Hochul Updates On Prison Protests

By Idy Perl
Correction officers in multiple New York prisons are still
protesting more than a week after the initial protests and strikes began. The state and the NYSCOPBA, the union that represents correctional officers,
have been in mediation meetings since Monday to meet the demands of the prison
workers.
Last week Hochul threatened to deploy the National Guard to
replace the protesting correctional officers who aren’t showing up to work. As of today 6,500 National Guard members are deployed in multiple prisons,
and many of them have been taken from other critical assignments in NY.
On Tuesday afternoon Governor Hochul provided an update regarding
the progress of the mediations.
“My administration has worked tirelessly over the last nine
days to resolve this. In fact, we've brought in mediators requested by the
union. The mediation started yesterday, it continues again today. We want to
find out what the issue is, because the individuals who've walked out — in an
unsanctioned strike, unapproved by the union — have yet to tell us the issues. We've
done everything we can to encourage them to get back to work…. We also repealed
a staffing memo that had been viewed as controversial. We also suspended
portions of the HALT law, which requires a certain amount of time out and other
activities that we do not have the staffing to implement.”
The governor pointed out that the striking officers are in
violation of The Taylor Law and a temporary restraining order that requires
them to return to work.
Hochul ended by thanking the workers who are still showing
up to work at the prisons and urged the remaining workers to return to work
while mediations continue.