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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1981)
Some find hope in unions Women blast Reagan’s policies By JEFF BAKER 01 the Emerald Pres. Ronald Reagan's policies on women and families are an attempt to go “back to the Donna Reed days” when women stayed home with their children, several Eugene women agreed Thursday. Reagan’s social policies are the “cruelest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people” Eugene city coun cilor Cynthia Wooten said. But those policies will "only be successful if we don’t fight back,” Wooten said. Wooten’s was the only optimistic note sounded at the panel discussion on the impact of politics on families, women and children. State labor economist Margaret Simeral said the only real hope for women in the workplace lies with or ganized labor. Labor problems such as automation, childcare and the working poor only will become worse under Reagan, Simeral said. In response to a question, Simeral admitted that historically organized labor has been insensitive to women. But the labor movement represents the only hope for working women, she said, noting that some unions are becoming more progressive. Economist Jan Newton echoed Simeral's warnings. “Who is in the White House is the overriding factor in our lives,” Newton said. Sex segregation in the workplace is getting worse, she said. Jobs in areas that traditionally employ women have stratified even more since 1940, according to Newton. Women working in clerical services have increased from 57 percent to 80 percent, and from 48 percent to 62 percent in service industries. Health services have seen a similar increase, she said. These statistics indicate a continuing "ghettoization” of the work force between men and women, Newton said. "Women are being sucked into the jobs we’ve always had.” Another problem women are being sucked into involuntarily is exposure to toxic chemicals, Newton said. Unless women are extremely knowledgeable, they run the risk of being exposed to carcinogenic chemicals at work and in their home, she said. Many common household cleaners contain dangerous substan ces, Newton said. Emerald graphic “Women more than men face danger to their reproductive systems,” from toxic chemicals, she said. Reagan's supply-side economics al so were scoured by the panel. Eugene lawyer Marlene Drescher delivered a scathing analysis of the economic theory Reagan is banking on. The theoretical underpinnings of supply-side economics are across-the board 10-percent tax cuts, decreases in the federal budget, and rein statement of the free market, Drescher said. The Reagan administration believes people will save or invest the money they save on their taxes. Drescher said it is at least as likely people that will spend the money — which would con tribute to inflation. Cutting federal spending by $30 to $40 billion and increasing defense spending by a similar amount won't balance the budget, Drescher said. The budget areas Reagan is reducing are those that women and minorities depend on, she added. Finally, the free market theory of open competition is a good idea that is at least 100 years past its time, Drescher said. With 2,000 corporations producing 60 percent of America’s Gross National Product, pure free enterprise doesn't exist, she said. Supply-side economics was tested in Great Britain and caused 20 percent higher inflation, Drescher said. As a result, the money supply has been tightened and inflation continues, she explained Another adviser revered by the Reagan administration is George Gilder, whose bestseller "Wealth and Poverty” so impressed Reagan that he gave a copy to each cabinet member, according to Felice Nirenstein. One premise behind "Wealth and Poverty" is that women should be at home with their children, Nirenstein said. Jokingly attempting to "follow up the grim news with hope,” Wooten paid tribute to the women's movement before suggesting how it could im prove. “We need to move away from single issue politics and form a new coali tion,” Wooten said. If people would work two hours per week for local progressive groups, great social change would result, Wooten said. “Government cannot be and should not be the family of last resort.” Budget Continued from Page 1 programs don’t submit in dividual budgets to the IFC but submit their budgets to the EMU Board, which submits a recommendation to the com mittee. Students may not be as likely to notice the $17,800 cut in the EMU’s administration and house budgets as much as the program reductions. It is, how ever, no less significant, McMil lan says. "I think they (students return ing in the fall) would find that we won’t be able to keep the build ing picked up and dusted and floors won’t be maintained,” she says. “Over time, things would begin to look pretty run down.” The cuts wouldn’t require laying off of any janitors, but also wouldn’t allow the replacement of a custodial supervisor who is retiring this year, according to the projec tion. Several janitors would be put on seven rather than eight hour shifts. IFC chairer Jon Neiderbach has suggested the EMU admin istration is overstaffed and could be trimmed instead of the custodial jobs. McMillan dis agrees. The administrative budget was cut 20 percent in 1976, and can't sustain any more cuts, she /\_— says. "I just don’t see where you can find any fat." EMU administration presently has only one full-time cashier, one full-time secretary and no full-time receptionists. The EMU is required to maintain accounting, payroll and sche duling offices, McMillan says. The associate EMU director’s position was eliminated several years ago. The seven professional staff members, who have faculty sta tus, cannot be released from their contracts until expiration. The IFC cut $30,000 from the board’s budget recommenda tion last year, which would have limited the union to a 5.4 pay percent increase. It also neces sitated the elimination of two custodial positions and an $11,000 reduction in the main desk budget. The committee, which cut more than 9 percent from ASUO program budgets, held the un ion to a 2.7 percent pay increase since. The administration is expect ed to finish its review of the IFC budget before the end of spring term. f-Save At-1 ! LAZAR’S BAZAR ! FREE PIPE SCREENS WITH THIS COUPON (Limit one coupon per customer) Must be 18 or older Expires June 30 No Purchase Necessary j J LAZAR S BAZAR \ ] RECORDS AND PIPES J 1036 Willamette Street j and 164 W. 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