Locke Makes Plea For Welfare Hiring Thousands May Seek Jobs When Reforms Kick In

Hiring workers from the public dole is an altruistic deed, Spokane business leaders were told Monday.

Calling upon the “civic and moral activism” of the business community, Gov. Gary Locke asked the skeptical and curious crowd to set aside politics and personal gain.

“To make WorkFirst work, we must balance market forces with moral forces,” Locke said.

The speech capped a three-hour pitch to Spokane employers for WorkFirst, Washington’s aggressive plan to reduce welfare rolls.

Underlining the state’s concern for the success of welfare reform, it was Locke’s second plea to Spokane employers in the past six weeks.

The Chamber of Commerce organized Monday’s meeting to help employers understand and endorse reforms that fully start Nov. 1.

Beginning then, more than 38,000 welfare recipients in Spokane and northeastern Washington risk losing benefits unless they search for jobs.

Speaking the language of business, Locke’s aides gave employers a hard sell on welfare reform.

Welfare rolls are a deep, untapped labor pool filled with pearls in the rough, state officials said.

Tax credits and subsidies for wages and training are available to employers, as are “support services,” such as cheap child care, bus coupons, even free haircuts.

The state’s initial stabs at pushing welfare recipients into jobs resulted in 37 welfare recipients being hired since August, about half of those taking work search classes, according to the Department of Employment Security.

Caseloads continue to fall state-wide, down 7 percent from a year ago. In Spokane, 7,200 households receive welfare grants, according to the Department of Social and Health Services.

But as speakers Monday talked about the economics of welfare-to-work, they also urged compassion for job seekers.

“Welfare reform isn’t going to work miracles,” said Maury Forman, a peppy Employment Security administrator who worked the crowd like a game show host. “But it does offer hope.”

But many of the 175 attending the breakfast meeting at the downtown Shilo Inn remained skeptical.

Questions went unanswered, and will remain so until DSHS puts finishing touches on WorkFirst rules later this month.

Can welfare recipients compete for jobs with the working poor? Will the state help people on welfare improve remedial job skills? Are there enough jobs to go around? Is there drug and alcohol screening?

“The big piece I see missing is that no one has gone to business and asked what we want,” Sally Ledgerwood, president of the Lewiston-Clarkston Economic Development Association, said after the meeting.

Locke’s pitch fell short for some business owners.

“That’s a bunch of rubbish,” Tom Droz, owner of Spokane’s Manpower Temporary Services, said later. “Why do I have a moral duty to hire this group as opposed to another group?”

Others who’ve already hired welfare recipients discovered quality workers.

Western Systems & Fabrication Inc. in the Spokane Valley recently hired two reliable workers off the dole, said Steve Dammeier, the firm’s production manager.

The Spokane Chamber of Commerce, which has convened a series of panels to study welfare reform, hopes to duplicate such success stories.

“This is about helping people like us,” said Rich Hadley, chamber president.

, DataTimes