European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By William e. Schmidt new York times i a a Donald and Mary Dalton of Waterloo Owa followed Alj the rules and held last to the american dream. They worked five Days a week saved  Money and raised. Five children. A so meday i hey h Ope d or d be lie Ved they would re i ire to a Lake in Minnesota. A a. Then in the mid-1980s, the Bottom dropped from their. Lives. Like millions of other working people around a. America in the last decade the a i ions were swept into a kind of economic free fail. A a at Middle ago they became casualties of the new and. Sometimes brutal order remaking the nation a. Workplaces. Quot a a a so me p Eop  Peci ally i Host in Low wag e work have lost ground just by standing still. They stayed at their jobs through a decade or More in which inflation Rose faster. Than wages their Money has bought less each year a withering the belief in economic self improvement that is so dear to americans. A a a a. According to the Bureau of labor statistics the earnings of american production workers  nonagricultural industries declined sharply from 1970 to Quot 1989. A. A a a workers who were earning an average of $186.94 a week in 1970 were making just $172,74 in 1980, when. Inflation is taken into account and Only $166,52 in 1989,others like the Dalton paid an even steeper Price. Battered for More than a decade by non Union a competitors and falling profit a t he a i no r Al my at a a a packing p Ian t where Dalton had we Rke d for 38 be a is Well bankrupt and closed its doors. A a -. A As other . Town Laid of workers the. Grocery that employed mrs. Dal i Ori Lor 2.1 years went out of. Bus Ness. A. A. Quot a. Datton lost m Ost of h i Ompa by pension i n a Tut i i e a a attempt by. Employees to keep the Plant running. Within a two years the Dalton so income Felt to $6,000 a year from $35,000 a a a a a pm a. The couple found themselves in their 50s, suddenly a Quot Sera my Ling to1 survive burning up their theager savings Quot and living off. Food is amps and whatever work they could find. A. -. Quot i did t expect to  of our lives to have it. Corne to this Quot said mrs. Dallon who is now a clerk at the local Wal Mart making $4.75 an hour. Quot Aher h u band took o n   g Rorri j an Ilo rial jobs to a parking cars at the dog track Kritil illness Oreed him into disability. Quot a a a. -. A -. A Quot to never meant to  jobs Quot he said. Quot they quit on us Quot a a a. -. A -. A a. In recent month s. Anxiety Over climbing Oil prices has. Added to fears of a deep recession \ a Quot a a but. For Many men and women who planned their Quot a futures on the Assumption that their Blue Collar fobs i factories Stoms. The construction Industry and in a hospitals would provide economic Security., the real damage has already been done and is Likely to remain Long after the latest swing or two of the economic. Quot a.  -. -. -. A a Over to h Al a St decade i and u St r i is pressed by Low a wage competitors overseas among other la Clors have  w urk Farcas or closed aging factories. A eliminating More than 850,000 jobs in manufacturing. -.1 Mostof which paid Welt. In their place have come Miff tons of new . Only , jobs Gene rally pay less and. Offer fewer a. Benefits Many Aie part time what of Ergo is is an Economy r kid led with sometimes. Cruel ironies an Economy measured in recent years by falling unemployment rates and record Levels  a creation but also an Economy in which More and More people have All they can by to make ends meet and afford Basic needs. According to the Center on budget and policy. A priorities in Washington which studies economic lends. The number at working people whose incomes fell below the poverty level has increased by 26 percent since. 1978. The p Overty. Teve i is $12,675 for a f am i Lyol four a these economic shocks ripping through society. Produce countless varieties of havoc. A a. Donald and Mary Dalton who lost the jobs that they had held for years in Waterloo Iowa a we never meant to quit our jobs. They quit on  s fighting hard to keep from sliding Back. Blacks most of whom a. Unlike Whites a Are just now. Struggling to enter the Middle class must spend much of their Money and. Energy caring for relatives and friends a who lag behind. A a Young people who hoped to skip College and follow their fathers into stable Blue Collar work confront instead a Bleak array of jobs paying barely More than the -. Minimum wage always with the threat of Layoff just. Ahead. It a. A a a a a. A the dismantling of the. Old Blue Collar world has left.  debris in nearly every town and City in America. In Ware Shoals s.c., most of the 900 workers at the Reigle textile Plant the town s largest employer either. Retired or left town when the company crippled by Low Quot Cost foreign imports closed its factory for Good in the. Mid-1980s. A. A a. A a a and in Berkshire county in Massachusetts Plant a closings by both general electric and Sprague electric a permanently eliminated hundreds of Good paying. Manufacturing jobs in. The late 1980s. A. A. Lawrence Mishel the research director at the. A. Quot economic policy Institute in Washington a group that. -. Studies Job and wage trends said the shift toward lower. Paying jobs has profound effects that go beyond simple. Questions of income and poverty. A a Quot what happens to families where both the parents Are. Now working More hours just to , often at crazy. Hours  than one Job?&Quot.he  does this do to ouf notions about traditional values and ?-.1 during a week of conversations with dozens of people in Waterloo a manufacturing City of 70 000 people in northeastern Iowa these kinds of deep worries were a mentioned again and again by Many of the very people a. Who Are now trying to make sense of their own place in. The new Economy people who work but who Are barely making a living y a. A. -. Like Many others the Dalton have been forced to a  dreams. With the help of friends they were. A Able to hang on to then three bedroom House in. Reinbeck near Waterloo. A a but there Are no vacations now and no More talk of a retirement  a a a a -. Just five years ago cynics in Waterloo used to joke will the last one out of Waterloo please turn out the  a. A a.  a Back then local unemployment was 12 percent. The a Rath meat packing Plant had just closed permanently. Laying off More than 1,000 workers and the John Deere. Factory a the town s economic Anchor and largest /. Employer the place generations there have referred to. As papa John a was  than half its workers. Home for  a a a hard hit by the sinking agricultural Economy which dried  Market for its tractors and other farm. A ,. Machinery Deere reduced its employment in Waterloo to 6,200from 16,300&Quot y a. Amid this gloom voters elected Bernie Mckinley As. Mayor y y y Quot a a a a a a. As a former insurance Man who used to preach at. Motivational seminars for company salesmen Quot. A. Mckinley s buoyant optimism seemed the perfect torn a a for the times.  before business people a and City officials he preached an insistent gospel of civic self Assurance. A a a Quot we can be anything we want to be if we just set our minds to it Quot  the City Council and then exacted a pledge from his fellow civic leaders that. Waterloo would do whatever was necessary to add 1,000 new jobs each year. A y a Quot a in fact Mckinley and the City a economic development boosters have done far More than that. In fou years Waterloo and surrounding Black Hawk county have added. 8,000 new jobs and More than 120 new businesses. A a. A. A a -. Some Aie manufacturing jobs in Small non Union shops. But most Are service jobs in the new health centers and strip malls and other businesses that have appeared along roadsides emblems of Waterloo s a growing non Industrial Job base. A. A. Mckinley a nastily dressed Man who drives a Blue a a Cadillac likes to fake visitors on Tours of the new -. Waterloo. He shows them the $2 million renovation at a  on the South Side.  new. Motels and a sleek greyhound racing track that employs 200 people. A a Quot a a y Northwest o town near the Airport two new. Telemarketing companies employ a total of 400 people. Quot a and in the Cornfields East of the town the biggest a Quot catch of All the factory of Imp inc., formerly Iowa beef processors. Quot a a a. If the old Rath Plant represented what used to be a an old in efficient Behemoth eight stories High where a. Workers earned  $-1 o an hour and full benefits. A Imp is the new wave it built a sleek,.$50 million. Wages under a new contract with the. United food an commercial workers Are just $6.50 an hour and. Everyone pays $30 a month Tor minimum family health coverage. Quota. A Mckinley acknowledges thatch work Payson Lya fractional the wages and Benefit  once earned. A at Ralh or. The e $ 17. An hour s i Pai d at j Ohn de e re a. A b it b before. In p Cam e her Ewe had. P Eop Jeri d in g uj3 to a. Charles City More than. 100 Miles round trip just to work in a Chicken factory for $3,75 an hour Quot he said quo these. Days jobs Don t pay what the old jobs did but any Job is better than no Job Quot. A. A in the living room of John Terrones Small  s e. In nearby Cedar f Al i s i s a c cardboard Box piled Quot High with travel booklets Bright Glossy brochures put out by state tourist agencies in South Carolina Michigan and Colorado. Quot a a a late at night after his two Hildron Are put to bred. Terrones says lie sits Down and browses. To rough the. Catalogues lingering Over the photographs of sunsets y and Green mount a  apes -. A a Quot i Don t know if i ii Ever be Able to really see any of a. Y  said Terrones 30, who works.40 hours each week As an orderly at a nearby nursing Home a a. Where he is paid-$4.20 an hour Quot but this Way at least i can say i know it nth Tiev Laak 1 every Hoo weeks. Terrones bungs Homo about $9p0 on weekends he makes a few dollars Moie. Cleaning houses or doing Yard work for neighbors for $5 an hour out of that he pays rent of $150, a car payment of $131 and Utility Bill s of about $ 100 the Telephone costs another $25 and Gas that much More again. In the end there is barely enough left Over Tor groceries a terpenes Wile Linda does not work. She has to stay Home with their son Tony 2, who has developmental problems and can neither speak nor sit up. A. This year because of Tony s medical disability the Terrones began receiving supplemental social Security payments of about $386 a month. Y. Still the family s annual income totals bar Ely $ 13,000, which puts then just Over the poverty line Quot Quot the looked around for other jobs but they All pay around $5 an hour Quot said Terrones who has. Worked m the past As a clerk in a last food restaurant and As a school janitor a a. A when Terrones graduated from High school in Cedar. Falls in 1979, he said he hoped to be a Cook and a y someday run his own restaurant. These Days he will Quot Settle for something much simpler. Quot what. I wish Lor now is a decent Job at decent wages Quot he said. Quot someday id like to be Able to live without having to scrimp for every  y from his rectory windows the Rev. George Karma can see the towers of the old Rath packing Plant. A y abandoned it looms Over St John s roman Catholic Church and the surrounding neighbourhood a Symbol of a time that has gone and will probably never return the City would like to tear Down the old packing Plant at one time the worlds. A a a a. A. Largest employing 7,000 workers and turn the site. Into a riverfront Industrial Park. But the plans will have to wait the a  alone is. Estimated at $5 million., re c tic i w stoics on the Edge of Toun. Mil to acts on a to vat Ere Imp is looking for Woi Kors and Llu v Don t think people am hungry or need help Quot. A a Giov ving Oliaro of the Lood Bank s be Mients Are now working people Toney said Quot they have lobs Quot she said Quot but what difference does it make 4 those Obs just Don t pay a living wage7&Quot. Jethroe Parsons his wite Linda and to Weir three Young daughters live m a Lumby Fown House on the Edge of downtown Waterloo. Bod shots and blankets Are stretched Over the windows in place of curtains. A a the living loom and dining room Aie empty except for a plaid sofa and a plastic milk Box that the Parsonss turn upside Down and use sometimes As a  As a dining table. A two months ago they moved from Milwaukee s inner City seeking steady Woik and a bettor life in Wisconsin they were living in Public housing in n neigh boyhood plagued with drug dealing and crime. Parsons said he had worked there but the jobs wore. Usually in the suburbs arid Only paid a dime or so above a minimum wage. A. At ii St the Par senses thought they had stick Gold in. Iowa. Both were hired at ,.working separate shifts and earning about $400 a week Between them a. Their children were in Good schools and they found a. Three bedroom House to rent for just $325 a month. But mrs. Parsons became ill and had to quit then Parsons pulled his thumb out of its socket on the Job. And he said he got into a dispute with a Foreman Over. Whether he was  come Back to work. A y company officials. Said that was not the problem. They. Quot said he missed too Many Days of work during his a 90-Day probationary ,. A a. Period he was dismissed. In Early november and is. A a now looking Tor work a Quot you can t begin to absorb what it Means when a Plant like that. Quot closes Quot said Karma. A a. Y. A a. A a Quot. The City has changed to the South and to the Wesl of. Waterloo there Are. New stores and new houses even a1&Quot whole new High Rise office Complex where Mckinley Hopes As Many As 2,000 workers will be someday. Quot. But on the. Of East Side there is a feeling of a place Quot and of people left  j Quot ,. A Al and Myrna Costa used to stand behind the bar at babe s tavern and count out As much As $100,000 in Cash every payday waiting on the regulars who would. Stop in after their shift ended to Cash their paychecks and have a few cold ones. Y a. A a Quot now i m Lucky if i see a couple of social Security checks Quot said Costa who not Long ago. Had to take a second Job himself working As a Bank  he and his wife could keep the bar open. A Quot a Quot used to be. You worked hard you figure you got someplace Quot Cost said. Quot now i got to work two jobs to  Quot -. Quot y a ,.the changes Sadden Karma. Quot the Days the weeks. A used to have a rhythm for people Quot he said Quot people came Home at night. They had. Weekends now people got to Settle for whatever jobs they can  work Odd hours they come and go at different times of the Quot -. Day. They  they can Quot. A a. Quot inthe waiting room of the Cedar Valley food Bank a half dozen people sit on folding Metal chairs it is Quot. Whenever someone  the door no one looks up. A Volunteer is at. The front of the room every so often she Calls out a number and a person stands up. And. Steps Forward to fetch a cardboard Box in which there Are breakfast Cereal and Rice cakes Day old baked goods Quot and butter crackers and cookies.   of the food Bank said the. Number of hungry people who Are coming in for he a has stayed constant or grown slightly o ver the last four years. Despite the thousands of new jobs in town a a meanwhile  Money and food have declined. Quot people done to want to Hoar the bad news Quot. Toney said. They hear about All these jobs and they. A hese Days jobs done to pay what the old jobs did. But any Job is better than no Job. Quot Well n Inko it. One Way  other Quot Parsons. 1. Said he said to had been. . To the employment office  were other jobs which pay mini turn wage a mostly As a night janitor or  Homo. Orderly All Quot in All we re Stril belter off Here than in Milwaukee Quot he a said. Quot half a loaf is still Botler than none in Wisconsin we a did t even have any  a. A a Quot. A a As the economic landscape of Waterloo h a / a a changed so have the demographics of work and play.  Rath  at Lull Speed and Deere employed Wico Iho people said Adrian Erickson the a owner of the town s biggest Bowling Egupor . Cadillac lanes to used to work around the clock running -. Quot Industrial leagues. Quot a  As recently As 1982, nearly 12,000 men and women -. Were enrolled in leagues in  Cadillac lanes 50 alleys. Last year league membership fell below 5 too -. Quot -. A Quot people Don t have the big Ponyi or t k 3 a Moro quo Erickson said. Quot and they Don t have the Leisure time Botti a the husband and Wile work  one Job Quot Quot. V Quot Quot a. Nearby at local 838 of the United automobile workers the average age of the member t up h i a. Climbed steadily As the Union s n Siembt r a no Roll i Rye declined a. K. A a. A Lay Olls at John Deere took the younger workers now most Deere workers Are men with at least 14 years of. Seniority those in their Early to .rnid-40sy said Jim Schuler the unions regional representative. -. A Quot Young people Don t really have much of a Chance a a Here anymore Schuler said recalling the  when As a a High school student in Waterloo he would talk with a Quot a. Friends about whether they would try to got a Jot at rail i or Deere after graduation. Quota. Quot nowadays you  the kids and they re talking a a about Arhat state they re going to go to to look for work Quot. J a Story about the problems of Middle class Blacks in the untied states will appear in tomorrow s daily Magazine a. A a a Page 14 the stars and stripes monday december 17,1990 the stars and stripes a Page 15 \