Posts tagged Federal Bureau of Prisons
Trump administration moving to end federal prison workers’ union protections
October 1, 2025 // Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director William K. Marshall III wrote a letter to nearly 35,000 employees outlining plans to dismantle their contract negotiated by the Council of Prison Locals (CPL) labor union. “The current contract has too often slowed or prevented changes that would have made your jobs safer and your workdays better,” Marshall said in the memo to workers. “This is not about questioning the value of representation; it’s about ensuring representation moves us forward, not holds us back.”
Federal Bureau of Prisons Ends Union Protections for Workers
September 29, 2025 // President Trump’s executive orders since March have stripped nearly half a million federal workers of union rights. He issued an executive order in March instructing a broad swath of government agencies to end collective bargaining with federal unions. That order targets agreements covering nearly a million federal workers at agencies including the Justice Department, of which the prisons bureau is a part. The president has cast his instructions as necessary for national security. The unions targeted in the orders have repeatedly sued the administration, calling them acts of retaliation against unions. A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Mr. Trump.
Op-ed: Federal correctional officers’ union targets members of congress for turning their back on law enforcement
June 3, 2025 // The billboards have been placed across the country targeting the following 10 members of Congress: Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.; Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.; Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.; Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio; Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.; Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas.
Trump Administration Moves To Eliminate Bureau Of Prisons Union
April 2, 2025 // Each month, Labor Management Relations meetings take place between the BOP’s union, American Federal Government Employees Council 33, and executive management at every prison. Many times, these meetings are constructive but there are complexities in running an agency with 36,000 employees. Often, the union members who primarily are the face of the agency to the prisoners they watch over, feel disconnected from management according to union representatives
Federal correctional officers driven to ask Congress for a raise
February 9, 2025 // Union says pay scale is 'non-competitive' with other law enforcement agencies
Proposed federal pay adjustment could boost wages for thousands of blue-collar feds
October 9, 2024 // Geographically, based on the proposal, OPM’s regulations would give federal pay increases mainly to FWS employees working in Alabama, California, Maine, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In particular, the proposed regulations would most prominently impact federal employees working at three major military installations: Tobyhanna, Letterkenny and Anniston Army Depots. The challenges leading to the persistent federal pay disparities are two-fold. In some cases, there are differences between blue-collar FWS employees and white-collar GS employees. In other cases, there are pay disparities among FWS employees working within the same wage area, OPM explained.
Leavenworth prison union says staffing shortages are the real cause of ongoing ‘lockdown’
April 15, 2024 // Russ Gildner, union president for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 919, said the prison is understaffed by about 30 positions. He said by going into emergency operations, prison leaders can bypass the union’s contract and order staff, like counselors and other positions, to serve as prison guards. “Staff that work in education and recreation,” Gildner said, “are being reassigned and are performing work as officers.” Gildner said that means that the prison is not currently offering programs like educational classes during the lockdown. That contradicts previous statements from prison officials that said inmates still have access to those programs amid the investigation.