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BLOOMINGTON -- Today, the Green Party's 9th District
U.S. Congressional candidate, Jeff Melton, publicly criticized incumbent
Democrat Baron Hill for comments Hill made during a Feb. 1 appearance at
Ivy Tech State College.
"In Indiana, we have lost 30,000 manufacturing
jobs to such free trade agreements as NAFTA. Yet most of Hill's comments
were a defense, and a poor one, of 'free trade' and Fast Track
legislation." Melton noted that, while Hill claimed most of those
laid off by corporations such as G.E. and Otis Elevator would eventually
find higher-paying jobs, over 95% of net new jobs created since NAFTA
was signed have been in the service sector. Locally, service sector
workers earn only 65% of the pay of their manufacturing industry
counterparts, and are far less likely to have such basic benefits as
health insurance.
"I wasn't convinced, and I doubt many other people in the room
were, either," said Melton. "He couldn't produce any evidence
to support his claim save an anecdote about one person who got a good
job after being laid off, and when an audience member cited a study
finding significant income loss by NAFTA-downsized factory workers, all
he could say was that he didn't believe the study. He also claimed that
(corporate-friendly) globalization was inevitable, and that's just not
true. We can create economic institutions and agreements that are a lot
friendlier to the interests of working people than the ones he
supports," Melton said.
"So many of the students at Ivy Tech are people who have lost jobs
because of the policies Baron Hill supports," said Dave Johnson, a
Computer Technology Services employee at Ivy Tech. "I talk to them
every day, and their situation is totally different from the way Hill
portrays it. Students should not be penalized for trying to improve
their situation, but that's what's happening to a lot of them who were
laid off by companies like G.E. and Thomson."
Hill's response to another audience member's question shocked many in
attendance. "During the question period, a student who had been
laid off from G.E. told Hill that she had three kids, she was working
two jobs, she was trying to go to school, and she wasn't sure she would
be able to get a decent-paying job after she graduated," said IU
senior Rebecca Riall. "Hill told her not to worry, that she was
'young and attractive' and thus would find something. As a working
student myself, I found Hill's sexism and callousness to real survival
concerns unacceptable."
Melton agreed. "For an elected official in this day and age to make
a remark like that in a public forum is just astonishingly insensitive.
He also didn't seem very sensitive to the concerns of workers in
general, attributing them to 'fear of a global economy' rather than real
experiences of being unable to meet basic economic needs. But I guess
that's not surprising. While G.E. was destroying jobs in our community,
they were helping him keep his by contributing $2000 to his
campaign."
Contact: Rebecca Riall
Melton For Congress Campaign Committee
webmaster@meltonforcongress.org
http://www.meltonforcongress.org
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