Losing it All

With no unemployment left, Norman Abel and his wife Vicki struggle to make ends meet after Norm’s serious accident.

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North America is the world’s richest industrial economy, with the most productive workforce on earth. But for how much longer? What will be left if we continue selling off our best jobs?
Revitalizing North
America's Might


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Demand for new trucks plummeted when high interest rates clobbered
the economy. Freightliner laid off 1,700 workers in Portland, Oregon.

Interest Rates Spike 1700 Portland Jobs

The boom could never bust, or so it seemed. In the late 1990’s, Freightliner’s Portland plant churned out 112 trucks per day. Two shifts and lots of overtime vanished as interest rates soared.

Today, the lots for finished trucks are almost empty. The Freightliner membership at Local 1005 plunged to 900, down 1,700 in a year.

Norm Abel made quality control fixes to the trucks, and was at the top of the pay scale. “It was awesome pay, about $800 per week, enough to pay our bills, take care of our kids and go out to dinner sometimes.

“March 30, 2001 was my last day. My income dropped to about $240 per week, after taxes, on unemployment. It was hard, but we kept our faith in the Lord and hoped we’d survive.”

Norm’s wife Vicki tracks the family finances. “Unemployment was no match for how much Norm made at Freightliner,” she said. When the $800 per month offer for medical insurance under COBRA came, “I was shocked. We needed the coverage, but we couldn’t live off unemployment and pay COBRA, too.”

With unemployment running out, Norm enrolled in truck driving school. His first long-haul job kept him away from his family too long and the pay was terrible. So, he landed a job with a local company.

Last November, Norm was riding off-road motorcycles near Mt. Hood. Disaster struck. A serious accident left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

“If our only option was COBRA, we would have gone bankrupt and lost our house, everything. We’d be living in a box under the Burnside bridge,” said Vicki.

After the accident, Vicki quit her part-time job to care for Norm. Their income is almost non-existent. Help from family and friends gets them by for now.

“I’m happy to be alive.’ said Norm, “When things are going great, don’t take it for granted. At Freightliner, the medical, pay and benefits were worth everything. When it stops, there’s not a lot out there to replace it.”