Parade backs Dannemora CO strike
DANNEMORA — While it may still be hard to tell just how many striking correction officers opted to return to work by the state-imposed deadline of Saturday, one thing that was not hard to tell was how much the community is supporting the officers.
'I was up here last Sunday standing out there with them. I hate seeing how dragged out these guys are,' Mike Mussen Jr., a retired correction officer, said Saturday at Maplefield's convenience store just outside the Village of Dannemora.
'These guys are doing a great job at standing strong and standing tall together.'
STRIKE DEMANDS
Correction officers across the state have been striking at prisons since Feb. 17. They seek safer working conditions inside prisons.
More staff, better measures to keep troublesome contraband out and a repeal of the Humane Alternatives to Long Term Incarceration Act, which strictly limits the amount of time and which inmates can be sent to special housing units, are at the top of the officer's list of demands.
Prisons statewide have been run by officers who have chose not to strike as well as members of the National Guard, which Gov. Kathy Hochul called up during the first week of the wildcat strike that is not sanctioned by the correction officer's union, the New York State Correction Officer Police Benevolent Association.
Representatives from the state and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and NYSCOPBA sat down for several sessions with a mediator last week and eventually came up with an agreement.
The agreement called for a suspension of HALT for 90 days and measures to limit required overtime shifts and to scan legal mail entering prisons. It also called for no discipline against the striking officers.
The deal set Saturday as the date for all striking officers to return to work.
There was no vote on whether to accept the deal by rank and file members and the union said it would be up to individual officers if they would return to work.
COMMUNITY PARADE
On Saturday, the community outside Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora held a parade to show support. People, along with local businesses, drove past the picket line on Route 374 outside the facility.
Mussen, who organized the parade, said it was to buoy the spirits of the striking officers and show that the community is behind them.
Mussen said he was not a fan of the state's officer and the union's lack of union action.
'The governor is playing a nasty game and the union hasn't done a thing about it,' he said.
'These guys are paying dues, they are doing everything they can, and they've given their all. It's a horrible feeling walking in late at night, and you can't spend time with your family because you're so exhausted.'
Mark Plumadore, a retiree of the facility's civilian staff, said the HALT Act is the sticking point.
'A majority of the people here, if the state just took the HALT Act out, would go back in right now,' Plumadore said.
'But they are not accepting anything. They are in it for the long haul.'
'IT'S GONNA GET UGLY'
Retired officer Jim Mazzotte predicted worsening conditions if the state doesn't take action and agree to the officers' requests.
'I think it's gonna get ugly,' Mazzotte said.
'All the governor is doing is threatening them. She refuses to negotiate. It's p---ing them off, but these guys are going to stand strong. They're not going anywhere anytime soon.'
Bill Coolidge, a retired corrections officer for 21 years, also supports the striking officers and sees the agreement as weak.
'I am not affected by the grievances these men are striking for today, but I wanted to come out and show support for these people here,' he said.
'It doesn't sound like a good agreement. I wouldn't take it.'
'THESE ARE THEIR PEOPLE'
Coolidge was just 23 years-old during the last correction officers strike in 1979, on the job for about two months.
'I remember it was chaotic. I think this is much more orderly and calm,' he said.
'I just wish the union would back it because these are their people, and that support would be the best way to combat it.'
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