OPINION/FROM PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
A5
Think less about liberties and more about community well-being
OTHER
VIEWS
Steven Locke
G
rowing up in a rather large
family where we had a
rather Darwinian surviv-
al-of-the-fittest perspective, our
father used to gently admonish
us with the phrase “To hell with
you Mac, I’m aboard, pull up the
ladder.”
As dad was trying to teach us a
valuable lesson, my mind worked
overtime picturing hobos trying
to board a moving train, and one
hobo pulling up the ladder before
the rest could board. I thought
that Dad has been listening to too
many Woody Guthrie songs about
riding the rails.
My older brother disagreed,
pointing out that Dad was a
Marine during WWII, fight-
ing his way up the island chain
towards Japan. He pictured Dad
and a bunch of Marines have
just returned from losing half of
their company on some nameless,
steamy tropical island. What is
left of the company is climbing up
the nets over the side of a troop
ship; exhausted, tired and angry.
Shells are still exploding around
the ship and there is the constant
worry of an errant Kate or Val
bomber that could make a bad
day even worse. As an exhausted
Marine drops over the gunwale
onto the deck, he says, “The heck
with everyone else, pull up the
ladder.”
My brother is probably right.
Dad was a Marine where coop-
eration and looking out of oth-
ers were essential for survival.
Marines were weighted down
with 80 pounds of guns, gear and
ammo as they tried to climb up
and down cargo nets in heaving
seas and could have used an extra
boost climbing in and out of those
landing crafts.
Dad once told us a story
of grabbing an overloaded,
exhausted Marine who had lost
his grip as he was crawling up a
cargo net and pulled him aboard
before he was crushed between
the Higgins boat and the troop
carrier. As a Marine he learned
a valuable lesson of cooperation
and looking out for others.
Collaborating and thinking
of others paid off for Dad in the
South Pacific during WWII and
later when he moved to Wal-
lowa County and bought a ranch.
He became a schoolteacher,
4-H leader, school board mem-
ber, helped start and build the
Day Camp and Ferguson Ridge
ski run. He was a member of the
ditch company where he ironed
out differences, settled disputes
and made sure everyone got their
share of irrigation water. Upon
retiring he spent three years in
Ecuador as a Peace Corps volun-
teer. Similar to others like Jack
McClaran, Bob Anderson and
Harold Klagas, to name just a
few, they were always thinking
of how their individual actions
affected people in their commu-
nity. They were always giving,
and reminding us that as a com-
munity we had to think less of
our individual liberties and more
about the health and well-being of
the community.
So how does Martin
Niemöller’s missive on collab-
oration and looking out for oth-
ers apply to Wallowa County? It
doesn’t. The communists want to
take our guns and tell us when to
cut the alfalfa and when we can
take our cows out to the hills. The
socialists want to tax us and take
our money and spend it by giving
away free stuff. Wallowa County
doesn’t have any trade unionists
(thank goodness) and besides that,
they are kind of like socialists; we
don’t need them either. Not sure
about the Jewish community but
they have Israel to worry about
and certainly don’t need to get
worked up over Wallowa County.
So that just leaves us … The
hell with you Mac, I’m aboard,
pull up the ladder?
———
Steven Locke is a retired pro-
fessor of education who has
worked and lived extensively in
Latin America and China. He
grew up and currently lives on his
family ranch outside of Joseph.
Workers:
Continued from Page A1
It’s also stressful for
employees to enforce the
mandate with customers,
some of whom refuse to
comply.
“It definitely wears on
(employees),” Brown said.
In addition, Brown said
he recently had four employ-
ees, all of whom are fully
vaccinated, test positive for
COVID-19.
Although none had
severe symptoms, they had
to miss work for 10 days,
which forced a reduction in
his restaurants’ hours.
The surge in COVID
cases driven by the more
contagious delta variant has
affected other restaurants in
Baker City.
Dairy
Queen,
for
instance, posted a sign on
its window stating that the
restaurant would be closed
for two weeks, starting Sept.
3, due to staffing shortages
resulting from COVID-19.
Dairy Queen was slated to
reopen, with regular hours,
on Sept. 18.
Some employers have
attributed the workforce
shortage to expanded federal
unemployment payments.
But even though those
benefits ended in early Sep-
tember, Brown said he’s
not optimistic that this will
result in an influx of poten-
tial workers.
The scarcity of workers
has had an obvious effect on
the restaurant sector, with
many businesses, in Baker
City and elsewhere, reduc-
ing hours, and in many cases
closing altogether on some
days.
Hungry for workers
Among Eastern Ore-
gon counties, Baker County
saw the largest percent-
age decrease of workers
employed in the leisure and
hospitality industry, drop-
ping nearly 17%, or 120
workers, between July 2019
and July 2021. Harney
County saw an increase of
3%, or 10 workers during the
same time period, and Uma-
tilla County saw the largest
total decrease of employ-
ment in the sector, losing
180 jobs from July 2019 to
July 2021.
Across all industries in
Eastern Oregon, leisure and
hospitality saw the biggest
decrease in employment
from July 2019 to July 2021,
dropping 8.2% from its 2019
levels for a total loss of 570
jobs. The second hardest hit
industry was manufacturing,
which saw a 6.6% decrease
along the same time period
for a total loss of 570 jobs
as well. Compared to the
rest of the state in regards
to employment, however,
the leisure and hospitality
industries were in far less
dire straits in Eastern Ore-
gon — Oregon overall saw
nearly a 20% decrease in
employment within the sec-
tor; far above any other
industry with regards to job
losses.
Other Eastern Oregon
counties didn’t fare much
better. Union registered a
10.3% drop in leisure and
hospitality workers since
July 2019. Malheur County,
which borders Idaho and
remained open for much of
the pandemic, saw a 9.75%
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
An acryllic painted “closed” sign reflects in the mirror at the Sumpter Junction restaurant in
Baker City on Wednesday, Sept.15, 2021. The restaurant has been closed for 18 months due to
the pandemic and an inability to find workers.
decrease in the sector, while
Umatilla County saw a
6.8% drop, beating out the
regional average. Surpris-
ingly, Wallowa County saw
only a marginal decrease
from its July 2019 numbers;
it lost just 10 jobs.
Unsurprisingly, the man-
ufacturing jobs lost aren’t
affected by seasonal employ-
ment changes normally seen
in the leisure and hospitality
industries. Still, manufactur-
ing in Eastern Oregon lost
200 jobs from the start of the
pandemic in March 2020.
Morrow County saw an
8.4% decrease in workers in
the manufacturing industry
since July 2019; a drop of
160 workers. Not to be out-
done, Umatilla County reg-
istered a neat 10% decrease
of workers within the same
sector, within the same time
period, numbering 340 lost
jobs. Baker and Union coun-
ties saw a 5% decrease in
the sector during the same
period, corresponding to
30 and 70 workers lost,
respectively.
At Behlen Mfg. Co.’s
plant in Baker City, where
110 employees weld and
otherwise assemble gates,
panels, troughs and other
livestock equipment, main-
taining a full workforce
during the pandemic has
been “challenging,” said
Stacy Delong, the plant’s
human resources manager.
Only 30 jobs were lost
in the Baker County manu-
facturing industry from July
2019 to July 2021, repre-
senting a 5% decrease.
However, Delong said
Behlen, a Nebraska com-
pany that opened its Baker
City factory in 1996, has
been “fairly successful
recruiting new applicants
the last couple of months.”
Among the company’s
techniques was setting up
an electronic reader board
on Campbell Street, Baker
City’s busiest thoroughfare,
advertising a job fair at the
factory on Aug. 18.
“We found that to be suc-
cessful,” Delong said.
She said she hopes that
the end of the federal unem-
ployment payments will per-
suade more people to apply
for jobs at the Baker City
plant.
Behlen’s goal is to add
about 40 workers, to a total
of 150, by the end of 2021.
“Our approach has been
to broaden community out-
reach through commu-
nication and to best uti-
lize our current advertising
resources and simply engag-
ing current employees to
encourage friends and fam-
ily to apply,” Delong said.
“Fortunately, Behlen Coun-
try offers excellent benefits
and competitive wages. This
does give us slight edge over
other employers not able to
offer such benefits. We are
not there yet, there is a lot of
work to do.”
Delong said demand for
the company’s products has
continued to increase, “and
we don’t foresee any kind
of decline anytime in the
future.”
Out of woodwork
Another of Baker City’s
larger
manufacturing
employers is Marvin Wood
Products. The company,
which employs about 170
workers at its factory, would
like to hire about 30 more
employees, plant manager
Sandi Fuller said in June of
this year.
To entice people to apply
for jobs, Marvin Wood
Products earlier this year
boosted its entry level wage
to $17.73 per hour, plus a
50-cent bonus for people
who accept rotating shifts,
and other incentives includ-
ing signing bonuses of $500
and up to $1,500 to help
people move to Baker City.
Shelly Cutler, executive
director of the Baker County
Chamber of Commerce, said
she has recently heard “pos-
itive feedback” from some
businesses that have strug-
gled to retain their work-
force, although she said she
doesn’t know of any local
restaurants that are fully
staffed.
Cutler said she believes
the county is in the “very
early stages of recovery.”
She is optimistic that the
cessation of federal job-
less benefits, combined with
higher wages and incentives
Business owner Tyler Brown poses for a photo inside Sumpter
Junction, one of his restaurants, on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
The restaurant has been closed since March 2020 following
statewide shutdown orders that shuttered businesses across
the state to fight the pandemic. Sumpter Junction has yet to
reopen due to a lack of workers.
some businesses are offer-
ing, will entice people to
re-enter the workforce.
Cutler also said she has
been sending an increasing
number of relocation pack-
ets to people who might
be interested in moving to
Baker County — including
younger people who would
need a job.
Anna Johnson, a senior
economic analyst at Oregon
Employment Department,
wrote that difficult-to-fill
positions were largely unre-
lated to the pandemic.
“The phrase ‘no one
wants to work anymore’
was already a common rea-
son given for why vacan-
cies were difficult to fill,”
Johnson wrote. “Now, with
lack of applicants and lack
of qualified candidates still
being a major factor in hir-
ing difficulties, the reason
has expanded to become
‘no one wants to work any-
more… because of high
unemployment
insurance
benefits.’ ”
Johnson reported that
between April and June of
this year, only 14% of diffi-
cult-to-fill vacancies had rel-
atively high jobless benefits
reported as the primary rea-
son employers had trouble
filling job openings.
Johnson also noted
that leisure and hospital-
ity was the top industry for
the pandemic-related, dif-
ficult-to-fill
vacancies.
Among the hardest to fill
jobs were restaurant cooks.
Reasons for the vacancies
vary — among those offered
up include lack of child care,
high unemployment bene-
fit pay and low wages at lei-
sure and hospitality jobs.
According to the report, the
number of employers citing
low wages as the reason for
the vacancies grew to 15%
in spring 2021.
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