Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Mediation efforts between NYSCOPBA and New York State are set to resume on Wednesday, as Gov. Kathy Hochul continues to take aim at corrections officers on strike.
According to Hochul, 9-in-10 corrections officers have not returned to work since the strike started over 10 days ago.
"We offered an amnesty period where they could go back to work, no questions asked. We also repealed a staffing memo that had been viewed as controversial.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," stated Hochul.
An anonymous Attica corrections officers says he joined the strike after working a 64-hour shift. He says conditions are so bad in his prison that he's willing to put his retirement on the line.
"I've been thrown on, I've had contracts taken out on my life. My family's worked there for many years, and I cannot go back," stated the anonymous CO with WBEN. "They treat me like a piece of garbage, not the administration itself. New York State has said I am no good."
Chuck, a retired Attica corrections officer says the mediation is a waste of time unless both sides are actively working towards repealing the HALT Act.
"I've just talked to the officers in front of Wyoming and Attica, and they are resolute in the same thought process. It must be an immediate, irrevocable ban right now. There's no way they're going to go back in and risk their lives when you have no backup from anybody else. If you have a system where you're going to pick and choose which one part of the law you want to enforce, then you've lost credibility, right there. You're not serious," stated Chuck.
