CFS Social Worker Update - March 7, 2022

Dear OCEA member, 

In late 2021, OCEA submitted a series of demands to SSA and CFS management. The demands concerned a number of longstanding workplace issues that were exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an attempt to build additional workplace organization, and to identify additional issues facing CFS workers, OCEA Representatives hosted meetings for Social Workers in each CFS program to create a space to discuss program-specific issues and identify program worker leaders. Those meetings concluded last week and were extremely productive.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to these program meetings. Your input has been, and will continue to be, very helpful while working toward solutions. However, we are still missing a contact person for the following programs: VSS, FMCS/VFS, and Special Medical, RFA, and ICS. Having someone that can serve as a subject matter expert in these programs is essential to solving workplace issues. If you are in one of these programs and can volunteer to be a point of contact, please reach out to Alisha Greene at agreene@ocea.org. This person’s name will not be given to management and will serve purely as an internal contact for OCEA Labor Representatives.

Workers always have more power when they stand together. We wanted to highlight a recent example of members in the Court Services program coming together to help fix some longstanding issues.

As we are well aware, SSA workers have been under enormous pressure due to unsustainable workloads for far too long. The Dependency Investigators and Services Social Workers in the Court Services program had been trying to meet with management for months to share their ideas on how to balance the workload, but management continued to be evasive. These same workplace leaders got together with OCEA representatives to develop a list of workable solutions to continue their demands to meet with management. In December of 2021, Court Services Management agreed to an initial meeting. The meeting went well but required more feedback and worker participation. Thereafter, more workers got involved and collaborated with OCEA representatives in preparation for a subsequent meeting with Management.

We are thrilled to share that Management listened to the Court Services Social Workers’ collective voice and agreed to recommended changes that would create a more equitable workload distribution. These changes were effective March 1, 2022. Management also agreed to meet again to discuss the efficacy of these changes, if needed.

We realize that these changes are merely a small step—with many more to go. However, these meetings demonstrate that when OCEA members join together, organize, and stay focused and persistent, we get results! We are proud of our Court Services Social Workers who stepped up and remained steadfast.

The efforts to win improvements for all CFS Social Workers continue. The long-awaited Workflow Redesign Study, conducted by the InTelegy contractor, begins this month. This study is an essential step toward restructuring caseloads, determining resource needs, and creating efficiencies. Additionally, we are in the process of restructuring the CFS Caseload Management Forum to make it a more effective space for addressing issues. Please stay in contact with your Labor Representatives and keep checking your emails for progress on Social Worker issues. If you have any questions, please reach out to OCEA at (714) 835-3355.

In solidarity,

The OCEA Team

Publication Date: March 7, 2022