Community leaders, union officials warn Fall River Social Security office could close amid federal property sales

Community leaders, union officials and advocates gathered in Fall River to warn that the city’s Social Security field office is at risk of closure and that reductions in local services would harm residents who rely on in-person help.

The U.S. representative for Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District said the administration’s plan would first “degrade the services,” then allege waste, fraud and abuse, and finally use that rationale to push privatization. He called access to local offices a component of Americans’ “financial freedom.”

The warning centered on two linked developments: a General Services Administration inventory of federal properties that placed many leased federal offices on a “noncore” list, and a Social Security Administration draft strategic plan, which union leaders and elected officials said signals future closures. Rich Couture, a representative of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) who spoke at the event, said that after public outcry an earlier GSA list was…