Albany, N.Y. (WBEN) - Thousands of state corrections officers and fellow supporters traveled to Albany on Tuesday to take their fight for safer working conditions in state-run correctional facilities directly to state lawmakers.
The strike is now in its third week at 32 prisons across the state. The State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) reported that 10 officers have been fired for remaining on the picket line. Additionally, thousands of striking workers have already lost their health insurance coverage.
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Heather, who's husband is among the striking corrections officers in Albany on Tueaday, says they went to the state capitol despite continuous threats from the state.
"There's no official termination. Our health care has been terminated. They've gotten many threatening texts almost every day, telling them they're terminated. Like Groundhog Day every day with that," Heather stated in an interview with WBEN.
Heather says mediation efforts were a waste of time because they knew NYSCOPBA was going to side with the state.
"The union has done nothing for these guys. Even the last few years they've been begging for them to do something, something to protect them, bring in the body scanner, scan the legal mail, and the union refuses," she said. "There was other unions that have supported the strike, but NYSCOPBA has not, and they refuse to do anything. I mean, it's apparent when they won't even approve for this attorney to speak to the mediator on corrections behalf."
It's unclear how long corrections officers intend to be in Albany for, but Heather feels this could potentially be a repeating occurrence.
"There's buses that brought all these officers in. I'm not sure if people are staying and coming back tomorrow. It's probably a one day. I don't know if we'll be back," she noted. "Next week, it's really all kind of up in the air. We're hoping that this puts some pressure on and they can come to some kind of safe agreement for the officers and for the incarcerated individuals, because their safety is also at risk with what's going on."
