Hochul Updates On Prison Protests

By Mrs. I. Perl

Correction officers in multiple New York prisons are still protesting more than a week after the initial protests and strikes began. The state and the NYSCOPBA, the union that represents correctional officers, have been in negotiation meetings since Monday to meet the demands of the prison workers.

Last week Hochul threatened to deploy the National Guard to replace the protesting correctional officers who aren’t showing up to work. As of today 6,500 National Guard members are deployed in multiple prisons, and many of them have been taken from other critical assignments in NY.

On Tuesday afternoon Governor Hochul provided an update regarding the progress of the negotiations.

“My administration has worked tirelessly over the last nine days to resolve this. In fact, we've brought in mediators requested by the union. The mediation started yesterday, it continues again today. We want to find out what the issue is, because the individuals who've walked out — in an unsanctioned strike, unapproved by the union — have yet to tell us the issues. We've done everything we can to encourage them to get back to work…. We also repealed a staffing memo that had been viewed as controversial. We also suspended portions of the HALT law, which requires a certain amount of time out and other activities that we do not have the staffing to implement.”

The governor pointed out that the striking officers are in violation of The Taylor Law and a temporary restraining order that requires them to return to work.

Hochul ended by thanking the workers who are still showing up to work at the prisons and urged the remaining workers to return to work while negotiations continue.