More than 30 New York prison staff could soon end a continuing wildcat strike by corrections officers that could close soon after the Guards Union signed a contract with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Thursday night.
Mediator-related transactions suspend aspects of the suspension law. This includes promises to significantly reduce solitary confinement in state prisons and ease mandatory overtime shifts.
Correctional officers advocate for suspension laws aimed at improving prisoner conditions, limiting their ability to control unruly prisoners, making work more demanding and even dangerous.
The suspension will last at least 90 days as part of the contract, but it could face opposition from progressive lawmakers. Thirty days later, prison officials begin to reconfigure interrupted elements of the law to determine whether it creates “irrational risks” for staff and inmates.
Both also agreed to minimize the mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts and potentially end.
Staffing and operational inefficiencies will also be considered in the hopes of providing more relief to existing staff, according to the documents.
The development takes place on the 11th day of a strike in which security guards cast the state prison system into chaos after they put on uniforms over unsafe working conditions.
“We have worked with the mediator to address many concerns raised by correctional officers, bringing the DOCCS back to the path to safe operation, respecting the rights of incarcerated individuals, and reaching a consent award to prevent future suspension of unauthorized work.”
The deal reached Thursday is an important step towards ending the crisis, but impressive security guards must also be in favor of the contract as the coalition claims it is not protecting their interests.
The union, the New York State Correctional Officer and Police Charity Association, said it had not approved the strike, citing state laws banning it for New York's public sector employees.
Getty Images
Getty Images
Impressive security guards will need to return to work until Saturday or until the first scheduled shift date after that to obtain a disciplinary action pass as part of the agreement.
The work halt began in prison earlier this month after a brief prison uprising at one of the upstate facilities.
From there, it snowballed into dozens of prisons with correctional officers who reject clocks.
Last week, employees who left work ignored the state judge and ordered them back to work after Hochul filed a lawsuit against them.
Over the weekend, statetroopers began serving hundreds of security guards on strike on subpoena, and the Department of Corrections threatened to dock their pay and cancel their health insurance.
Thousands of National Guards were dispatched to work inside prisons working within prisons, forcing prisoners to be confined to their cells.
CBS 2 NY found two prisoners who died Wednesday in separate prisons affected by the strike.
Additional inmates were found on Saturday in a prison with impressive security guards.
