Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is making a direct pitch to corrections officers in an attempt to convince them to return to work, angering the officers’ union as the state tries to end an 18-day-long unsanctioned prison strike.
State Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello revealed Thursday that he and his team had been negotiating directly with striking officers and sergeants at many of the state’s 42 prisons, where thousands of workers walked off the job last month without union approval.
The commissioner said he believed he reached a deal with many of the officers to return to work on Friday. In exchange, the state would reinstate their health insurance, create a panel to study the effects of a law restricting the use of solitary confinement and not pursue departmental discipline against the officers, among other provisions.
But the officers’ union objected to being cut out of the process and refused to sign the circulating agreement, claiming it raised “substantial legal issues that must be addressed.”
Instead, Martuscello said he would sign the deal himself without the union leadership’s support — making clear the deal would only apply to any officer or sergeant who returns to work on Friday.
“I heard my workforce loud and clear and I will not fail to deliver on what I promised,” Martuscello said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday evening. “So tonight, I will deliver the tenets and the content of that agreement to my workforce.”
The state’s strategy of bypassing the union leadership marked its latest attempt to get officers back to work at prisons that have been relying on 6,500 National Guard members to maintain security amid the ongoing wildcat strike.
Most of the state’s roughly 14,000 corrections officers and sergeants have participated in the strike, which they’ve said is in protest of dangerous working conditions, including mandated 24-hour overtime shifts.
They’ve called for the repeal of a state law known as the HALT Act, which restricts the use of solitary confinement and mandates a certain number of hours of programming for the incarcerated population each day.
At least seven incarcerated people have died in state prisons since the strikes began, according to the Correctional Association of New York.
The union never sanctioned the strike and has encouraged its officers to return to work. But it remains the legal entity the state can bargain with, explaining why Martuscello still had to seek the union leadership’s approval.
Martuscello told reporters he met with Chris Summers, president of the NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, on Thursday. He said Summers verbally agreed to the terms of the deal, only to back out later in the day when it came time to sign.
When asked whether he wanted to comment on Martuscello’s allegation, union spokesperson James Miller said, “Absolutely not.”
But prior to the commissioner’s remarks, Miller said the union wasn’t “appropriately engaged” when the agreement was being crafted.
“There are substantial legal issues that must be addressed, and as presented, this agreement does not represent the best interests of our membership,” he said in a statement, adding that the union is seeking to reopen a mediation process that came up with a prior deal rejected by the striking members.
The union spokesperson said “outside parties” were “interjecting themselves into negotiations on behalf of our members at selected facilities.” He noted many of the terms in Martuscello’s memo were previously included in the mediation agreement the striking officers turned down.
State Homeland Security Commissioner Jackie Bray made clear the state’s latest offer would only apply to officers who return to work Friday, have already returned or never left in the first place.
She said the state is offering to drop contempt charges against striking officers as part of the deal — and will not offer to do so again. Officers who have received termination notices would also have them rescinded if they return Friday.
“Any corrections officer or any sergeant who does not return to work [Friday], the terms will not apply and this deal will not be offered again,” she said.