When a Philadelphia Inquirer article describing short staffing across city departments was published a month ago, city workers were not surprised. As One Committee Presidential Candidate Gennifer Reed reports, “What I’m hearing across the city is that there are staffing issues everywhere.” Gennifer and her fellow One Committee Slate members know the struggles of working in short-staffed, cash-strapped departments better than anyone. And while the Inquirer article presented hard numbers to give the public a reality check, city workers have been living with this reality for years.
The situation is especially dire in the Prisons department. One 2186 member in Prisons reports, “We've seen our numbers shrunk significantly, from over 100 social workers to well under 40 with one of the contractors openly advertising for positions who would complete our bargained work.” Another 2186 member in Prisons agrees. “Ten years ago, we had about 100 social workers representing the department. Since then, our staffing has gone down consistently. Prior to the pandemic, we were at about 70 social workers and now we’re under 40. And it’s not just with social service. We’ve seen it with the psychology department too. Ten years ago, they had 8 or 9 psychologists. Currently there is 1 for the entirety of State Road (4500 clients!). Education has been shrunk too.”
Hearing about the numbers may sound shocking, but what does short staffing actually look and feel like for workers on the front lines? A 2186 member in Prisons shares, “Short staffing for us looks like larger caseloads for our staff members. Larger staff loads lead to less services provided per client. We can’t spend as much time with the clients, even those who need intensive services. We can’t provide the services that help our clients reenter society with a reentry focused mindsight, with the ability to connect them to the services they should be provided with. Staff shortages also prevent us from completing bargained work in a timely fashion which then gets cited as a reason our department isn't fulfilling expectations.”
Social work supervisors in the Department of Human Services face similar challenges. Gennifer Reed, One Committee Slate’s candidate for President, describes what short staffing looks like in her unit. “You have to cover other people. In my section, we would normally have 25 2187 members and 5 2186 members. Now we only have 11 workers total.” Gennifer adds, “As a supervisor, I see that they put more work on my staff. When there aren’t enough people to investigate, then the existing staff get more reports than they would normally get. That causes work burnout. Then you’re stressed out. Plus if your pay isn’t competitive, you’re doing the same work as someone getting paid more than you.”
Many factors have contributed to short staffing in DHS, including Covid, retirements, poor pay, insufficient recruitment, and unsafe working conditions. “People don’t feel safe now,” Gennifer reports. “Most people don’t want to do this job. When we don’t have enough people, that inhibits people from working safely and it makes it so that the people in our city aren’t receiving the services that they need.” Gennifer sees short staffing as part of a larger failing of city leaders to prioritize the well-being of residents. “There are people here who want to work but you make it difficult for people to work. And it's even bigger than that—our school systems don’t have the resources they need. Why aren’t we investing in our school district so our children can be competitive in the workplace?”
One Committee Slate believes that seeing connections between the working conditions of 2186 members, our fellow city workers in other locals, and the well-being of our neighbors and fellow city residents is essential. Our platform is that better, safer work environments with better paid workers will make our city an even better place to live for all of us.
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