September 29, 2001
Union officials review county layoffs
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
Union officials are questioning the rationale behind layoffs at the Seneca County Job and Family Services Department and the way they were put into effect. However, the agency's director maintains the cuts were designed to minimize disruption of services.
Thirteen people, all clerks and other support staff, were laid off Sept. 14.
"These cuts not only affect experienced workers, they affect the community they serve," said Judy Kuebler, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1685. "It was pretty devastating."
For example, Kuebler said, the loss of four clerks in the child support division means that, in addition to handling more than 1,000 cases each, the caseworkers have to do their own data entry in addition to enforcement and investigative work. This, she said, will result in a significant slowdown in processing cases.
"Our support staff is not there any more," she said. "We're concerned about service."
Since the choice was between laying off caseworkers or clerks, department director Nancy Harvey chose clerks.
"Those are people who are not going to make as much of an impact on performance," Harvey said.
She acknowledged that the child support division will take longer to handle each case, now that caseworkers have to do their own clerical work. However, the division's job is to enforce child support orders, which requires caseworkers, she said.
"They were very good clerks," Harvey said, "but if I have to pick between direct services or clerical staff, I'm going to pick direct services every time."
The union also is upset about what it sees is a decrease in the ratio between union and management as a result of the layoffs. The ratio has been 4:1, but has dropped to 2.5:1, Kuebler said.
"They have eliminated the lower classification jobs and created new, higher paying positions," she said. "There was no management laid off, it was not across the board."
Harvey denied that was case.
What the union is calling management includes all people not covered by the collective bargaining agreement -- such as confidential secretaries -- that are in non-supervisory positions, the director said.
Since June, when the Legislature passed the current budget, Harvey has eliminated five of 27 non-union positions -- 19 percent -- through attrition and 22 of 62 union positions -- 26 percent -- through attrition and the layoffs.
"I saw, when the General Assembly passed the budget, things would be pretty grim," Harvey said.
While some supervisory positions were given new names and duties, she said, "I did not create any new supervisory positions," she said.
The layoffs also were not distributed evenly across the department's five divisions, Kuebler said. Child support lost four of 11 union positions, workforce development lost two of 10, eligibility enforcement -- which oversees assistance programs like food stamps -- lost one of 19, workforce development lost two of 10, the business office lost seven of 13, while children's services lost none of its 17 positions and about half of the division's employees received raises.
"It doesn't make sense," Kuebler said. "There's no money and that's why there's 13 layoffs."
Harvey said the seemingly scattershot nature of the layoffs are because they are the result of state budget cuts. State money for the county department is handed out to each of the divisions individually. Money earmarked for child support cannot be used for workforce development, for example.
Harvey said the $2.99-an-hour raise was a special case. For years children's services has suffered from an extremely high turnover rate among its employees-- many taking jobs in the surrounding counties that paid more -- resulting in inexperienced, and relatively less effective, staff, she said.
"I'm at the point where I have to do something to stabilize the situation," Harvey said.
Kuebler said the division's problem was not inadequate pay.
"These people didn't ask for the raise," the union president said. "They asked for training, they asked for leadership. Money was never an issue for them."
Harvey said the stabilization of the staff would allow the division's morale to increase. Instead of spending time recruiting and training new employees, managers would be able to give more support to the rest of the staff.
The ending of the contract for outside janitorial services has also upset the union.
"Employees must now take time from their normal job functions to do their own housecleaning," Kuebler said. "No other county agency that we know of has to clean their own bathrooms."
Harvey said the choice was between spending money on the contract or keeping two other jobs.
"I thought if I was an employee, I would rather have my job, even if it meant having to help clean the bathroom," she said.