NYSCOPBA Balks At Request To Re-Open Wage Contract; Claim Administration Bloated

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association president said Nov. 12 that the Department of Correctional Services and its employees are bearing "more than their fair share of the state's fiscal pain" and the union "will not stand silent."

DONN ROWE: State not spreading the pain.

Union President Donn Rowe previously voiced "extreme opposition" to a plan to consolidate several of New York's prisons and cut the number of Correction Officers. Last week he made clear he would not entertain Governor Paterson's proposal to re-open labor contracts to help plug budget holes without layoffs.

Squeezed Below, Padded At Top

"We understand that the state is facing difficult times, but the pain must be shared equally across the board," he said. "At a time when the Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services is cutting vital Correction Officer positions, squeezing inmates into already over-crowded prisons, and asking our officers to do more with less, he is also expanding the number of administrators within his agency."

The state Nov. 6 announced $84.1 million in cuts for 2008-2009 to DOCS, which has an annual budget of $2.4 billion. The savings would come from eliminating 334 Correction Officer positions, or 1.7 percent of the department's 19,600-officer uniformed contingent, after consolidating housing units at 14 men's medium- and minimum-security prisons, merging two prison infirmaries into one, decommissioning prison farm operations, reducing transportation of inmates among correctional facilities and some reassignment of staff to facilities with greater need.

"By consolidating our operations as our state's prison population continues to decline, we are making better and smarter use of our resources and saving taxpayers money at a time when the state must find all the efficiencies it can," said DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer in a statement.

Claims Transfer Law Violated

Mr. Rowe said cuts to state prison staff would circumvent the intent of a state law designed to ensure that displaced Correctional Officers are afforded minimal notice prior to any relocation. "The intent of the Prison Closure Notification Law, enacted just a few years ago, was to ensure that Correctional Officers and their families have at least some notice prior to any necessary relocation resulting from partial or total prison closures," he said. "While the Commissioner may refer to his actions as 'consolidations,' they are having the same effect as a prison closure."

The union president said the prisons are facing a growing morale problem because of the cuts. "This problem is only going to get bigger if he continues in the same fashion," he said.

Mr. Rowe said he was willing to work with the Governor during this fiscal crisis, "but if there is pain to be borne as a result of the struggling economy, it should be borne by all employees of agency, including administrators," he said. "NYSCOPBA expects fair treatment for its members. We ask nothing more, but we expect and will stand for nothing less."