Work on social security under Trump Cuts: Pressure staff

Edwin Osario thinks there is a “sense of nobility” in his work in a social security office in the New York region. For more than three decades, he responded to the phones, took meetings and helped guarantee that thousands of retirees and disabled people receive their monthly checks.

“People oppressed, the elderly, people who have just become recently disabled or widowed-they come here because we are the last stop,” he said. “We are salvation.”

Recently, however, he seems in Osario as the agency he “darling for many years” no longer wants it. It is not personal for Osario; The Trump administration is working on its objective to reduce spending by removing 7,000 Social Security Administration employees through office closings, return to the office and deferred resignations.

Business Insider spoke to almost a dozen current and old employees who used words like “chaos”, “stress”, “confusion” and “fear” To describe the work in call centers and field offices every day. While social security remains extremely popular among Americans, the majority thinking that the country should spend more money there, the beneficiaries take their anxieties to workers. They flooded the field offices and telephone lines, overloading already stretched staff. Those who stay in their office are concerned about the effect of cuts on their ability to finish work which ultimately provides monthly checks to 73 million Americans.

The Acting Commissioner of SSA, Leland Dudek, told Bi in a statement that the Trump administration is getting rid of the “unnecessary bureaucracy” within the agency which “will hold the promise of President Trump to protect Social Security by providing the high quality service and stewardship that the American people expect and deserves”.

The SSA told Bi that its personnel cuts were part of an “labor optimization plan which focuses on the reduction of employees in non-critical positions and the strengthening of staff in critical roles”, adding that there will be no disturbance in service for beneficiaries.

With current cuts, the pressure rises on the approximately 50,000 SSA workers who will remain to keep the country’s largest safety net – and tensions boil.

“We have the impression that we are the enemy,” he said.

What is to work on Social Security while the cuts collide with a wave of retirement from boomer

The employees of the Social Security Office described two main parts of their work. There are the tasks that the public sees: the hours they spend on the phone to answer questions from the beneficiaries or take meetings in person. Then there are the most complex and long tasks that occur behind the scenes: fill out the documents, examine means of means test, update bank information, etc.

Recent staff discounts mean workers have less time and resources to complete this crucial work. A pilot program in certain offices on the ground to give employees for more time for these tasks was canceled this spring, and the members of the staff involved said they had received little communication from why.

Osario said he thought that work anxiety “stays with you at your dinner table” with family and friends. Jill Hornick, an employee of the 33 -year -old field office, said that she regularly received calls from colleagues “crying Because they do not know if they will be dismissed, “and a customer service representative said” when you take so much sadness, it also creates a level of sadness in you. “”

The employees of the call center do not have the same responsibilities of Paperasse, but Shaullia Ferguson, local president of AFGE 2014 and long -standing representative of customer service, said that requests for her role have also increased. The volume of call for the number 1-800 of the SSA has jumped in recent months, causing the frustration of beneficiaries and the increase in alarms with the AARP and the legislators. An increasing part of the appellants received a pre -recorded disconnection message when they tried to reach a representative.

“A loss of seven to eight thousand employees is a huge crush, and the public will see worse than waiting time by two to three hours – this will increase exponentially,” said another experienced employee of customer service.

An BI analysis has shown that the number of beneficiaries has developed much faster than SSA staff in recent decades. This comes then that a wave of baby boomers is preparing for retirement, with a lot of advanced cohort that depend on social security as the main income.

Although it is not unknown for a transition from the White House to cause changes in leadership and SSA politics, several employees told Bi that this time felt different. The most recent changes have surprised a lot, because the SSA staff was excluded from the initial federal layoff series, and the president previously said that he would not make a penny “.

Before Trump takes up his duties, said employees, their workload could be overwhelming, but now they live what we have called “the chaotic period of my 40 years and more than I am here”.

“We have never seen something of this magnitude,” said Laura Haultzel, a former associate commissioner of Social Security, adding: “We have never seen anything of this intention, this cutting effort – beyond the cup – to the bone.”

Employees also feel in ignorance of the new requirement for identification in person that the administration has introduced to fight against fraud, which represents less than 1% of inappropriate social security payments. The SSA has made ID needs back several times before officially applying it in mid-April. Some employees have said that they had not received a training on this subject.

Several employees have told BI that they had learned the reductions of the staff and other updates of the reports, not the management of the SSA. This also occurs while the acting commissioner Dudek is probably replaced by the named by Trump and the director of the financial industry Frank Bisignano, whose employees feel full of hope and worried.

A customer service representative said they hoped that Bisignano “will see the situation as a whole that the barrage constantly boosting federal employees is not productive”.

As customer service collapses, the issues are high for employees and beneficiaries

Social security monthly checks are essential to keep the elderly, disabled people and low -income households out of poverty.

As the need to develop and the SSA staff shrinks, employees told Bi moral in the agency.

This is associated with fears of personal security, especially if despair is developing among the beneficiaries: “It is a possible tinderbox of people who become furious because of having to wait a long time,” said the spokesperson for the General Committee of AFGE, adding: “You are looking for a risk of potential security.”

Beyond the emotional assessment of staff, the employees said that changes in the Trump administration to the SSA may have material consequences. As time and resources disappear, some employees have warned that it would take more time for the pretensions of the beneficiaries to be treated.

There has not yet been any delayed or missing check reports, and none of the White House cups or policies at the SSA should have an impact on the amount that the beneficiaries receive. But several employees have stressed that there is a risk of delay if personnel conditions do not improve.

Any delay in checks would be catastrophic for beneficiaries like Linda Hudak, 71, who relies on Social Security for all her income and receives benefits for food. “It’s very depressing,” she said.

SSA Bi employees spoke to the feeling of a heavyweight on their shoulders. Some have taken a social security job because they are veterans who seek to serve their country in a different uniform; Others are beneficiaries themselves who say that checks are important for their own livelihoods. Most have told Bi that they thought that the mission of the public service for which they registered undress – and they fear that it will not recover if the efforts to reduce Trump costs continue.

“We are at the forefront of the iceberg,” said Hornick, who is the administrative director of local Afge 1395. “This will just get worse.

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