From the Desk of the President: Alexis Holmes Jones

Civil Service Association 'Can We Just All Get Along'

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Santa Clarita, California, Dayton, Ohio and El-Paso, Texas families whose communities were recently ravished by mass shooters. These words sound extreme however, we can no longer ignore that mass shootings unfortunately have become an everyday occurrence in American. So far this year, more than 2,000 people have been gunned down.

Civil Service workers perform the specialized, and necessary tasks, and services afforded to the public, and taxpayers pay for them; we are the first responders to all disasters. It was civil service workers who responded to the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, and even though their response time was only 3 minutes, 23 people lost their lives. Not only are we responsive to disasters in our communities, many civil service jobs require us to place our lives on the line when confronting high powered weaponry assaults. A 3 minutes response time in Dayton, Ohio says; first responders did not hesitation to answer the call to save lives, even at the chance of sacrificing their own. Civil service first responders include; police, EMS, fire, hospitals, coroners, investigators, and yes, every civil service worker who had the daunting task of notifying next of kin of injuries and/or deaths of their loved ones. These incidents are horrific, and prayerfully, we hope that nothing like this ever happens in Cuyahoga County or in the City of Cleveland but unfortunately, we can never know. More than any other profession, Civil Service Employees have a more than average obligation to its fellow workers and citizens. Not only do we serve, we lay down our lives to protect. We are government workers who provide exceptional and specialized services to millions of the constituents residing within Federal, State, County and Municipal governments.

Civil service workers are dedicated to serving citizens and their communities across America. Year after year, we perform selfless and difficult tasks, yet we perform them excellently, and silently. We contribute to the day-to-day jobs and services that keep our governments and citizen's lives running smoothly and safely. It is civil service workers who ensure that the necessary facets incurred in our everyday lives, remain safe and operational. Civil service workers jobs are intricately intertwined with governmental oversight. Therefore, when we chose competent leadership, we remain true to the original values that formed the CSEA 85 years ago, and that is; protecting civil service worker’s jobs.