Helmets to Hardhats assists veterans find a career in the trades
Wrapping up the National Apprenticeship Week coverage on America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Martin Helms, Executive Director of the Helmets to...
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Labor Management Relations- Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local C220, Donna Winston, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and talked about the understaffing issues with the Social Security Administration. Winston also discussed the causes of the high turnover rate with new employees and what could be done to improve the staffing situation.
For many years the Social Security Administration has been understaffed. Winston said that understaffing reached a critical level after the pandemic. Winston talked about the staffing when she started, seeing 50 workers run the office that now staffs 10. The staffing issues have gotten so bad there are now 600 cases are awaiting decisions at her office.
Contributing to the staffing problems, the Social Security Administration has seen a high turnover rate among new employees. Winston believes that much of this turnover is due to the need for better training. Many new employees are instructed to learn through modules on a computer. There is no hands-on training until they are put on the floor and asked to do the job like a veteran employee. The stress of being asked to handle the overload of cases and the lack of training is why so many new hires leave the job within their first year.
When asked what could fix the problems, Winston provided a list. The most crucial solution Winston discussed is the lack of funding for Social Security. Without more funding, there can be no improvements made to the training plan or to train current employees as trainers. If there’s hope in improving the staffing needs, then there needs to be a proper training program to retain new hires. But without an improved budget, that isn’t likely to happen, Winston said.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
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