|
Making welfare work
|
 |
September 27, 1996: 7:42 p.m. ET
New York City's workfare plan tests strength of political balance
From Correspondent Allan Dodds Frank
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The passage of the new welfare reform law means hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients could soon be looking for government-supported work.
Known as workfare, the new programs pose some serious problems for government officials and union leaders as they strive to maintain some political balance.
One of the places those battles is currently being waged is New York City, where 33,000 union workers in the city's transit system are fighting what promises to be the most important labor battle of the decade.
The workers are concerned about a proposed contract embraced by union president Willie James that would give welfare recipients 500 jobs presently held by transit union members.
The New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority pressured James -- once a welfare recipients himself -- into accepting the deal by threatening to privatize 2,000 union jobs. Although this battle is one of the first since welfare reform became law, other unions across the country are facing similar challenges.
The 500 new transit workers will be under the workfare program mandated by new federal welfare laws requiring 2 million or more welfare participants to work for their assistance checks.
Although many of his fellow union members don't like the plan, James said it could help many welfare recipients become self-sufficient again.
"They have a future if they are serious and they work hard. This union and management will go to the department personnel to help them and train them to get gainfully employed within the transit authority and also then become dues-paying members of the Transport Workers Union," James said.
Under the proposed contract, welfare recipients will clean subway and bus facilities, tasks which are currently done by union members who earn much higher wages and receive benefits.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the transit deal is off-track because it threatens to harm the balance he has struck with organized labor. Giuliani had previously told union representatives that welfare recipients would only be used to do work not previously being done.
"You have to be very careful when you place workfare workers to make sure you are not displacing permanent jobs. In New York City, we have the largest workfare program in the country by a lot and there is nobody close to us. We've placed 35,000 people in jobs that hadn't been done by anyone for a long time," he said.
For the 1.1 million members of the Service Workers International and other unions, workfare is already a national challenge. Andrew Stern, the union's president, said workfare programs are a good idea as long as they don't displace people who currently hold good jobs. (148K WAV) or (148K AIFF)
While the battle to implement workfare programs is just beginning, the outcomes of those early struggles may well determine the level of wages, benefits and job security for millions of workers across the nation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Official MTA Home Page
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
