AG seeks to fine over 100 correction officers if they do not return to work
Correction officers at Washington Correctional Facility participate in an unsanctioned strike. (Mark Mulholland/WNYT)
Over a hundred striking correction officers could be held in contempt of court and fined if they do not return to work.
The Attorney General’s Office has served 112 prison workers participating in the unsanctioned strikes with court orders to go back on the job, according to court documents filed in Elmira Supreme Court.
If they do not comply, the state is asking that they be fined $442 per day beginning March 5, according to the court documents.
That timeline is consistent with the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s previous comments that anyone who was absent for more than 11 consecutive days of work would face termination. The first strikes started on Feb. 17 at Elmira Correctional Facility in Chemung County and Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County.
The workers are prohibited from striking under the Taylor Law. The strike has not been authorized by the union.
Among Capital Region prisons, only two correction officers at Washington Correctional Facility are named in the affidavit as striking. There are no correction officers cited for striking in Greene or Coxsackie prisons.
The unsanctioned strikes are costing the state millions dollars with extra overtime for staff that is working, the deployment of the National Guard and reassignment of State Police.
Budget Director Blake Washington said it cost the state about $25 million from Feb. 19 to Feb. 27. Estimated monthly costs would be about $106 million if the strike continued.