NY prison strikes: State gives final offer with deadline to return or be fired
A labor standoff that has roiled New York's prison system for more than two weeks reached a critical point on Friday, March 7, with striking correction officers ordered to return to work that day or they would be fired.
State officials had made public on Thursday night the terms of their latest offer to workers, with a sharp deadline attached. They promised in a video address that the state wouldn't penalize those who took part in an illegal strike as long as they showed up for the morning or evening shift on Friday.
Those who failed to return would be subject to termination.
How that ultimatum played out was not immediately clear. State officials declined to say on Friday afternoon how many workers failed to show up for the morning shift, and the union representing New York's 13,500 correction officers and sergeants said it didn't know how many members had returned to work and how many balked at the deal.
The strike began at two prisons on Feb. 17 and spread to many of the 40 other facilities in New York, forcing Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy several thousand National Guard members to take the place of absent correction officers. Workers later returned to their jobs at some sites, but those at 32 prisons were still on picket lines at the beginning of this week.
Correction officers were protesting forced overtime, understaffing and what they say are unsafe work conditions. They're also demonstrating their continued opposition to a 2021 law that restricted the use of long-term solitary confinement as a disciplinary action.
In Thursday night's video address, the head of the prison system laid out terms the state was offering based on his direct discussions with prison workers after talks with their union failed to end the strike. They included ending 12-hour shifts and returning to eight-hour shifts as soon as the strike ended and prisons returned to normal.
The state also agreed to continue suspending the HALT Act — the solitary confinement law — for 90 days and set up a committee to improve prison safety.
"I'm here to say that I heard my workforce," said Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. "I want to support them, and continue to support them and continue to work with them on the safety issues that they've raised while out on the line. I want to end this illegal strike. We need to get back to some form of normalcy."
Martuscello was joined by another commissioner who delivered the stern message that accompanied the state's offer, which she said applies only to those who returned to work on Friday. For all others, the state would file civil contempt charges, refer their names to the attorney general, and pursue terminations.
"This deal will not be offered again," said Jackie Bray, commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
"We want you back, we need you back," Bray said. "You need to come back to work tomorrow."
Sing Sing: Corrections officers, state negotiate after pickets outside Sing Sing, other prisons
The strike violates a 57-year-old state law that prohibits most public employees from walking off the job over labor disputes. The prison workers took that action on their own, without the blessing of their union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA.)
Earlier in the strike, state officials and NYSCOPBA leaders negotiated a potential resolution to the strike with the aid of a mediator, but most workers rejected it and stayed on the picket lines. The terms of that agreement were similar to those the state put to workers on Thursday.
In a statement to its members on Thursday, NYSCOPBA leaders said they refused to sign the new proposal, in spite of pressure from Hochul's administration, even though it was similar to the consent award the had negotiated in mediation. They said new version was "stripped of any assurances that it will be legally binding in the future" and was presented with too little time to review it.
"Do not mistake our intentions or motivation," they wrote. "We want to reach an agreement that gets our members back to work as soon as possible, but we cannot allow our desire for a quick result to jeopardize our ability to obtain a fair agreement that adequately safeguards our members' health and physical well-being and ensures their ability to reclaim a work-life balance in the immediate future."
Chris McKenna covers government and politics and The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY prison strike: Workers ordered return to work March 7 or be fired
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Its impossible to prove - and thats why it may be Gov. Gavin Newsoms and other California Democrats perfect attack line against President Trump. California Democrats, led by Newsom, are trying to pin the blame for a riots chaotic escalation on President Trumps decision to call in the National Guard to control it. Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and many other state and local politicians over the last 48 hours argued they had rioters in Los Angeles under control before President Trump usurped their authority by calling in the National Guard, a step they blame for inflaming tensions and causing even more violence and chaos. 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Those crowds, only in the hundreds at first, lit a car on fire, waved Mexican and Palestinian flags, and hurled rocks at police with the activities escalating and attracting thousands of rioters over the weekend. While Newsom on Sunday claimed that local police could have handled the situation without federal intervention, videos playing out on the local news showed thousands of protesters taking over the 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police officers stranded in vehicles that were damaged and immobilized by the onslaught. Before sundown Sunday night, rioters had destroyed several California Highway Patrol vehicles trying to re-open the freeway with hundreds of rocks thrown off freeway over-ramps. Its been 60 years since a president has sent in Guard troops to deal with civil unrest without the cooperation from a states governor, but back then, the circumstances were far different. President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 deployed the Alabama National Guard to protect a march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, the states capital, after George Wallace, the states segregationist governor, declined to provide the protection. Civil rights supporters argued Johnson was protecting the rioters from Wallaces callous disregard for their safety. This time around, support or opposition for the National Guards deployment is also deeply dividing the country, with Trumps critics arguing hes overstepping his presidential authority and instilling fear in immigrant communities with the aggressive ICE raids. Supporters, meanwhile, argue the Guard troops deployment is necessary to safeguard ICE agents, continue the crackdown on illegal immigration, and maintain peace. In Los Angeles Sunday, Newsom continued to blame the escalating violence on the National Guards deployment even though troops remained posted outside the Federal Building, which includes an ICE detention center, and didnt join in police efforts to control the riots in other locales. "We didnt have a problem until Trump got involved," Newsom asserted. "This is a serious breach of state sovereignty - inflaming tensions while pulling resources where theyre actually needed." "Rescind the order. Return control to California," Newsom demanded. Earlier Sunday, Newsom accused Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of trying to provoke unrest, arguing Trump was trying to create a spectacle and "hoping for chaos." Still, even Bass acknowledged that these were not peaceful protests - that two days of violent unrest had ensued before Trump called up the National Guard, a step she also described as inciting more violence. "Its not peaceful for people to throw rocks or bottles," she said. "Thats not peaceful." "I dont think theres any equivocating on non-violence," she added. "If you are going to entertain violence, if youre going to take over a freeway, then you are going to suffer the consequences of doing that." The problem with Newsoms claim of local control of the riot and Basss insistence on consequences is local authorities abysmal track record of responding to recent unrest that had nothing to do with federal interference. Over Memorial Day, a Los Angeles block party got so out of control that the mob vandalized train cars, businesses, and a police cruiser, injuring four police officers in the process. When the LA metros A Line stopped in South Los Angeles, troublemakers blocked trains, spray-painted the train cars exterior, banged on the windows, and set fire to a train-station roof. Police were called but made no arrests. "Our officers were heavily outnumbered and so the decision was, clear the area rather than make arrests," Los Angeles Police Department Commander Lilian Carranza told reporters at the time. The destructive scene wasnt a one-off. After the Dodgers World Series win over the New York Yankees, the celebration turned ugly with revelers setting a metro bus on fire, looting several shops and throwing fireworks at police, scenes described as "absolute chaos" in downtown Los Angeles, according to a witness. The lawlessness also isnt limited to Southern California. Last summer, partiers at least twice shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco around 2 a.m., with nearly 150 cars taking part in what police called a "side show" that involved setting off fireworks and cars doing donuts and other stunts. Just months earlier, a driver was viciously beaten and his car stolen during a similar takeover of the bridge. On the campaign trail last year, Trump pledged that he wasnt going to tolerate left-wing lawlessness on American streets and would use his presidential powers to shut them down. This weekend, the president made good on that promise, blaming the local Los Angeles police for a slow response and a failure to protect the federal ICE agents. "Waiting several hours of LAPD to show up - or them telling us that theyre not going to back us up until they have an officer in a dangerous situation - is something that just isnt workable when you have violent protests going on," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS News. The Trump administration, Noem added, isnt going to allow a redux of the 2020 summer of protests of George Floyds death when Black Lives Matters protests in Minnesota quickly spread unchecked throughout major cities across the country. Over Newsoms objection, Trump federalized 2,000 California Guard soldiers, and Hegseth warned that U.S. Marines were also on "high alert" to deploy, readying active-duty military to engage against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. By Sunday morning, Trump was declaring victory and thanking the National Guard for restoring peace, even though they had yet to fully assemble. The speed with which Trump acted clearly demonstrates just how prepared and eager he is to have this fight. Trump doesnt have to run for reelection, and law and order and aggressive immigration enforcement only energize his base. Newsom, who has a long history of clashes with Trump, is in a far more tenuous position. The likely 2028 presidential candidate has tried to moderate his positions on everything from trans athletes in girls and womens sports to cutting back health insurance for illegal immigrants - albeit the latter was forced by a multi-billion budget shortfall. Newsom also is still waiting for Trump to provide the $40 billion in federal funds he requested to help Los Angeles rebuild from the wildfires. "Newsom was trying to move to the middle on immigration, so this complicates his plans," Steve Maviglio, a longtime Democratic political consultant, told RealClearPolitics. "Clearly, Trump wants this fight. Its clear that Newsom is squirming - trying to figure out how he can be moderate on immigration and supportive of law enforcement while trying to defend protests that are turning violent." "Its tricky, and thats why hes trying to portray this as an issue of states rights vs. federal intervention," he added. As California Democrats lined up squarely behind immigrants rights over the weekend, Newsom was under pressure to come up with his own strong, anti-Trump stance. Bass was one of the first out of the gates. On Saturday the mayor vowed to fight the immigration raids taking place across Los Angeles in an post that garnered more than 26 million impressions. "As mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass wrote on Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this." The mayors statement drew immediate pushback from conservatives, with many pointing out criticisms of her leadership failures and citys lack of preparedness and response to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year that killed 30 people. But dozens of prominent California Democrats backed up Bass. On Sunday, elected officials from the Bay Area to the San Diego southern border were condemning the ICE raids and Trumps National Guard deployment. "Our city is being targeted because were a sanctuary city," Rep. Maxine Waters, who has represented Compton in Congress for more than three decades, said in a media interview. "Trump hates us. He does not like the city. Hes trying to intimidate us, and he sent his guns in here on us … we cant be intimidated. Weve got to get the people out [protesting.] Weve got to get the elected officials out. Weve got to resist them." Garry South, a veteran Democratic operative who ran former Gov. Gray Davis successful campaigns, said Newsom has no choice but to push back on Trumps "unprecedented militarization of domestic policy." "[Newsoms] doing it not for political benefit but because its the right thing to do," South said. "Its a fraught moment for our democracy, for a president to turn troops loose on the American people, and we better have a lot of people who step up and speak up, so we dont turn into Chile under [Gen.] Pinochet." (Pinochet was a Chilean military officer and politician who was dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1981, using his power to persecute leftists and critics and resulting in the executions of 1,200 to 3,200 people, the internment of 80,000 and the torture of tens of thousands.) As of late Sunday night, protesters and rioters were still clashing with police and National Guard units using non-lethal efforts, such as tear gas and pepper-spray balls, to force the crowds to comply with their demands to move or disperse. Rob Stutzman, a GOP political consultant who served as deputy chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, cautioned that the riots in Los Angeles this weekend are too fluid to predict political fallout. "Its impossible to calculate at the moment," Stutzman argued. "Will the National Guard ever clash with rioters? How long will this go on? Are ICE raids going to remain focused on criminals? All of this has to play out before we see how the politics will work." As night fell across Californias Southland, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell held a press conference pleading with rioters to stop the violence. The LAPD had made only 39 arrests on Saturday and Sunday but pledged to step up arrests in the hours and days ahead. McDonnell also denied that he failed to respond to ICE calls for assistance earlier in the weekend but argued that their response takes time to mobilize and is not "instantaneous." "This violence Ive seen is disgusting," he said. "Its escalated since the beginning of this incident. What we saw the first night was bad, but what weve seen subsequent - that is getting increasingly worse and more violent." McDonnell described commercial-grade fireworks being thrown at officers and rioters using hammers to break up cinder blocks to hurl at police. In the first two nights, McDonnell said they believe their forces would have been capable to handle the level of violence, but as it has escalated, he is now reassessing the need for the National Guard. "We are overwhelmed, as far as the number of people out there engaged in this type of activity and they types of things theyre doing," he concluded. Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent.
