Sketch by Jany Tomba

By Kathy Egorova

A spokeswoman for an organization of Workfare participants said recently that her members do not wish to replace unionized employees.

"We want to be in unions,'' said Vondora Jordan, co-chair of Workfairness, an organization representing more than 5,000 of Workfarers.

More than 40,000 people, many of them single mothers with young children, participate in the Work Experience Program, New York's main Workfare program. Workfairness claims that the city's Workfare program has nothing to do with training or preparation for work and everything to do with humiliating and exploiting the workers.

The organization also claims that a recent New York State report indicates that only 29 percent of the 400,000 people who left New York City's welfare rolls since 1995 have found jobs. Many of those jobs are part-time or temporary.

A federal study found that the wages of the lowest-paid workers in New York, about 10 percent of the workforce, fell more than 21 percent between 1979 and 1996, the organization claims.

To make its viewpoint known, Workfairness plans a march on August 22 in front of City Hall. The date marks the second anniversary of President Clinton's signing of a welfare law that requires those who receive federal assistance to find work.

The march supporters include the city unions as well as the Rev. Calvin Butts, the Welfare Law Center, the Latino Workers Center and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

Last month, the organization held a protest demanding "real jobs, not Workfare" and the restoration of emergency assistance to people on public assistance.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has made the reduction of the city's welfare rolls and the Workfare program a hallmark of his administration. In fact, he continues to expand the program. District Council 37, an umbrella organization representing the city's unionized employees, has sued the city, claiming that Workfarers are being used to replace union workers. The complaint says the city's motive is to save funds by using people on welfare and thus not entitled to minimum wage, overtime, sick days, vacation time, grievance procedures or union representation.