By Jon Moss
syracuse.com
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than 6,500 National Guard personnel were on duty Monday to help run the New York state prison system as an illegal strike by corrections officers entered its second week.
About 5,100 members were deployed to some of the state’s 42 prisons, according to Matt Janiszewski, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul.
An initial set of roughly 3,500 members were deployed last week. They were to distribute meals and medication, Hochul said at the time, as well as “help maintain general order and wellness.”
The strike began last Monday at Collins Correctional Facility near Buffalo, which went into lockdown for several days after contraband was found and officers retreated from three dorms. Thousands of officers have since walked off the job at nearly every prison in the state, including the one in Auburn.
Discontent has been growing among officers as they say they are forced to work extensive amounts of overtime due to a staffing shortage. Union leaders earlier this month issued a vote of “no confidence” in the state corrections commissioner.
Striking officers have made numerous demands, most notably the “reversal” of the so-called HALT Act, which limits the use of solitary confinement in prisons. The state corrections commissioner has suspended parts of the law during the strike.
An Erie County Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order last week directing corrections officers to return to work, but relatively few are complying. A judge is set to hold a hearing Tuesday morning.
A Long Island -based mediator, Martin Scheinman, was set to meet Monday with the corrections department and the corrections officers union. He has helped resolve thousands of disputes, including the 2005 strike by New York City transit workers.
It was not immediately clear whether any progress was made during the mediation session.
Thomas Mailey, a spokesperson for the state corrections department, said talks are “ongoing.” The department will “continue negotiating key issues,” he said, “with the goal of resolving the strike.”
The union representing corrections officers, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, has said it does not sanction the strike but is participating in the mediation.
Union spokesperson James Miller said the session began at 11 a.m. and the union’s team had not returned by 4:30 p.m.
Strikes by government employees are illegal under a section of state Civil Service Law commonly known as the Taylor Law.
The current contract with the corrections officers union took effect in 2023 and lasts through next year.
The involvement of the National Guard is similar to a two-week strike in 1979 when guard personnel ran prisons with the State Police.
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