Five Field Offices To Close
From the
Federal Times:
The Social Security Administration will close five field offices by the end of September, according to the union representing agency employees.
Those five, among almost 1,300 nationwide, are in Biloxi, Miss., Ketchikan, Alaska; Louisville, Ky.; Washington, D.C.; and Clinton, Iowa, the American Federation of Government Employees said in a news release.
The agency has already closed eight field offices since January.
In an email, SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle said the five offices are being consolidated with others and no worker will lose their jobs. The single employee in the Ketchikan office is retiring, Hinkle said. ...
“Given the tight budget situation, we’ve had to make tough choices, including consolidating a small number of our offices,” Hinkle said. ...
The latest step is already drawing protests from lawmakers who represent affected communities. Closing the Ketchikan field office would reportedly save only $100,000, members of the Alaska delegation said in a July 13 letter to Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. They urged Astrue to consider “all feasible alternatives.”
Considering that more interactions are conducted online and that some field offices do very little business, as well as some busier offices being understaffed, it makes sense to close some offices and transfer staff to offices were there assistance is truly needed.
ReplyDeleteThis is long overdue. There are a lot of underutilized offices that are only kept open because of fear of Congressional reaction to closing them.. Better to close them and send the employees to places where they're most needed.
ReplyDelete