NYS PRISON GUARDS START WILDCAT STRIKE AT ELMIRA AND COLLINS
'THERE MAY BE MORE PRISONS THAT FOLLOW'
Striking state prison guards outside the Collins Correctional Facility Monday morning: Photo credit: unkown, courtesy of Frank J. Panasuk, 1791 Society.
EXCLUSIVE
Feb. 14, 2025
State prison guards are staging wildcat strikes at the Elmira and Collins Correctional Facilities in New York.
"The Correction Officers have had it. They're fed up," Frank J. Panasuk, of the 1791 Society, who was tasked by strikers with spreading the word, told The Free Lance Monday morning.
"There may be more prisons that follow," Panasuk added.
Late in the day, guards at Lakeview and Groveland facilities joined the strike and there were protests by guards, retired guards and their families at Upstate, Barehill, Franklin, Otisville and the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facilities.
As The Free Lance reported last Monday, New York's entire 42-jail state prison system is facing a crisis.
Two weeks ago, the union that represents prison guards, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, voted it had no confidence in the commissioner of the state prison system, Daniel J. Martuscello.
It’s not just the noconfidence vote and the fallout from the killing of Robert Brooks by a gang of guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility, it’s also mass suspected Fentanyl "exposure" incidents, what Inspector General Lucy Lang called "significant workers’ compensation-driven staffing shortages" and a scarcity of new recruits.
On Monday, Pansiuk said guards were striking was because "they're being forced to work 24-hour shifts. They're lives are in danger. They're worried about another Attica. Their wives are worried they won't come home."
Striking state prison guards outside the Collins Correctional Facility Monday morning: Photo credit: unkown, courtesy of Frank J. Panasuk, 1791 Society.
Last week, DOCCS’ Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III ordered prison superintendents to draft staffing plans that rely on only 70% of the total number of budgeted guard positions—about two of every three.
“70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%,” Commissioner Martuscello wrote in a memorandum to the superintendents.
Martuscello blew off the union’s no-confidence vote and called it “political noise” in testimony before the state Senate last week.
Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated Martuscello to be DOCCS’ commissioner in May and he was confirmed by the Senate two days later. Last week, she said she “is grateful to have Commissioner Martuscello leading the agency.”
A list of demands was released by the guards striking at Collins.
First on the list is repeal of the HALT Act, which restricts prison officials’ power to impose long-term solitary confinement as discipline. According to the striking guards, without the ability to impose long-term solitary confinement, inmates face no meanginful punishment for misconduct.
The guards’ second demand was a reversal of Commissioner Martuscello’s directive to plan for 70% staffing. They also demanded electronic scanning of all prisoner mail and full body scans for visitors.
“These members feel like their backs are up against the wall,” Kenny Gold, vice-president of the Western Region for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, told ABC News’ Buffalo affiliate, WKBW TV, Monday morning.
“They’re striking because of working conditions. They’ve had a lot of incidents recently,” Gold explained, “and they don’t believe they’re being heard.”
DOCCS’ Director of Public Information, Thomas Mailey, responded with a statement saying :
“The job actions initiated by some rogue NYSCOPBA members, at Collins and Elmira Correctional Facilities this morning are illegal and unlawful,” the statement said. “We are committed to engaging the union in order to return staff to work and resume normal operations at the two facilities. “
“Since Commissioner Martuscello took office, the State negotiated a new labor agreement with NYSCOPBA that includes yearly salary increases, increases in location pay, and paid parental leave,” Mailey added. “We have also instituted new policies and procedures to reduce the amount of contraband entering our facilities to increase the safety of all within our facilities.”
List of demands circulated by striking guards at the Collins Correctional Facility.
Strikes by all public employees are illegal under New York's Taylor Law. Under the Taylor law, striking guards face automatic loss of two days' pay for every day on strike.
That didn't stop the 7,000-or-so who worked in all of New York's prisons from going on strike on April 18, 1979. It still holds the record for largest strike by prison workers in America.
Gov. Hugh Carey had to activate the National Guard. More than 12,000 were deployed to secure New York’s prisons. They faced resistence from the union for crossing the picket lines. Striking guards harassed the soldiers, and destroyed National Guard property.
The public information officer for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, which controls the National Guard, did not immediately respond to request to state whether the guard was mobilizing.
Monday morning's strikes are not sanctioned by the union.
"NYSCOPBA is keenly aware of the current situation at both Collins and Elmira Correctional Facilities,” the union said in a statement released late Monday morning. The staff that have gathered outside of both facilities, and who refused to enter the facility for their respective shifts, was not in any way sanctioned by NYSCOPBA. “
Two weeks ago, union delegates gathered in Syracuse and voted against striking, the Albany Times Union reported. That makes this strike an unauthorized, or "wildcat," strike.
Visiting at Elmira and Collins was cancelled “until further notice” Mailey, DOCCS’ spokesperson, said.
This is developing story. Check back for updates.
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