Previously, the union recommended common sense measures that SSA should adopt immediately:
1. return to telework for all components & let all employees work from home: particularly the SSA employees in field offices & card centers
2. SSA put up signage at every office alerting members of the public that if they are experiencing symptoms they should not enter the building but call the 800 number
3. SSA field employees be directed to handle all issues over the phone to reduce public contact & exposure.
You flatly denied every single one of the common sense measures the union suggested weeks ago. In fact, your agents James Julian & Jack Leiby have smugly told the union NO over the last several weeks.
The union now requests that you immediately close all field offices & card centers for a period of no less than 14 days.
During a White House briefing today (March 15), Dr. Fauci clearly stated the White House position; “I don’t think it’s a good idea to congregate anybody anywhere,” Dr. Fauci said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
He also stated that EVERYONE should practice “social distancing” which means staying at least SIX feet away from anyone else at all times.
It’s impossible to carry out the White House’s instructions if you do not close Field Offices & Card Centers.
By keeping Field Offices & Card Centers open, you are deliberately & willfully jeopardizing the health & safety of the employees & the American people whom we serve.
It should be noted that states & municipalities have taken the extraordinary measures of ordering privately owned businesses to close early and/or limit their operations to only one-half of their capacity. In some cases, privately owned businesses have been ordered closed to prevent the spread of this pandemic.
Your refusal to act in a similar fashion is reckless, moronic & shameful!
SSA touts itself as as a model employer; it is time for SSA to act that way.
If any employee or member of the public dies as a result of your inexcusable inaction, their blood will be in YOUR hands.
Do the right thing: CLOSE FIELD OFFICES & CARD CENTERS NOW!!
Disappointed...as usual,
Ralph de Juliis, President
