NY prison strike: More guards return to work after agreement announced, state official says

ALBANY — More correction officers returned to their jobs Friday amid a three-week wildcat strike, following a Thursday night agreement between state prison officials and the strikers, a state official said.

The return of correction officers allowed another prison to be removed from the list of facilities impacted by the work stoppage, said Thomas Mailey, spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Eleven of the state’s 42 prisons were operating normally and not on strike as of midday Friday.

State officials hoped more correction officers and sergeants would return for the night shifts Friday, which could further reduce the number of prisons impacted by the continuing wildcat strike. Seven prisoners have died in prisons since the unauthorized strike began Feb. 17, though their causes of death had not yet been determined.

The 31 prisons still considered to be on strike Friday is an improvement since the strike began. Correction officers and sergeants started the strike at 38 prisons.

There was no immediate statement issued by the strikers Friday.

Safety, overtime at issue

Other state workers and more than 7,000 National Guard troops are filling in for striking workers to secure the facilities. The unauthorized strike began over demands for greater safety from assaults by prisoners and less mandated overtime, which had created some 24-hour shifts.

Strikers who don’t return to their Friday shifts could face additional administrative, civil and criminal charges, Corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III and Jackie Bray, the state commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services said Thursday night.

The state officials said the strike, which wasn’t authorized or condoned by the workers’ union, violates the 1967 Taylor Law that prohibits strikes by most state workers as a way to preserve public safety.

The Thursday night agreement between the state and representatives of striking workers provides several incentives for correction officers to return to work and addresses many of their demands. Workers who returned to work Friday would no longer face disciplinary actions such as termination and loss of healthcare coverage or a threat to their pensions, Martuscello and Bray told reporters Thursday night.

In addition, the state agreed to seek improvements to safety for guards, to reduce mandated overtime and to improve other working conditions.

There was no immediate comment Friday from the New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association union, which represents the workers. The union had refused to sign the Thursday night agreement that Martuscello said he negotiated directly with striking employees, not the union leadership.

A Feb. 27 agreement struck between the state and the union through a mediator promising many of the same concessions was mostly ignored by the striking guards.