Fecho de fábricas, baixos níveis de educação dos trabalhadores, difícil recolocação laboral, desemprego, pobreza... uma realidade tão semelhante à de certas localidades portuguesas a acontecer no estado do Oregon na costa Oeste dos EUA. Porque será que ficamos espantados? Faz lembrar outra razão de espanto.Segue um excerto do artigo de hoje do New York Times... where else?!
"OAKRIDGE, Ore. — For a few decades, this little town on the western slope of the Cascades hopped with blue-collar prosperity, its residents cutting fat Douglas fir trees and processing them at two local mills.
Into the 1980’s, people joked that poverty meant you didn’t have an RV or a boat. A high school degree was not necessary to earn a living through logging or mill work, with wages roughly equal to $20 or $30 an hour in today’s terms.
But by 1990 the last mill had closed, a result of shifting markets and a dwindling supply of logs because of depletion and tighter environmental rules.
(...)
Residents now live with lowered expectations, and a share of them have felt the sharp pinch of rural poverty."
Nota: o salário mínimo actual nos EUA varia de estado para estado, mas situa-se entre os $5 e os $7 por hora.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário