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.
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