No work, No Relief
I am a union pipefitter/welder out of local 782. Because nothing is being built in Sussex County, I only managed to get about 13 weeks of work last year. Every worthwhile project was blocked. IE The Gasifier Project at Indian River Powerhouse. The effort going into blocking the DelPointe Resort Project. These are jobs that would have allowed me to get about five years worth of work and benefits, like my health and pension hours. The refinery in Delaware City was closed and thats usually about a third of my yearly income. And since my wife has had her hours cut (she is a locator and her job relies on construction being done in the area) I had trouble keeping up with my bills. I tried using a credit counciling service but they couldn’t help since my bills far exceeded my income. I tried to refinance or restructure my home loan but couldn’t refinance without a job and couldn’t restructure because of a home equity loan I had to take when my wife couldn’t work for a year because of cancer. So it seems that my only option is to keep trying to get by month by month while hoping my wifes hours don’t get cut any more than they have. We have given up alot to just “get by”. I had to resign as 39th district democrat chair because I was sure I would lose my house and have to leave the area. I am hopeful that in April when the scrubbers are built at Indian River Powerhouse I will get a couple of years of work to get caught back up, but its holding out until then that could be the problem.
Mike
