New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an agreement to end a wildcat strike that has roiled the state’s prison system for more than a week. Hochul said the state and the union for striking correctional workers agreed to binding terms after four days of mediation talks. Workers must return to work by Saturday to avoid being disciplined for striking, mediator Martin Scheinman in a seven-page memo detailing the agreement, known as a binding consent award, reports the Associated Press. The deal includes changes to address staffing shortages and provisions to minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts. Hochul said the mediated settlement addresses many of the workers’ concerns, puts the state prison system on the path to safe operations and prevents future unsanctioned work stoppages.
“My top priority is the safety of all New Yorkers, and for the past 11 days, I have deployed every possible State resource to protect the well-being of correction officers, the incarcerated population and local communities across New York,” Hochul said. Strikers won several key concessions, including a temporary bump in overtime pay, a potential change in pay scale and the suspension of a prison reform law they blamed for making prisons less safe. For the next month, under the agreement, overtime will be paid at a rate of 2½ times instead of the usual 1½ times regular pay. The state also agreed that within the next four months it will finish its analysis of a union request to bump the salary grade for officers and sergeants. The reform law, which limits the use of solitary confinement, will remain suspended for 90 days while the state evaluates if reinstating it will “create an unreasonable risk” to staff and inmate safety. Corrections officers began walking out Feb. 17 to protest working conditions. Hochul deployed the National Guard to some prisons to take the place of striking workers.