Posts tagged corrections officers
Union concerned as prisons report increased violence
August 19, 2025 // The St. Louis Correctional Facility is in the central part of Michigan and can house more than 1,100 inmates. Operated by the Michigan Department of Corrections, the facility is currently designated a level IV facility. In the MDOC system, prisons are categorized by security levels I through V, with level V being maximum security. A level IV facility typically houses prisoners considered high risk for violence, escape, or disruptive behavior, with many serving long sentences. MCO is calling for action to protect the facility’s correction officers.
How New York Can Prevent Another Prison Worker Strike
March 7, 2025 // The governor should hold both sides to account. She needs a handshake deal with lawmakers to restore some of the discretion that prison superintendents previously wielded to impose solitary confinement in the most extreme cases. Such an agreement can be codified in the forthcoming state budget. In return, state law should require every DOCCS employee to wear a body camera whenever in the presence of an inmate and give the department more latitude in curbing the arrival of drugs and contraband. Finally, Hochul needs to identify and terminate the strike’s instigators. Any capitulation, real or perceived, will tempt other public employees to instigate their own illegal strikes—though some of damage in this regard has already been done.
NEW YORK: Health insurance ending for corrections officers still on strike; National Guard still deployed
March 4, 2025 // The New York State Conservative Party Chairman, Gerard Kassar, released a statement saying in part, “New York State Corrections Officers are striking because the Hochul Administration has failed to adequately protect officers, male and female, from years of inmate assaults spurred on by lax progressive ‘reforms.’ Now, because she failed to do her job protecting state employees, Governor Hochul is erroneously citing the Taylor Law to fire longstanding Corrections Officers, stripping their families of both income and healthcare benefits. It’s outrageous.”
NY reaches tentative deal to end prison strike by suspending anti-solitary confinement law
March 2, 2025 // A law restricting the use of solitary confinement in New York’s prisons would remain partly suspended for 90 days if corrections officers accept a tentative agreement the state reached with their union to end an ongoing wildcat strike. There will be no departmental discipline for any of the thousands of corrections officers if they return to work by Saturday, according to a memo the governor released. The agreement also includes provisions to reduce mandated overtime, increase the overtime pay rate and temporarily hire retired corrections officers to assist in transporting incarcerated people.
Former Pa. Corrections Union President Facing Six Felony Theft Charges
August 10, 2023 // Corrections officers searching for the truth about their union’s finances have helped expose financial corruption within the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) that has led to criminal charges for two different union officials and major reforms within the union. In July, former PSCOA president Jason Bloom was charged by state police with six felony counts of theft for allegedly using the union’s credit card for personal expenses totaling $8,286. According to court filings in filed by concerned corrections officers, PSCOA officials also spent members’ money on golf outings, NFL tickets, a $12,000 Rolex watch, iTunes purchases, and personal expenses totaling more than $200,000 on union credit cards.
LAWSUIT ALLEGES UNION DENYING ‘FAIR REPRESENTATION’ TO NONMEMBERS
June 23, 2022 // Oregon state law requires unions to offer “fair representation” to every member of the bargaining unit — even nonmembers — in return for being designated as the workplace’s exclusive provider of union services. U.S. District Court in Eugene, also names Oregon Department of Administrative Services Director Katy Corba
LAWSUIT ALLEGES TEAMSTERS REFUSE TO ACCEPT PACKAGES CONTAINING MEMBERSHIP CANCELLATIONS
April 22, 2022 // But a federal lawsuit and request for a preliminary injunction filed on April 20 allege three different Washington Teamsters’ locals conspired to deny workers by the crudest of measures — brazen refusal to accept mail.
Labor organizers and anti-union activists square off again on membership, dues issues
March 18, 2022 // “It codifies the process by which an employee may exercise this right and safeguards that person’s ability to exercise it at any time,” Vernuccio said. “It does this by having the public employees tell their employers directly that they wish to have money taken from their paycheck, instead of employers taking the union’s word for it.”
‘You made the mistake’: Louisville Metro employees frustrated about premium pay deduction
February 20, 2022 // Harmon writes they "believed based on past practice that premium pay would be exempt from County Employees Retirement System (CERS) withholdings. Unfortunately, CERS has notified Louisville Metro Government that these payments are considered wages and, for that reason, are subject to CERS withholdings."