Projo Politics Blog

Organized labor representatives argued that any vacant state jobs should go to the unemployed before retirees with pensions are put back to work.

In a WPRO radio interview this morning, however, Carcieri said he expected House action -- perhaps as early as today -- on a bill allowing the Department of Labor & Training to put a dozen or more of its recent retirees back to work for the next few months. "We already have the people lined up,'' Carcieri said, blaming organized-labor for trying to block the move.

George Nee, the secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO, said he was aware that discussions were under way to craft a compromise. While labor generally favors the hiring of full-time employees to fill holes in state government, he said there is a recognition that in "the unprecedented situation we are in right now, we have to make an exception'' to break the logjam in benefit payments to the unemployed.

As the state's unemployment rate climbed to its current 10 percent, more and more people have been flooding the agency with calls and e-mails to file claims for benefits, or just to get a question answered. But the agency does not have enough staff to handle the sharp increase in workload, state labor director Sandra M. Powell has said repeatedly in recent days.

As a result, unemployed workers are encountering delays. For example:
• The agency's phone lines are often busy. Other times, the system answers but abruptly hangs up. Lately, callers who manage to get through wind up on hold for an average of two hours, Powell said. That is up from about an hour in early December. Overall, the agency is handling about 25,000 calls a week, up from about 24,000 in late November, she said.

• Benefit claims filed online are backlogged: Late last week, the agency was processing claims filed on Christmas Day, Powell said.

• In late November, it generally took the agency 72 hours to respond to an e-mail about unemployment insurance. Now, it takes about 96 hours, agency spokeswoman Laura Hart said.

Last week, state Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, called the situation "a disgrace to the administration," and predicted that it would get worse as unemployment increases amid the national recession. "This is a service agency, and they're not providing the service up to expectations," he said.

The Department of Labor & Training did not immediately respond to inquiries.