PLATTSBURGH — As correction officers across the state continued to strike Tuesday, they awaited word on how the first day of mediation between their union and the state went on Monday.
Both sides say that the talks were encouraging, but no firm resolutions came out of them.
A statement from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the mediation session with the officer’s union, the New York State Correction Officers Police Benevolent Association, “went well.
“With both sides engaging constructively and putting forth their main points and the goals they hope to accomplish through this process,” A DOCCS statement said Tuesday.
“Mediation is set to continue today as discussion moves forward. At the same time, the illegal strike by correction officers remains ongoing, now entering its ninth day.”
DOCCS said they remain focused on the “safety and security of our staff, the national guard assisting in the correctional facilities and the incarcerated population.”
DAY NINE
Correction officers have been refusing to go to work and have been picketing outside most prisons across the state since Monday, Feb. 17.
Their primary concerns are safety inside the prisons. They are asking for more staff, better measures to keep troublesome contraband out and a repeal to the Humane to Alternative to Long Term Incarceration Act, which strictly limits the amount of time and which inmates can be kept in special housing units.
The state has responded by ordering two days of pay docked for every one day an officer is out of work and has threatened to take away health insurance benefits.
Officers who have shown up for work, are working long hours inside the prisons to keep order. They will be receiving double pay for their efforts.
The state has also called in the National Guard to help order inside.
The union said Tuesday that inmates have been moved out of Collins Correctional Facility near Buffalo and sent to other facilities to ease the staffing crisis there.
EXTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS
Mediation sessions between the state and union began Monday and more are scheduled for this week.
The union said there were, “extensive discussions with the State and DOCCS on the need for operational changes, including immediately suspending certain provisions of HALT during the staffing crisis, potential legislative changes to permanently change HALT, elimination of triple shifts, legal mail scanning, no departmental discipline for members considered AWOL, increased recruitment efforts and incentives to bolster staffing,” at the first day of talks.
NYSCOPBA President Chris Summers issued a statement to union members that also said they discussed issues with how the state has ordered members on various forms of approved leave back prematurely and, “we have been successful in coming to an agreement for those members ordered back to work while on pre-approved leave.”
DANNEMORA
In Dannemora Tuesday, another big crowd of officers picketed outside the walls of Clinton Correctional Facility.
Retired correction officer Ken Varin Sr. said it is important that the officers stick together.
“It’s all about family and the brotherhood of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, it’s about relying on each other,” he said.
“They got blue on, that’s who you depend on.”
Another retiree, Jim Mazzotte, said the state threatening officers will not bring them back to work.
“When good employees leave your business, you tell them ‘we need you,’ and ask them ‘what do you need,’” Mazzotte said.
“You don’t scare them with threats.”
Ken Perry Sr., also a retiree, said it’s not just about the officers, adding that conditions are unsafe inside for the inmates as well.
“It’s scary in there for inmates too,” Perry said.
“They are scared to death. If they get stabbed by another inmate, that guy will be out in the yard again in a day or two, like nothing happened.”
— Staff Writer Luca Gross contributed to this report