WHEREAS:

            The current welfare system is in need of reform because it does not provide recipients with dignified jobs, does not have sufficient funding for training, education, jobs or child care, and burdens front-line workers with needless forms and paperwork and does not empower welfare workers to truly assist their clients; and

WHEREAS:

            Recipients of public assistance have seen a steady erosion of their benefits, representing a decline by 40% in living standards over the last 15 years, plus increasingly punitive and restrictive requirements that further limit benefits; and

WHEREAS:

            Proposals for so-called "welfare reform" brought forward by both Republicans and Democrats, if enacted, would drastically reduce benefits and opportunities for public assistance recipients, particularly those receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) grants. Among these proposals include setting a two year maximum time-limit, phased reductions of benefits, no additional benefits for children born while the mother is on welfare, strict work requirements without adequate child care; and

WHEREAS:

            Many recipients of public assistance have educational and vocational deficits that make them almost unemployable. In addition, unemployment remains high, with competition for job openings from already experienced, recently unemployed workers. Threatening recipients with the loss of assistance will not create jobs or lower the barriers to employment; and

WHEREAS:

            Is it cost effective or socially beneficial to pay strangers to raise children in day care centers while we require their mothers to work in a dead-end job at a wage comparable to that of the day care worker? Also, at present there are far too few day care slots available for the children of all welfare recipients who would be forced into employment; and

WHEREAS:

            Increases in crime, drug use, violent gang attacks, moral decline among many of our youth is directly related to the loss of their hope and faith in the future and in their having a place in society. This dissolution of spirit is directly related to economic poverty with no institutionalized means of escape. Millions of homeless people and families with children is a blight upon our wealthy nation and should not be allowed; and

WHEREAS:

            "Ending welfare as we know it" will require the combined efforts of government, business, labor and community organizations working together under the strong direction of the federal government. There is a need to reform the system to empower workers and provide recipients dignified jobs; and

WHEREAS:

            Welfare reform initiatives that impose arbitrary time limits on welfare assistance and do not take into account the labor market or the needs and abilities of the participants will not meet the goals of true welfare reform; and

WHEREAS:

            Subsidized work programs for welfare reform could displace workers and jobs in the public and private sector. Displacement could undermine wages and benefits of existing employees if the local labor market is not expanding and if unions do not have active involvement in the creation and implementation of the work program; and

WHEREAS:

            Various means of financing welfare reform have surfaced and include cuts in low-income programs; and

WHEREAS:

            The current welfare system is composed of fragmented services. Clients will be better served if workers and their unions are involved in developing a new system and determining how best to deliver integrated services.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME supports efforts to establish a comprehensive job creation and workforce development strategy leading to real jobs with decent wages, health care, and child care for all unemployed persons, including those on welfare; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME oppose all so-called "welfare reform" measures that erode the already low benefits of public assistance recipients, that involve forcing recipients to work in dead-end jobs without adequate day care, medical insurance or income to support their families, or punitive punishments and economic sanctions for parents who prefer full-time care of their children over economic security, or sanctions for so-called immoral behavior, such as giving birth to a child; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME shall support and lobby national and state governments for true welfare reform that would provide a livable income to needy families and adults: with incentives to seek employment, such as income supplements, meaningful vocational training and education, assistance in job search or referral to public sector jobs, maintaining day care and medical insurance coverage for low income employed parents and counseling and casework services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That public assistance employees and social services caseworkers are at the front lines in the war on poverty. They deserve adequate compensation in wages, benefits, and decent working conditions, including manageable case loads. AFSCME must continue to provide support wherever needed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That the design and implementation of work programs in the public or private sector occur with active union involvement and concurrence over the design and implementation of the work program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That anti-displacement provisions, which include an effective grievance procedure, be included in the legislation to guarantee that no worker or job will be displaced by a welfare work program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That any work programs should provide participants with equal wages, rights and other benefits enjoyed by other workers, including union membership; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That welfare benefits should not be based on arbitrary time limits that do not take into account the local labor markets and the needs and abilities of a diverse group of welfare program participants; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That public employees who have gained knowledge and expertise through their years of on-the-job experience be given the opportunity to improve the operation of the welfare system through formal involvement in the redesign of the welfare office; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

            That financing welfare reform measures should not be accomplished by cutting funds from other programs for the poor or working poor.

SUBMITTED BY:

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

David Rader, Delegate 
Gordon Umino, President and Delegate 
Mari Wyatt, Secretary and Delegate
AFSCME Local 843, Council 28
Washington