About 400 to 500 staff members participated in an unsanctioned strike at a Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie on Wednesday.

Prison employees across the state say they have had enough of the working conditions inside New York State correctional facilities and have been walking the picket line since Monday. The strikes are not authorized by the union.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said signed an executive order on Wednesday to deploy the National Guard if the unsanctioned strikes continue and told the employees in a statement to “Do what’s right. Do your jobs.”

“I understand the incredibly difficult work our correction officers do under challenging circumstances. I have fought alongside their union to improve salaries, benefits, working conditions – indeed, a fair contract was negotiated and agreed to only last March. I’ve also passed new laws and implemented vital administrative changes to keep contraband out of facilities and protect our officers,” she said in a statement.

About 30 prisons are participating in these unsanctioned strikes. Staff members are either protesting current working conditions inside the prisons or refusing to enter for their scheduled shift, according to Jim Miller, a spokesman for New York State correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

NYSCOPBA has not sanctioned these actions. Negotiations are continuing between NYSCOPBA and the Governor’s Office on a resolution to the situation.

Miller said he is not aware of any National Guard members being deployed.

NewsChannel 13 has reached out to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for comment on Wednesday’s illegal strikes. 

NewsChannel 13’s Dan Levy spoke with a couple of retired correction officers about the strike and will bring you reaction on air and online.