State says striking COs will lose health insurance, be considered AWOL

Photo by Tom Rivers: This sign along Route 31 declares corrections officers are on strike. The Albion Correctional Facility is in the background.

The state is upping the pressure on striking corrections officers to end their work stoppage and return to work.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said that COs who refuse to show up for their shifts will be considered absent without leave (AWOL) and will be docked pay every day on strike. They also will lose their health insurance.

Corrections officers have been on strike for nearly a week. The work stoppage started on Monday at the Elmira and Collins prisons, and by Tuesday had spread to more than 20 prisons including Albion and Orleans. The strike is now at 38 of the 42 prisons in the state. Because of the Taylor Law, corrections officers can’t legally go on strike.

A mediator will meet beginning Monday with representatives from the state and the union representing corrections officers. Corrections officers want the HALT Act rescinded, saying that law from 2022 has made prisons less safe for officers and incarcerated people. COs also say the prisons are understaffed.

Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order for the National Guard to help with the staffing shortfall during the strike. National Guard members have been at the two prisons in Albion since Thursday.

The Watertown Daily Times also is reporting Hochul is seeking permission to close five state prisons in the next fiscal year with only 90 days notice, rather than a full year’s notice.