More than 10,000 corrections officers at prisons across New York are back on the job after a three-week strike.
State officials moved to terminate more than 2,000 officers who failed to return to work Monday morning, under terms of a deal announced by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Saturday. The agreement required at least 85 percent of officers return to work on Monday.
On a virtual press conference Monday afternoon, DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello said the threshold had not been fully reached.
“However, recognizing we want to support our workforce in rebuilding and moving forward, the governor and I have both committed to enacting a number of those revisions that were in my March 6th memorandum of agreement, as well as components that came from the agreement with NYSCOPBA,” said Martuscello.
The deal includes a 90-day suspension of New York’s HALT law – which limits the use of solitary confinement – and the creation of a committee to examine safety concerns related to the law.
Called in by Governor Kathy Hochul to bolster security during the strike, the National Guard will remain in prisons in a support role.