CWA 1180 - HRA Watch

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HRA Stewards Organize "CYA" campaign
Union fights back as HRA management scapegoats 1180 members
March 2000

“You violated Human Resources Administration Code of Conduct…by failing to perform the required duties of your position….You failed and neglected to control and monitor your groups to ensure compliance with agency mandates and meet deadlines…. You caused undue hardship to families we service.”

Thus reads the beginning of three pages of disciplinary charges brought against one Local 1180 member by HRA. It is one of hundreds of similar cases that management has brought against 1180 members recently. There has been a marked rise in these disciplinary charges in the last year. And there is one thing you can be sure of: They are not motivated by management’s concern about the hardship suffered by HRA’s client population. So why this crackdown on the Principal Administrative Associates who supervise the city’s welfare cases?

"YOU are not responsible for management not being able to manage properly. "

“This agency wants to make us responsible for the Mayor’s agenda,” said Pat Greenidge, a PAA I at the DeKalb Job Center in Brooklyn. The “Mayor’s agenda,” of course, has been to slash the welfare rolls by denying assistance to people, making the application process impossibly cumbersome and forcing people into the labor market or demeaning workfare assignments. The legality of the city’s methods has come under increasing attack and court scrutiny. The city is currently a defendant in several lawsuits stemming from these policies. What better time for HRA to point the finger at its workers and blame them for the city’s failure to adequately provide for needy New Yorkers?

“You become the scapegoat,” said Shirley Mills, a PAA I at the Melrose Project in the Bronx. “They don’t see it as a management problem. They are blaming the workers and the supervisors, not the real culprits—the people who designed this sham.”

Local 1180 staff reps are meeting with HRA members to talk about the CYA campaign. Albert Van-Lare holds up a sample memo members can use to document their work problems.

The mounting disciplinary cases have become a serious problem for 1180 members at HRA, and stewards at the agency are beginning a campaign to fight back. The charges typically focus on cases handled by workers under an 1180 member’s supervision that have not been completed on time. Of course, there can be many legitimate reasons why these cases do not get taken care of in the prescribed time—but none of those reasons matter unless you document them!

“The writing is the main thing,” intoned Helena Crump at the January membership meeting. “If you don’t write, they don’t believe. You need it in black and white. They are very serious, going after your job,” she warned members. In the cases brought against 1180 members so far, the penalties range from a minimum of a five-day suspension to a recommendation for termination.

Crump and Greenidge are shop stewards at the DeKalb Center, where 1180 members have made a concerted effort to document the problems they face at their jobs. Members at DeKalb have not been brought up on disciplinary charges.

“If you don’t have the tools, you can’t do the job,” said Greenidge at the membership meeting. “But you have to write that you don’t have the tools. You have to tell the story of what’s going on. You have to have it on paper.”

“Everything is a priority”

“We want to be able to meet our deadlines! But it’s physically impossible,” explained Greenidge. This problem is all too familiar to many 1180 members at HRA. There is simply too much work, not enough workers and no way the job can get done on time. “We are being asked to do 29,000 things. There is no way my eligibility specialist is going to handle four shut-offs, an eviction and 25 photo IDs in a day. No way,” Greenidge added.

"If you don't have the tools, you can't do the job. But you have to write that you don't have the tools. You have to tell the story of what's going on. You have to have it on paper."

“There is an enormous amount of work. That is the biggest problem,” Virginia Myers, a PAA II at the Staten Island Job Center summed it up.

“I can do one thing at a time, but 10 things thrown at me at once—no. Everything has to be done yesterday. I feel totally overwhelmed,” said one 1180 member at HRA who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. The “atmosphere of fear,” as one steward put it, is another factor that many 1180 members contend with in an already out-of-control situation.

Workers reassigned to other units, uncovered caseloads and other problems making the workload unmanageable are just part of the problem. Another obstacle to 1180 members performing their jobs is poor management. Workers are given conflicting priorities. “Everything is a priority,” explained Mills. “Today it’s this thing, tomorrow it’s that one.”

“Put the burden where it belongs”

Helena Crump's desk exemplifies the problem: 1180 members have had it up to here with insane workloads.

Too often, Local 1180 members deal with this situation by trying furiously to make it work. But that is a self-defeating approach—and one that could cost 1180 members their jobs if they do not take the time to document the problems they face. “If your job is too convoluted, too overwhelming, too confusing, it’s not up to you to fix it,” 1180 staff rep Gwen Richardson emphasized. “Your job is to take orders and do the best you can. It is not up to you to work through your lunch hour. You have to stop acting like you’re The Man. You’re not The Man! You are just one cog in the system.”

At the membership meeting, staff rep Gloria Middleton said, “we have to stop putting the burden on us. Put the burden where it belongs. Put it on [Commissioner] Jason Turner, on [First Deputy Commissioner] Mark Hoover, on [Deputy Commissioner] Seth Diamond. You are not responsible for management not being able to manage properly.”

The problem of disciplinary charges being brought against 1180 members at HRA was a major agenda item at the January meeting. It has also been the subject of steward meetings at HRA. The stewards and the staff reps have put together a campaign to get 1180 members to document their situation. They have produced sample memos that members can use to alert their superiors to the problems, as well as memos that should be sent to workers under their supervision when there are problems with excessive absenteeism and other issues that contribute to the difficulties in getting the work done. Shop meetings are planned and staff reps will visit work sites to talk about the issue.

They are calling it the “CYA campaign.” CYA stands for “cover your…ankles.” It’s a simple but powerful idea. If 1180 members take the time—it doesn’t take long, and even though they are already swamped with things to do, this one is well worth it—to document the circumstances that make it impossible for the work to get done, then management will be unable to pin the blame for HRA’s failures on us.

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