Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) has released its report on the corrections officers strike from earlier this year. The union says while the strike was illegal, the state ignored warning signs that led to the strike.
The union says the state’s strike report fails to provide critical context for the strike.
"This context is necessary to understand that those who stood on the strike lines did so for a variety of reasons: crushing mandatory overtime with no end in sight, dramatic increases in violence, rampant drugs and contraband, a hopeless recruitment and retention situation, and not feeling like their voices were being heard," said NYSCOPBA.
The union says security staff worked through "short-sighted political decisions" the union claims made many aspects of the correctional system worse and more dangerous for incarcerated individuals and staff alike. The union adds deterioration of prison conditions statewide and "the indifference of the state’s elected leaders to cries for help from the rank-and-file pushed staff to the breaking point, and then they broke."
The union claims the crisis leading to strike was not created by the officers, but by lawmakers who disregarded their repeated warnings and passed laws that made New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilities far more dangerous.
"These ill-considered laws weakened security, emboldened violence, and stripped correctional officers of the authority and tools needed to maintain control," the union added.
As conditions deteriorated, the union says lawmakers ignored the data, refused to listen, and turned their backs on corrections officers. The union says when the consequences of the state's choices became plain for the world to see, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature did not take responsibility.
"Instead, they looked to shift blame away from themselves and onto the very workforce they abandoned," the union added.
Some 2,000 corrections officers refused to return to work after a deal was reached and were fired.