Ancil Nance I When the Company Closes . . Plant closures and related unemployment result in another capital drain on an already hard-pressed state government. As unemployment increases, so does the need for social services, but these are the very agencies facing cutbacks. It is a contradictory and dangerous situation. The social services are absolutely necessary to counteract as best they can the terrible social and physical ailments that come with unemployment. Dr. Harvey Brenner has testified numerous times before Congress on this subject: A one percent increase in aggregate unemployment in the U.S. over six years leads to: •37,000 total deaths (20,000 cardiovascular) •920 suicides •650 homicides •4,000 state mental hospital admissions •3,300 state prison admissions The social costs of crime and death are part of a broader picture of family and personal crisis. Every community hit by closures finds rapid increases in spouse abuse, child abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, and broken marriages. The cost of this human suffering is staggering. —International Woodworkers of America, Department of Research, Education and Collective Bargaining Coordination Emergency Preparedness Portland weathered volcanic ashfall from Mt. St. Helens in the summer of 1980 and disabling ice storms and power outages in the winters of 1979 and 1980. During the ice storms hundreds of people called city and county offices needing food, medication, batteries, diapers, and reassurance. In both years it was clear that a good deal of inconvenience, danger, fear, and disorientation could have been avoided if people had had basic information on survival techniques and alternative resources close at hand when the power went out. In 1979 the City Club of Portland reviewed disaster planning, concluding that “the present situation is so serious
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz