By Jacky Chapa

NEW YORK CITY, April 19--Six specialists on welfare were asked to speak at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to answer a lingering question: Is Workfare working?

The question was answered. Mayor Rudolph C. Guliani's Workfare-to-Work project, which requires welfare recipients to work for less than minimum wage to receive welfare checks, has too many problems and too many issues unresolved.

"Workfare is not moving people out of poverty and into living wage employment," says Liz Krueger, associate director of the Community Resource Center. A six-month follow-up survey by Community Voices Heard, a membership organization of people on welfare, found that only 6 percent of Workfarers had found jobs, she said.

The organization found that many of the workers believe they have no hope for finding a job. One gentleman surveyed told the organization that in his three years in the program, no one from the welfare office ever came by to help him find a job. Most Workfarers at first believe Workfare will help them but, after 18 months with no job in sight, they become frustrated.

Lawrence Mead, professor of political science at New York University, and a major academic booster of Workfare, argued that "not working is a breeding ground for keeping people on welfare," and expressed his contentment with the recent drop in welfare rolls.

"The program will provide the Workfare participants for five years and then what?" an audience member asked. Her question remained unanswered.

Mary O'Connell, assistant general counsel for District Council 37, an umbrella organization for unionized municipal employees, believes that the Work Experience Program workers are doing the same job as regular employees and should be paid as such.

Gail Aska, program coordinator for Community Voices Heard said Workfare was a ``punitive program for being poor." The organization is proposing the Empire States Bill. This would give welfare recipients an opportunity for a training program that would make them more competitive in the workforce within 24 months.