh
Comments:
Wrong. She lived on unemployment until her first semester of college. She "quit" when she got called back to work on a promise that her job would be long term. Now that she's gotten laid off again, she doesn't want to go back to school (though I know she'll end up doing that) because yes, it was a struggle for her because she'd been out of school for so long. She'd much rather be working. Nobody's trying to get "overpaid," but there's a living wage that hasn't been presented to her with the jobs that she's looked into. Nothing's wrong with working at Volvo, but the problem is that it's a computer that does the picking of who gets called for an interview, and it's very random because so many people are trying to get the job. I'm not blaming corporations, I'm blaming the government. She's made NO poor decisions. Absolutely no poor decisions. If you call struggling to find a job when you're forced out of one you've had for 13 years a poor decision, there's got to be a problem. As we speak, she's out at the VEC in Roanoke putting in an application for Yokahoma Tire, but this is a computer-random-picked job as well. She's put in applications at about 10 other places, but it's the holiday season and demand for workers at these places are low, according to the VEC. And, your first statement was wrong, by the way... taxpayers are paying her way if she's on unemployment or in school, so there's absolutely no difference. Bottom line, she'd rather be working.

Comments:
So your mom had the opportunity to go back to school to do something other than blue collar work, but it was too "hard," so she quit and went on unemployment so that taxpayers could pay her bills for a few months, but she hasn't been able to take advantage of the temporary assistance. Now, the only skill she has (manual labor) is in such wide supply in the NRV that there's no demand for it, and you're blaming the corporations who won't overpay your mom for labor that's not needed and the government who won't give her unemployment for your crappy Christmas? Given the poor decisions she's made recently, the job at Volvo sounds like a good deal to me. She's no spring chick, granted, but what's so bad about working there?