Wildcat prison strikes continue upstate

Amid complaints of safety and staffing issues, corrections officers at 30 facilities in New York have gone on strike or begun protesting. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s stance has been firm: the labor stoppages are illegal and will be dealt with accordingly. But picking a fight with organized labor could have political consequences for the governor.

Acting State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III threw wildcat strikers a bone on Thursday by suspending elements of the HALT Act, which limits the use of solitary confinement, and by rescinding a directive that would count 70% staffing levels as full. Negotiations are still underway with the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, however, and there is still no timeline for a return to normal working conditions. 

Hochul has classed the work stoppages at state-run prisons as “illegal and unlawful,” and National Guard troops have been deployed along with the state police to try to stabilize prison facilities. Hochul also began legal action to “ensure compliance,” getting an injunction from an Erie County state Supreme Court judge ordering the strikes to end in accordance with current state law. 

“Do what's right. Do your jobs,” Hochul said in a video released Wednesday. 

Advocates for incarcerated people have condemned the strikes, which have in some cases prevented them from seeing their clients. In a statement, The Legal Aid Society said that the strike is part of a wider effort by correction officers to distract from allegations of misconduct.

“It is deplorable that correctional officers have chosen to jeopardize the health and safety of incarcerated people to make a political point about opposition to New York’s lauded HALT Solitary law and to deflect from the brutal killing of Mr. Robert Brooks,” it said in a statement. “Their actions this week only serve to reinforce The Legal Aid Society’s view that New York’s prison system is inherently brutal. This resistance to transparency and accountability gives us no confidence that DOCCS facilities can protect and respect the humanity and dignity of those in prison.”

Lee Adler, a lecturer at Cornell University and labor expert, said it’s unclear how far Hochul can go in reining them in. “Can the governor stop them from striking? I doubt it, but the governor has legal options, if you will, that she can undertake,” Adler told City & State on Wednesday. 

It hasn’t been the most straightforward of winters for correctional officers in New York. Members of their union have been indicted on murder charges, possibly exposed to fentanyl and injured in the prelude to a lockdown in the past few months. On Thursday morning, local law enforcement had to put down a state prison uprising in Ogdensburg. Many decided to go on strike to protest their working conditions and what they perceived as a lack of support from the state. The only issue is that such strikes are illegal; Public Employees Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor Law, prohibits public employees from striking in New York. 

The law can lead to fines and discipline for workers and unions, and even jail time for union leaders, who strike or encourage a work stoppage. The state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which previously issued a vote of no confidence in Martuscello,  has not condoned the work stoppages and is actively negotiating with DOCCS and the executive chamber in the hopes of finding a solution.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, the chair of the Senate Labor Committee and a candidate for New York City mayor, told City & State that the conditions leading to the wildcat strikes were set in place long before Hochul even took office. Ramos – who has attempted to amend the Taylor Law to allow public transit employees to strike, though not to allow corrections officers to strike – blamed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is rumored to be planning to run for against her in the Democratic mayoral primary against her, for his decision to shutter a number of mental health facilities.

“It was highly unfair because solving the issues of mental health is too big of a responsibility for law enforcement, and he did it without really taking into account the implications for working class New Yorkers who work as correction officers to have to bear that economic burden, and now we're seeing that manifest under these circumstances that are leading to violence, and of course, the strikes themselves,” Ramos told City & State. 

Republicans who are supportive of the strike, or who represent districts that hold state prison facilities, have spoken out in favor of the strikers. Rep. Claudia Tenney criticized the state government’s overall treatment of correctional officers and Hochul’s decision to send in the National Guard.

“Now, as COs are advocating for better working conditions, Kathy Hochul and Commissioner Martuscello are holding the COs who decided to go to work hostage and forcing inmates into a 24-hour lockdown,” Tenney said in a statement Wednesday. “This situation is at a boiling point, and sending in the National Guard will only make this situation more dangerous.”

Adler said there isn’t really an obvious solution here, with Acting DOCCS Commissioner telling state lawmakers at a recent budget hearing that state prisons will never be staffed at more than 70% capacity even as short staffing is one of officers’ biggest concerns. And it’s still unclear how they’ll react to the injunction ordering them back to work. 

“If membership continues to defy the courts and the governor, we're in for a heck of a mess,” he said. “If they sit down at the negotiating table, and people go back to work while they try to negotiate some terms that are acceptable to the strikers, well, we might return to something like a modicum of peace.”