WHEREAS:
The federal welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), will expire September 30, 2002; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME strongly opposed the state block grant structure of TANF which eliminated the entitlement to benefits for recipients and the merit-based hiring requirement for administration of welfare programs, and which allows state and local governments to contract with private organizations to provide cash assistance and other services; and
WHEREAS:
The block grant has given states unprecedented amounts of federal funds with very few federal requirements and little oversight, thereby opening the door to contracting abuses such as those uncovered in Milwaukee's and New York City's welfare programs, as well as potential religious indoctrination of families seeking assistance; and
WHEREAS:
TANF allows states and counties to meet the federal work requirements through placing recipients in "workfare" slots where they must work without receiving wages or benefits or promotional opportunities, and often without the protections of health and safety and other employment laws, even if they are doing the same work as regular government workers; and
WHEREAS:
TANF does not protect incumbent workers from losing hours and wages due to workfare placements and has destroyed thousands of middle class jobs in New York City and elsewhere because it allows vacant positions to be filled by workfare slots; and
WHEREAS:
Many states have failed to establish a grievance procedure for workers who are harmed by the law's work requirements, and TANF does not give the federal government authority to enforce provisions requiring that they do so; and
WHEREAS:
TANF discouraged states and counties from making education and training opportunities available to recipients; and
WHEREAS:
The emphasis on the decline in TANF caseloads as a measure of the program's success has obscured a less rapid decline in child poverty; and
WHEREAS:
The Food Stamp program will expire at the same time as TANF, and efforts may be made to convert that entitlement into a block grant and eliminate the requirement of merit-based personnel systems; and
WHEREAS:
Legal immigrants have faced the most severe restrictions on assistance under TANF, Food Stamps, and other programs targeted to low-income families.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME urge Congress to reinstate the entitlement to cash assistance but, at a minimum, to require that the program be administered by merit-staffed employees who will provide benefits and award contracts for services in a fair and impartial manner; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That because reducing poverty should be the key measure of success in any welfare program, AFSCME urge Congress to replace workfare and its welfare check with a real job and a paycheck reflecting equal pay and benefits for equal work, and that AFSCME support the expansion of education and training so that welfare recipients can earn a living wage to support themselves and their families; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME urge Congress to strengthen the TANF non-displacement protections and give the federal government the authority to enforce worker protections, including the requirement that states establish a grievance procedure for workers harmed by TANF's work requirements, as well as other requirements; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME support a continuation of the Food Stamp program as an entitlement administered by public employees in merit-based personnel systems; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME support lifting the current restrictions on legal immigrants receiving TANF and Food Stamps; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME work with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates and other advocates to achieve the changes needed to protect both our members and welfare recipients during reauthorization of TANF and Food Stamps.
SUBMITTED BY:
Paula Dorsey, President and Delegate
Richard Abelson, Executive Director and Delegate
AFSCME Council 48
Wisconsin