One-Stop Career Centers May Alter Union Jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A group of council and local leaders met here in February to discuss how a plan to replace local unemployment offices with one-stop career centers will affect the jobs of union members.

A new federal law, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which replaces the Job Training Partnership Act, calls for the creation of one-stop career centers where employers can post job openings and job seekers can “conveniently access the employment, education, training and information services they need at a single location in their neighborhoods,” according to the U.S. Labor Department.

An expected result of the act, which will be implemented in 2000, is that union members who provide unemployment insurance services and other services for job seekers may be reclassified. Lawmakers want a number of job classifications to be integrated to meet the customer-service objectives of the one-stop career centers. Some workers may have to crosstrain, while others may be moved to positions that are specialized and don’t allow for upward mobility.

The February panel discussed AFSCME’s goals: to protect members from losing their jobs, to organize private-sector workers who may be hired to work in one-stop career centers and to stress to public employees the need to continue to deliver quality customer service.

Panelist Marianne Steger, director of administrative services for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, AFSCME Local 11, says, “We’re working with other unions to help them understand that the Workforce Investment Act not only impacts people looking for jobs, [but] people who are delivering services.”