CWA 1180 - Worksite Organizing

Union wins suspension case on illegal welfare policy
July 2004

This year Local 1180 won an important grievance case against the Human Resources Administration (HRA), which had tried to scapegoat an 1180 member for its own questionable policies. The union fought this case on multiple fronts and persevered.

It started in February 1999, when 1180 member Laurie Moore was suspended without pay for three days from her job at the Yorkville Job Center. The reason? An Office Associate under Moore's supervision had failed to give a client a Food Stamps application on her first visit to the center. The "client" turned out to be a "tester" and she offered, unprompted, to come back the following day—thus inducing the Office Associate to violate stated policy and federal law. Moore was disciplined for allegedly failing to properly instruct the worker under her supervision.

Never before had an 1180 member been summarily suspended for this kind of infraction. HRA officials found it convenient to make an example of Moore to divert attention away from their own failure to articulate a consistent, lawful policy on emergency assistance.

This was during the Giuliani Administration and under then HRA Commissioner Jason Turner's leadership, HRA stressed not just a policy, but an entire culture of "diversion"-diverting as many applicants as possible away from public assistance, including Food Stamps. But the aggressive diversion policy violated the right people have to apply for Food Stamps. As a result, state and federal officials began investigating HRA practices and advocates for the poor filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's approach.

In the wake of the lawsuit, HRA officials were forced to change the agency's policy on Food Stamps. Yet while the training manuals were changed, the underlying philosophy at HRA was not. It was an open secret that Giuliani and Turner really liked workers turning away as many potential public assistance recipients as possible.

Then, when someone was caught failing to implement the re-revised policy, HRA bureaucrats feigned indignation and blamed the workers for the very actions they encouraged.

Laurie Moore was a pawn in the city's ongoing battle with the federal courts, but 1180 was not going to let the city get away with that. In addition to immediately filing a grievance over the suspension, the union turned the case into an issue throughout HRA. Members held a demonstration outside HRA headquarters on Water Street and handed out fliers to other workers and the public alike.

It is outrageous that took five years to resolve this case, yet nonetheless the union did prevail. The Office of Collective Bargaining ruled in January 2004 that the suspension was unjust and awarded Laurie Moore her full pay for the days she was suspended. Yet unbelievably, HRA has yet to pay her. And so the union will keep the pressure on until justice has finally been served.

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