Advocates and representatives from the Massachusetts Senior Action Council gathered outside of the Springfield Social Security office to rally in support of Social Security benefits.
Reminder Publishing photo by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — Joe Gervasini considers himself very lucky that he retired in 2017 after working as a local taxi driver for 33 years.
The Springfield resident said it only took a few weeks after he applied for Social Security benefits to receive his first check in the mail.
“I was very lucky to retire then,” Gervasini said outside of the Springfield Social Security office on 40 Bond St. “I came down here personally, applied, I didn’t have to wait that long, and I got my first check three or four weeks afterwards.”
That same type of swift timeline could be a thing of the past though, according to Gervasini and other advocates across the state, who argue that recent plans by the Social Security Administration to cut at least 7,000 staff would adversely impact the roughly 70 million people in the country currently receiving Social Security benefits.
In his remarks to a crowd of about 20 advocates outside of the Springfield Social Security office on April 1, many of which from the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Gervasini said that he fears personnel cuts would generate elongated wait times for retirees seeking their first checks.
“I know people that had to wait seven months [during COVID-19] to get their first Social Security check because so many of the staff were not in the office,” Gervasini said. “And if the cuts in the staff take place as the Trump administration wants, we may go back to a situation like that, where it takes months and months and months for people to get Social Security.”
According to the American Association of Retired Persons, Social Security has been woven into the fabric of the United States for almost a century, offering economic security and dignity to millions of retirees, people with disabilities and surviving spouses and children.
More than 1.2 million people in Massachusetts alone rely on Social Security, with an average monthly benefit of less than $2,000, according to Al Ware, a member of Massachusetts Senior Action Council.
“That may not sound like a lot, but it is the only source of income for many,” Ware said. “Payment delays or other problems quickly become a crisis of missed rent or no groceries.”
The April 1 protest in Springfield came amidst perpetual uncertainty about what could happen at the federal level with regard to Social Security benefits.
Early last month, the Trump administration, along with the Department of Government Efficiency — led by billionaire Elon Musk — announced the impending closure of dozens of Social Security offices across the country as part of Trump’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government by broadly reducing its workforce.
However, a recent statement from the Social Security Administration refuted claims by the media that local field offices are planned to close, despite Musk’s indications that some would.
On top of that precarious situation, the Trump administration has also made plans to no longer allow the majority of Social Security’s beneficiaries to authenticate their identity over the phone as they file for benefits or report a change in direct deposit details.
Instead, people will soon need to go online or visit their nearest Social Security office to apply for benefits, a change that will bring hardship, according to advocates, especially if services are downsized and offices are closed across the country.
On April 1, representatives from the Massachusetts Senior Action Council gathered outside of their respective Social Security offices in Roxbury, Springfield and Lynn to support Social Security in a time where many feel it is under attack by the country’s current administration.
In Springfield, advocates repeatedly chanted “hands off our Social Security” and gave speeches on the sidewalk just outside of the 40 Bond St. office.
Tracey Carpenter, the economic and healthcare organizer for Mass. Senior Action Council, said that Social Security is a “universal earned cash benefit” that protects American workers from poverty as they age, in the event of a disability, or a loss of a spouse that was making more money.
She noted that without SSI benefits, about 40% of Americans aged 65 or older would fall below the poverty line.
“Supplemental Social Security Income offers a minimum income for people who can no longer work to cover their basic needs,” Carpenter said. “This includes about 2.4 million extremely low-income older adults.”
“Many adults receive SSI still live below the poverty line,” she continued. “Without SSI, they would have nothing.”
The Mass. Senior Action Council also argued that personnel cuts and program changes at the federal level have already caused hardships for people. Ware said that residents have already reported hold times of three hours or more when calling Social Security.
When people do get through, they are typically informed that appointments are not available for weeks or months, while some offices indicate they no longer accept walk-in appointments, Ware said.
On April 1 alone, advocates reported a long line in the morning at the Springfield Social Security office, and while Reminder Publishing was at the protest, at least one person walked out of the office distraught by the fact that her husband’s Social Security benefits were not available to him.
“I never dreamed at this stage in my life that I would have to stand up and convince those in charge that cutting Social Security is a terrible idea,” said Ware, who used to work with Local 777 United Association Plumbers and Pipefitters before retiring. “I never thought that I would have to explain how crucial Social Security is to our community and just how the rumor of cuts sent seniors, the disabled, and the surviving children in a panic.”
The recent plans to cut staff have now caused uncertainty about the future of a fundamental essential for so many Americans.
Ward 8 City Councilor Zaida Govan alluded to this nebulousness at the April 1 protest by empathizing with a community that feels the anxiousness caused by Musk and the president.
She said that she was proud to see so many advocates fighting for this cause, and added that she plans to urge the mayor and state legislatures to do everything they can to speak up on this issue.
“I’m trying to tell people that we are not alone,” Govan said. “We’re not letting this happen. We are fighting, and that’s why everybody is here.”
