Of the St. Louis American
In 1999 Missouri statutes were passed into law to help with a growing problem faced by the state’s workers – overwhelming caseloads. It was a start in the long fought effort of holding the Department of Social Services accountable for adopting and adhering to caseload standards. Then just last year, Missouri statutes were revised to better define caseload standards and departmental responsibilities. Gov. Matt Blunt proposed a four percent pay raise for state workers, but CWA Local 6355/MSWU and advocates reject that and say the minimal raise isn’t enough for the work they are required to do.
Now State Rep. Jeanette Mott-Oxford and State Rep. Amber Boykins have proposed legislation, HB 2073 that would, “give more teeth to the old bill,” John Bowman, president of the CWA Local 6355/MSWU.
Bowman said in his own child support enforcement office, they are operating at 50 percent staffing.
“Cases are constantly coming in and we’re facing a lot of cuts because it is not being reported,” he said. “Morale is very low.”
Divisions of the Department of Social Services include child support enforcement, income maintenance, the Department of Health and senior services. The Local CWA estimates that there are currently about 8,560 state workers. And turnover is at about 25 percent according to the Personnel Advisory Board.
“The turnover is unbelievable,” State Rep. And former income maintenance caseworker Amber Boykins said. “We are losing caseworkers and state workers and it’s time to do something about it.”
Boykins said she agreed to co-sponsor the bill because she understood how it felt to be, “overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid with a desk full of cases that its no way possible for you to complete them in a timely manner.”
Instead of the four percent pay increase proposed by Blunt, Boykins is pushing for a $1600 increase because, “Missouri ranks last in salaries for state employees. They earn about $10,000 less than the national average,” she said.
The Department of Appropriations is responsible for setting the budget for staffing for the Department of Social Services, but Bowman said the problem results from miscommunication about the true needs of the agency.
“There are people trying to apply for positions, but we don’t have it in the budget,” he said. “How do you expect us to adequately serve families if you don’t give us the tools to adequately serve them?”
During a recent town hall meeting with local state workers and State Reps. Boykins, Mott-Oxford and Robin Wright Jones, workers complained of caseloads as high as 900, three times the state mandated caseload size. The problem is even more severe in that these understaffed agencies and overwhelmed caseworkers are responsible for assisting families with basic resources such as child support and income management.
According to HB 2073, the Director of the Department of Social Services must convene, at least biannually, a Caseload Standards Committee, to recommend minimum and maximum caseloads for each category of employees in the department. The director must then develop caseload standards for employees in each program area within the department, which will form the basis for the Department’s annual personnel budget request. An employee’s good faith effort to complete assignments in excess of the standards shall be considered in the employee’s evaluation.
“We wanted to add a level of transparency for the public and for the general assembly,” bill sponsor Mott-Oxford said. She said that caseload standards should be set before budgeting begins and that the Department of Appropriations must ensure that all agencies are operating at an adequate level of staffing.
“Not only should caseload standards be set before the budgeting, but budgeting should start with an adequate level of staffing,” she said. “The legislators and general assembly should receive a report as to what the staffing levels are so we know if we’re understaffing those departments.”
Mott-Oxford said that citizens also have to be willing to help circumvent the current crisis faced by state workers.
“The public bears some responsibility,” she said. “If we’re going to staff the Department of Social Services adequately we might have to do something like have progressive tax reform to produce more revenue for the state.”
Robin Wright Jones said that the state’s nurses are in a similar situation to the caseload workers. She has about 15 years of experience working in public housing administration and said that education is the key to ensuring that state agencies are adequately staffed and that state workers are paid fairly.
“Poverty and ignorance is big business in this country,” she said. “The more poverty and ignorance we have, the more money they make.”
For more information about Missouri House Bill 2073 or the CWA Local 6355/MSWU visit www.cwa-mswu.org.
