COs expect strike to continue, calling offer from state ‘BS’

Photos by Tom Rivers: The corrections officers have this banner up thanking the community for its support during the strike. COs said many people and organizations have donated food, water, firewood and money.

ALBION – Some of the corrections officers on strike say the announced agreement to get COs back to work is “total bull s—.”

The COs say the agreement doesn’t change much in the working conditions that led to the strike at prisons in the state.

Officers are still subjected to about 800 hours of mandatory overtime a year, and the HALT Act, although temporarily suspended, hasn’t been rescinded. Corrections officers said the HALT Act and the mandatory overtime were the primary reasons for the strike, and those issues aren’t satisfactorily addressed in the agreement announced Thursday night by the governor and a mediator.

Corrections officers have this sign up along Gaines Basin Road, across from the Orleans Correctional Facility. About 75 corrections officers on strike were gathered at the location this morning.

“It seems pretty angry out here,” one striking CO said this more at an encampment across from the Orleans Correctional Facility.

The state wants the COs back on the job Saturday. If they show up for their shifts, they won’t face discipline.

But many of the workers at the site across from Orleans Correctional expect few will return to work on Saturday.

The officers also said too many drugs are making their way into the prison, putting staff at risk of exposure to dangerous drugs and substances.

There won’t be a vote among the union membership, which totals about 16,000 corrections officers and sergeants. They will show their support for the agreement by either going to work or remaining on strike.

One CO with 13 years of experience said he wants to get back to work, but the HALT Act needs to be revised to allow more punishment for inmates who break rules, cause fights, have shanks and other weapons, and have drugs or “hooch” that they make in the prison.

“We need to have some sanctions and disciplinary actions,” another CO said. “We have to allow some repercussions for bad behavior.”

The officers said the agreement calls for “temporary” suspension of portions of the HALT Act, and allows for an increase in the overtime rate from 1.5 times to 2.5 times the hourly pay. That extra rate is for about a month.

The COs said the strike isn’t about pay. It’s about the unsafe conditions inside the prison caused by the HALT Act, drugs and contraband that infiltrate the prison walls often through the mail, and mandatory overtime.

“Everybody wants to get back in there,” one CO said. “But the agreement they announced literally does nothing for us.”

Orleans Correctional Facility is being staffed by the same corrections officers from when the strike started 10 days ago. A group of about 67 officers haven’t left the facility since Feb. 18. National Guard members are helping at the site.

James Miller, spokesman for New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, issued this statement this morning:

“After three days of mediation, NYSCOPBA and the State reached an agreement and Consent Award, which contents were presented to the members who were continuing to refuse to work.

“The decisions to return to work is not a collective vote by members of NYSCOPBA. It will be up to each individual who currently is refusing to work to decide whether to return to work or risk termination, potential fines and possible arrest for violating the court order.

 “NYSCOPBA has encouraged each member to return to work based on what was achieved in the Consent Award.

 “The deadline to return to work without any departmental discipline is tomorrow for the individual officer’s scheduled shift.”