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Union representative urges council to back neighborhood Social Security offices, warns of staffing losses
Summary
A union representative told the Schenectady City Council on May 27 that nine staff losses at the local Social Security office have reduced service capacity and that the city’s resolution supporting neighborhood Social Security offices will be shared with Congress.
Renny Glasgow, vice president of AFGE Local 33 43 (American Federation of Government Employees), urged the Schenectady City Council on May 27 to support neighborhood Social Security offices and to press for funding after staffing reductions at the local office.
“We have lost nine employees in that office,” Glasgow said during the council’s legislative public comment period, adding that the losses have weakened the office’s ability to serve Schenectady and neighboring cities. He said experienced staff—who typically take two to three years to master case processing—are essential to timely service.
Glasgow described long waits for both phone and in-person service and said the council’s resolution would help draw attention to the issue in Congress: “We intend to get this to Congress,” he said. He thanked the council for recognizing the resolution and said the union and other locals will use it to support calls for agency funding.
Why it matters: Glasgow’s remarks focused on service capacity at the local Social Security office and the effect of federal staffing decisions on routine benefits processing.
No formal council action on the public comment was recorded in the meeting transcript; the comment was made during the legislative public-comment period and the council declared that period closed after remarks concluded.
Details from remarks: Glasgow said phone waits can reach about three hours and that visitors sometimes wait two to three hours in person. He said the local office had more than a century of institutional knowledge that is being lost with recent staffing cuts, and he urged continued advocacy for funding and staffing to maintain services.
