Governor bars fired COs from further state service

Yahoo

13-03-2025

PLATTSBURGH — A day after declaring the three-week-old statewide correction officer's strike over, the state barred any officer continuing to strike from any further state service.
'My top priority is the safety and well-being of all New Yorkers — and I have been working around-the-clock to end this illegal work stoppage and restore safety in our correctional system,' Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Tuesday.
'We have taken unprecedented steps to protect public safety, and I am grateful to the National Guard and DOCCS (Department of Corrections and Community Supervision) personnel who stayed on the job, going above and beyond to protect their fellow New Yorkers. Today, we can finally say this work stoppage is over and move forward towards making our prisons safer for all, supporting our correctional staff, and recruiting the correction officers of the future.'
Hochul said that any employee who did not report to work Monday would be terminated, and about 2,000 termination notices were sent out.
HIRING BAN
Hochul said she also signed an Executive Order establishing a policy barring the hiring into state service of individuals who are participating in the wildcat strike and recommending their removal from the Central Registry of Police and Peace Officers for cause, which would prevent them from being hired as a Police or Peace Officer in state and local jurisdictions.
State Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake), a former correction officer himself, was not happy with the governor's Executive Order.
'I strongly oppose the governor's recent Executive Order declaring a state of emergency at correctional facilities and barring terminated New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision officers from future employment at other state, county or local government agencies,' Jones said.
'This is an absolute ridiculous usurpation of local control and an overreach of executive power. The Executive Order is vindictive and must be reversed immediately.'
LONG STRIKE
The strike began on Feb. 17 at prisons across the state. Correction officers have been protesting the lack of safety inside prisons.
They have been asking for more staff, fewer double and triple shifts, better screening for packages and visitors to keep dangerous contraband out, and a repeal of the Humane Alternatives to Long Term Incarceration Act, which strictly limited which inmates and for how long they can be sent to Special Housing Units.
Prisons have been guarded by those officers who continue to work and more than 6,000 members of the National Guard that Hochul deployed early on in the strike.
After several negotiating sessions with and without representation from the officer's union, the New York State Correction Officers Police Benevolent Association, a deal was finally reached this past weekend.
The crux of the deal contained many of the items that had been agreed upon in the first three attempts to settle the strike.
The deal was contingent upon at least 85 percent of the officers returning to work by Monday, which did not happen. But the numbers were close as about 10,000 of 13,500 officers had returned to work as of Monday.
As a result, the state said it would recognize components of the latest agreement as well as the March 6th agreement in full.
Components of the agreements that the State will honor include:
- Allowing the Commissioner of DOCCS to exercise his existing discretion under the HALT Act and continue the temporary suspension of the programming elements of the HALT Act for 90 days from the date of the MOA.
- Minimizing and working towards eliminating 24-hour mandatory overtime.
- Establishing a committee to analyze each facility's staffing and operational inefficiencies with the goal of providing more relief to existing staff.
- DOCCS shall not issue notices of discipline under the collective bargaining agreement for an employee who engaged in the strike so long as the employee returned to work by the deadline.
- Reiterating rescission of the 70/30 memo.
- Immediately reinstating the health insurance of any returning employee.
- Continue to pay the 2.5 times overtime rate originally established by mutual agreement on February 20, 2025, for 30 days from the date of the MOA.
- Allowing employees to purchase health insurance covering the full State share and employee share to the first day of AWOL/terminated health insurance.
- Establishing a committee comprised of representatives of NYSCOPВА and DOCCS and other parties to present recommendations to the New York State Legislature regarding changes to the HALT Act.
RECRUITMENT
The state also said it would increase efforts to recruit and hire more correction officers.
This includes:
- Supporting correction officer trainees at New York's Correction Officer Academy
- Introducing Article 7 language in this year's Executive Budget to amend the public officers law, in relation to residency requirements for certain positions as a correction officer, allowing recruiting from other states which would greatly expand the number of potential applicants.
- DOCCS has contracted with OGS Media Services on a large-scale social media recruitment campaign that includes a multi-channel approach including social media, multicultural digital, streaming audio, video and static ads to better familiarize the public on DOCCS mission. The campaign went live in February 2025 targeting upstate NY community college campuses and military bases.
- DOCCS Statewide Recruitment Unit has been running Recruitment Centers in various locations and currently is operating Recruitment Centers in the Destiny USA mall (Syracuse) and Champlain Centre mall (Plattsburgh).
- DOCCS launched an advanced placement initiative to attract applicants with Correction Officer experience into our Correction Officer ranks at a pay rate commensurate to their experience.
In February, the DOCCS Recruitment Unit collectively attended a total of 157 career fair and table events across colleges, high schools and community events, the state said.
In July 2024, the Department launched 'CNY200', a regional hiring incentive promoting direct placement of Correction officer recruits to vacancies – a program that has been expanded to eight counties.
The DOCCS recruitment team launched a new initiative to increase DOCCS applications into the NYS HELPs program, by collecting electronic resumes at career and community events and disseminating them to the facilities in their regions.
CAN'T WAIT
State Sen. Dan Stec (R-Queensbury) who has seven prisons in his district, the most of any state legislator, urged Hochul in a letter to her to be flexible in dealing with the striking officers.
'While the MOA was intended to resolve the wildcat correction officer strike, strict adherence to the 85-percent threshold should not outweigh safety concerns. The provisions laid out relating to staff relief, overtime reduction and facility safety measures are critical to restoring order and operational security,' Stec said.
'Disrupting or rescinding these terms would undermine this ongoing, fraught process and exacerbate the current staffing shortage.'
Stec also asked Hochul to consider extending a final notice period that allows any remaining terminated employees the opportunity to return to work and have DOCCS rescind their terminations.
'Current recruitment classes average 50 trainees. Even if 15 officer classes were held a year, it would take three years to backfill those positions at that rate,' Stec said.
'Considering that current officers are working 12-hour shifts, for five days a week, we simply can't wait that long.'
Stec also said under Hochul's leadership DOCCS is in 'shambles.'
'The strong arm tactics to ignore sincere safety concerns and terminate over 2,000 officers of a department already woefully understaffed is unconscionable,' he said.