AFSCME is launching Staff the Front Lines, an initiative to improve retention, recruitment and outreach for public service workers. The public sector is short over 500,000 jobs, said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “We’ve got to be creative,” he said. “States and cities across the country are working on this issue, and we’re hopeful that we can work together.”
Our states, counties and cities are facing massive shortages of public service workers. State and local governments have not been able to rebuild their workforces to pre-pandemic levels, let alone recover from the Great Recession of more than a decade ago. As a result, our communities are struggling. This includes right here in Ohio, says OCSEA President Chris Mabe, where are 24-7 facilities are facing constant, debilitating understaffing. "To address this crisis, AFSCME is stepping up, and OCSEA continues to shine the light on the burdens of Ohio's public workers in institutional and office settings," says Mabe.
Among the tools the initiative will use are outreach to high school and community colleges, job fairs, streamlined hiring practices, and apprenticeships. More information on AFSCME's Staff the Front Lines initiative was published in an article by Governing last week. Read it HERE.