Hundreds of ACS, DHS Workers Face Layoffs By End of September

FAYE MOORE: Layoffs aren't really about savings.

Hundreds of social service employees in the Administration for Children's Services and Department of Homeless Services are facing layoffs later this month as the deal between public-employee unions and the Bloomberg administration which prevented job losses for permanent workers for three months gets close to its expiration date.

More than 600 at-risk notices have been mailed out to the workers, who are members of Local 371 of District Council 37 and face the heaviest hit under the current city budget.

Three-Month Reprieve Dwindling

The Municipal Labor Committee's health-care savings agreement with the city in June included a threemonth stay of execution for any permanent civil servants facing layoffs, but with the Sept. 25 deadline fast approaching, few jobs have so far been saved.

"We're still thinking of ways to approach the city about saving these workers; that's part of the 30-day process," said Local 371 President Faye Moore in a phone interview. "It's basically about the same [as three months ago]. The number that have been taken off the table is really small."

JOHN B. MATTINGLY: Swinging a big axe.

The 600 at-risk notices does not necessarily translate into that many job losses, as some workers will be able to transfer into other departments facing less-severe cuts, but the casualties are still likely to be high.

The only headway made has resulted from budget changes engineered by the City Council, which will likely "restore about 105 jobs" of the 600 atrisk, Ms. Moore said.

But while ACS justified the layoffs in its budget as necessary because of a $62-million budget gap created by decreased state aid and lower city revenues, Ms. Moore alleged that the city's fiscal crisis had not played a large part in the layoffs.

'Change of Direction the Impetus'

"This started as a result of a plan that was created in March of 2007, not in response to the fiscal crisis," she said. "A lot of the layoffs in ACS, it's mostly because of a change of direction by the agency, not for fiscal reasons."

The largest cut, to 159 workers, is because of ACS's "Improved Outcomes for Children" plan, which involved the closing of the Office of Agency Case Management, which oversees foster care agencies who provide services for ACS.

Under Improved Outcomes for Children, the agencies are left to monitor themselves. "It's a contracting out of the work, and they're acquiescing oversight over the foster care system," Ms. Moore said. "They started closing [the Office of Agency Case Management] in July and moving the workers around."

Ms. Moore rejected the idea that any of the layoffs, or the city's inability to restore at-risk jobs, were tied to DC 37's recent endorsement of City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., who is running against Mayor Bloomberg in the November elections.

'Don't Think He's Playing Politics'

At the time of the endorsement, Mr. Bloomberg had stated that he had refused to "make irresponsible promises to win an endorsement" when appearing before DC 37's screening committee.

"The Mayor should restore the workers because it's good public policy. I wouldn't want to think that he's playing politics with the lives of children," Ms. Moore said. "The layoffs in child welfare cannot be tied to the endorsement because most of the layoffs are concentrated in the social service area."

She added that she felt Mr. Bloomberg and ACS Commissioner John Mattingly's plans were not political, but were "indicative of what the administration thinks of public-sector social services," saying, "It's a very deep cut, and the justification is because [they] want to do things another way."

When contacted, an ACS spokeswoman confirmed the layoffs were due to take place Sept. 25.