Hey! Bob! Stop looking at your workplan. Let’s talk about what’s going on.

Sure. You’ve been trying to focus on working conditions, low salaries, caseload size, and the support every social worker needs to get their job done.

Sure. You’ve been trying to make NASW more relevant to social workers. You’ve been listening to what everyone is saying. You know that the profession should not be treated the way it is.

The problem with you, guy, is you’re missing a basic point. Yeah, you’ve been using your skills to do the right things: lead, manage, organize, listen, learn, suggest, change.

The problem with you is that you are not seeing some things as plain as day. It’s painful.

What people want to do as social workers has been pretty much the same since day one. Yeah, a lot of good work is going on, but that’s not the point.

The whole point of social work becoming a profession has been to make the work scientific, make it respectable, make it something you get paid to do.

But why did anyone think it was going to be like a profession of doctors and lawyers? Did making social work a profession mean that we were going to be treated like a profession?

It’s sad. One of the things we’re talking about is the employment of women. From day one, women haven’t been treated well at work. Yeah, it’s gotten better. But it’s rooted in history and the way our society has been structured. Business being primary. Women have been allowed to enter the workforce under certain conditions: basically in work that is nurturing, mothering, like nursing, teaching, and…social work, at low pay. So what have we been expecting? Some would say it’s been an issue of exploitation all along.

Sorry to interrupt. Can I get a word in edgewise? Please. You’ve been going on and on. It’s not exactly like we haven’t known this. But we’ve got to do something. And we’ve been trying to figure out what can be done. Someone’s got to do it. The problems might be big. And they are historic. But who better than NASW to take on the issues of greatest concern to social workers?

Look, Bob. That’s good. You care about the profession. And you’re willing to address what most others won’t.

The Chapter’s hiring a lobbyist to work on Medicaid, welfare reform, licensing, scholarships, and salary increases is important. But do you think State government really cares about the people you work with?

Listen: Politicians sold the idea that everyone wants tax cuts. Democrats caved. That’s tens of billions of dollars over several years. Lost. That’s why they are cutting Medicaid this year. And the State has socked away hundreds of millions from welfare reform. But they’re doing virtually nothing to help people on welfare get jobs and child care.. It’s all about knocking people off of the welfare rolls. It’s hypocrisy.

What social workers need is power, a lot of it. But don’t kid yourself. Whatever power NASW has, it doesn’t have enough. You need to amass it. And that’s basically done as part of larger social movements.

Your greatest strength is in your membership, but most of your members are far too busy to help you. And you can’t blame them. They’re overwhelmed with work and they’ve got their personal lives. Many are working two jobs: one as an overworked social worker and the other as a head of household or family. What extra time they have is going to be used carefully. NASW has to work hard to get a piece of that time. It’s very hard. Sometimes, impossible.

Talking about hard. What’s NASW’s problem attracting Blacks, Latinos, and Asians? Let’s see, 10% of your members are of African descent, 6% are Latino, and 2.4% are Asian.

You’ve developed several committees and task forces to address the interests and concerns of each group. That’s a start. And over 40% of your elected leadership are people of color. And I know that you’re working with the leaders of these committees on a roundtable discussion for June 15 on "Bias and Privilege in the Workplace". It’s got potential to raise issues and to get some more people involved.

But your percentages are low in comparison to the general population in the City. What’s underlying this? Are you and your colleagues able to understand how social workers of color are experiencing NASW? Has there been enough dialogue to get at this?

Bob: One more thing. The social worker who was murdered? Amy Watkins? It was heartbreaking. Not just for Hunter and the people at her agency, and her family.

People from all over were shaken. And look at the newspapers. Look at what it takes to get social workers covered in the media.

Amy was vibrant and had so much to give. Certainly, part of the feeling of loss the public felt was that she was becoming a social worker.

What do you think that means?