Local 371 Raps ACS Plan Eliminating 390 Child Welfare Jobs

Members of District Council 37 Local 371 gathered outside the Administration for Children's Services Headquarters Dec. 3 to protest the impending loss of 390 Child Welfare Specialist jobs as ACS transfers the work to private agencies.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood James A MESSAGE TO ACS: District Council 37 Local 371 President Faye Moore, flanked by DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts (left) and City Councilman John C. Liu, lets Administration for Children's Services officials know what she thinks of plans to eliminate 390 jobs represented by the union.

Local 371 President Faye Moore was joined by the majority of DC 37's leadership, including Executive Director Lillian Roberts, as members poured onto both sides of William St. to rally for the second time in two weeks against job cuts being suffered by the local, after the Housing Authority announced cuts of 165 jobs the previous week.

'We'll Outlast Administration'

"This administration had decided that they don't like the public-sector workforce. That they know how to do this better. But we were here when they got here and we'll be here when they leave ... and nobody does it better," Ms. Moore told her cheering members.

The ACS plan, which was originally announced in March 2007 and was intended to take effect this past July, will close the Office of Contract Agency Case Management, which oversees children who have been placed in private foster care, and works with those private foster agencies. The work of this office will be farmed out to other private agencies, although Local 371 stated that these agencies have testified that they can't hire, train or retrain workers fast enough to carry out the switch.

The cuts have been pushed back until April 17, 2009, after legal challenges and City Council hearings, but the ACS is still moving to enact the office closing. At the rally, Ms. Moore decried "the arrogance of the administration that, just because of a change of vision, will get rid of 400 dedicated public civil servants. This is an affront to the people that do the work and the children who get the service," she added.

'Not About a Budget Cut'

But after the HA protests last week, Ms. Moore also emphasized that the cuts had been in place long before Wall Street's economic turmoil, unlike the HA community center closings. "This is not about a budget cut, make it clear. This is not about a fiscal crisis," she said. "This is an administration looking in the eyes of experienced, professional civil servants and saying, 'We don't want you anymore.' Well they have messed with the wrong union."

In a statement responding to the protest, ACS press secretary Sheila Stainback said that the agency "respects employees' rights to express their concerns during their lunch hours," but added that "we are in the second year of a change effort, Improved Outcomes for Children, that increases the oversight of private foster care and preventive services agencies and brings highly trained workers to the table throughout the City to take active part in key decisions regarding the safety of children. These new jobs are available to all of our workers, and many have applied for these new Improved Outcomes for Children positions."

Ms. Moore had the clear support of DC 37 on this issue, with many local presidents donning Local 371 sandwich boards to march among union members, and Ms. Roberts declaring, "One hundred twenty-five thousand people are upset about what's happening here. They're not going to throw away our civil service. It's very important to know that we'll do everything to make sure that those 400 jobs are in place."

'ACS Heartless and Ruthless'

Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal said in a phone interview that he couldn't bring himself to address the crowd personally because "when I got there and saw the workers, tears came to my eyes ... It's outrageous and it's heartless and ruthless. That's how I felt. I couldn't get myself to even go to the stage," he said. Mr. Rosenthal added that he was horrified at the very idea of privatization in the city and that "we should be ... taking a good hard look at the [private] company. What's the track record of this company? Who does a better job?" he asked.

City Council Members, who have supported Local 371 on the issue, also spoke, with Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn saying he and his colleagues had reacted with disbelief to the ACS plan. "I had a hearing, and I remember saying, 'Commissioner, you should talk to the people who do this work every day.'''

He continued, "Privatizing is a step in the wrong direction every time. I don't want to hear about someone making a problem, I want to hear about who's gonna help kids in need ... I don't want to hear this administration using this fiscal crisis as a reason to start down a path of layoffs across the board, because that's what they're going to try to do."

Sees Attempt to Privatize

Councilman John C. Liu of Queens added, "How can you possibly cut 400 people? These people who take care of the kids of New York City? It's unconscionable, it's immoral, and it's an insult. And not only to do that, but to put it in the guise of budgetary cuts and fiscal constraint. You know what they're gonna do, they're gonna turn around, they're gonna take more of the jobs of 371 members ... this is nothing more than a privatization effort."

AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott concurred that ACS's move was worrisome. "Frankly, on the surface of it, it looks like union-busting," he said. "This plan that's been proposed is a bad plan that does no good for anybody."