Missouri’s social services agency is so short-staffed that child welfare workers are being assigned up to 50 cases at a time, more than double the normal caseload, said Lara Roberts, an organizer for Communications Workers of America Local 6355, a union that represents agency workers. Missourians calling with questions about food stamps or other benefits must wait on hold for up to six hours before getting answers, she said.
Taxpayers who rely on the agency are frustrated, Roberts said — and no wonder: “If they work and pay into this, they expect to have the service.”
Like private-sector employers, state agencies nationwide are struggling to find and keep workers amid a tight labor market and burnout because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And governors, like business owners, are proposing higher pay in a bid to recruit workers and convince them to stay, helped by federal aid and huge budget surpluses in most states.
They include even some Republican governors, who tend to frown on spending increases and can be openly antagonistic to state workers and their unions.
Take Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, who has proposed paying state workers at least $15 an hour starting next year and giving all state workers a 5.5% cost-of-living adjustment. Missouri’s minimum wage will be $11.15 next year.
“With many positions across state government facing turnover rates anywhere from 10-100 percent and vacancy rates from 30-100 percent, it is past time for us to make these investments...
The indictment says Tarshea Fudge-Riley and others filed false statements saying they got therapy. Then the therapist allegedly filed false claims for payment. MACON COUNTY, Ga. — Macon County’s el...