Public Employee Press

Local 1549 fights to save 400 food stamp jobs

As the Human Resources Administration prepared to replace 400 trained and experienced provisional Eligibility Specialists with permanent civil service employees by the end of March, Clerical-Administrative Local 1549 and DC 37 urged the City Council to hold hearings on staff shortages at Food Stamp Centers throughout the city.

“We understand HRA must comply with the Long Beach court decision on replacing provisionals. Once HRA exhausts the current Eligibility Specialist list, provisionals can be retained until a new list is established. We need the agency to expedite a new exam so these provisional workers can become permanent civil servants,” said Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez.

Staff shortages
With unemployment rising, he said, “Don’t let the provisionals go. We need them to handle the overload. The city needs to hire more Eligibility Specialists — not lay off workers already on the job because they have not passed the civil service exam,” Rodriguez said.

Over the last two years Local 1549 has discussed the staff shortages at Food Stamp locations and call centers with HRA management, which is pushing to enroll more people in the federally-funded food stamp program to address a need that has grown as the recession has deepened.

“Total confusion at many food stamp centers deters people from applying,” said Clerical Division Director Ronnie Harris.

“The lines are out the door. Our members are seeing people laid off from Wall Street who have never been in the system before,” said Local 1549 Chapter Chair Alvin Williams.

“Management is pressuring our members to take short cuts and meet quotas to process thousands of applicants,” said Assistant Director Ron Arnero. “Managers ask members to process at least seven cases a day, ‘click in’ clients before they are interviewed and process incomplete applications, just to show clients are served promptly — violating HRA policy and procedures.”

Council hearings needed
“If the city would retain the provisional Eligibility Specialists by giving an education and experience exam, it would be a win-win situation,” Rodriguez offered. These employees would not have to be trained and could enroll a half-million new clients, reducing the threat of workplace violence in the overloaded centers.

HRA management asked the union for staff to work the late shift and now the earlier shift, the local said, even though the city has cut out overtime pay. The union resisted the proposed new schedule because it would not alleviate the heavy backlog of work.

Despite calls for layoffs and service cuts, the mayor spent $800,000 to implement fingerprint technology that last year detected only 35 cases of fraud among the city’s 1.1 million food stamp recipients.

The union plans to ask city lawmakers to seek increased aid from the Obama administration to run the food stamp program. “Our new president says we should save jobs, but HRA plans to do the opposite. We’re asking the City Council to take a practical look at what HRA is doing,” Rodriguez said.

—DSW