Northeast
NY corrections officers want Dem prison-reform repeal, say deal ending strike 'slap in the face'
New York officials have reached an agreement to end a two-week unsanctioned strike by correctional officers over Democrat-backed prison reforms that they say have made conditions “unsafe,” but a GOP lawmaker argued the deal fails to address “the basics of what people are angry about.”
“The things that they’re most upset about are things that are the subject of legislation,” Republican state Sen. Daniel Stec told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
The mediated deal was reached late Thursday between the New York State Correctional Officers, the government-affiliated corrections officers union, Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) and the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).
However, since some 15,000 correction workers have been on a “wildcat strike,” they were not present during negotiations, and a spokesperson for the striking workers told CBS the deal does not go far enough.
ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS ALLEGEDLY ASSAULT EMPLOYEE DURING BUILDING TAKEOVER AT BARNARD COLLEGE IN NEW YORK CITY
Striking correction officers and their supporters stage a protest along Route 9W near Greene Correctional Facility state prison on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 in Coxsackie, New York. Correction workers across the state are protesting what they say are unsafe working conditions. (Getty Images)
“The issues have always been there,” Stec said. “Officer safety mandated overtime, some of these guys are working so much overtime that they’re never home, and it’s thrust upon them. On top of that, during the nature of their job, they’re working, sometimes they are forced to work 24 or more hours consecutively.”
At issue is a piece of prison reform legislation, the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT), that strikers want repealed. The law restricts solitary confinement and instead focuses on other rehabilitation methods, but since it went into effect in 2022, GOP lawmakers, citing department stats, say it has led to a 169% increase in inmate-on-inmate assaults, a 76% increase in inmate-on-staff assaults and a 32% jump in contraband cases.
“She doesn’t care, she cares about the inmates and their rights. [The deal] is a slap in every officer’s face.”
Stec said “it’s not safe for the officers, it’s not safe inside for anybody” and said “this has been pointed out to the administration time and time again since before they put HALT into effect.”
Dormitories at Riverview Correctional Facility just outside Ogdensburg were under inmate control for several hours early Thursday after staff felt conditions were unsafe. (WWNY)
One mom of a corrections officer told Fox News Digital on Friday, “These are things that our governor doesn’t care about.”
“She doesn’t care, she cares about the inmates and their rights,” she said. “[The deal] is a slap in every officer’s face.”
Upon the released agreement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in part, “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.”
“Working with a mediator, we have reached a consent award to address many of the concerns raised by correction officers, put DOCCS back on the path to safe operations, respect the rights of incarcerated individuals and prevent future unsanctioned work stoppages,” she said.
MEET THE FAR-LEFT GROUPS FUNDING ANTI-DOGE PROTESTS AT GOP OFFICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Striking correction officers and their supporters post signs along Route 9W during a protest near Greene Correctional Facility state prison on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 in Coxsackie, New York. (Getty Images)
In a letter alongside the agreement, Mediator Martin F. Scheinman proposed a binding “Consent Award” that would formalize agreements reached in mediation and be enforceable by court order. He noted the enforcement of such an agreement is complicated by a temporary restraining order, which renders judicial enforcement difficult while the strike continues. He said the Consent Award will only be signed once the court order is complied with.
“I will not issue a CONSENT AWARD I believe will be unenforceable judicially,” Scheinman wrote.
The mediation agreement temporarily suspends key provisions of the HALT Act for 90 days, with a review by the DOCCS commissioner after 30 days to determine if the suspension should continue. Following the suspension, a “circuit breaker” staffing metric will be implemented to prevent mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts, requiring facility adjustments if staffing falls below 70%.
The agreement also says protesting officers will be shielded from disciplinary action if they return to work by March 1, but those involved in illegal activities will face penalties. Other provisions include pay increases, referral bonuses, mental health support and security screening to curtail drugs in the prison mail system.
Additionally, the National Guard – which Hochul requested after thousands of officers did not show up to work – will remain onsite.
Stec said corrections officers see the deal as something the state is seeking to “shovel money at.”
“In reading the agreement, there’s a lot of discussion in there about overtime and money, and people are always going to talk about money, but the impetus to this has always been about their safety,” he said.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a NYSCOPBA spokesperson said, “The Consent Agreement provides what concessions DOCCS has made in relation to members demands. HALT, unfortunately cannot be repealed without legislation from the senate and assembly.”
“NYSCOPBA has encouraged all members to return to work and it will continue to work towards addressing all of their concerns,” the spokesperson said.
BLUE STATE GOVERNOR’S ‘GROSS MISMANAGEMENT’ COST TAXPAYERS $1.6B FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE: AUDIT
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference, July 31, 2024 in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
Beginning on Feb. 17, two officers from the New York Department of Corrections began striking over “unsafe” conditions in their facilities, and support quickly cascaded across 38 of the state’s 42 prisons, leading to thousands of workers participating in the strike without union approval, which is prohibited under New York law.
Days before the strike, officials at the Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County implemented a lockdown following an inmate uprising.
Hochul threatened legal action earlier this week against striking correctional officers, announcing during a press conference that proceedings have commenced against nearly 400 officers, with New York State Police serving restraining orders to 380 individuals. Hochul said officers remaining on strike are considered absent without leave (AWOL), resulting in the loss of state health benefits and legal representation previously provided by their union.
“They know they are in violation of the New York State Taylor law,” Hochul said during the press conferece. “They are also in violation of a temporary restraining order to return to work. We offered an amnesty period where they could go back to work, no questions asked.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul’s office for comment.
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Along the Park
Dear Diary:
It was April Fools’ Day, and the weather kept changing from sunny to drizzle, as if the gusty wind was moving the sun back and forth behind a cloud.
I put my jacket on and off as I walked along Prospect Park. The trees were still bare, but spring was slowly awakening with yellow forsythias, and every child walking by stared at my new purple hair, hungry for color.
A guy in the bike lane yelled, “Hey!”
I turned to him.
“Sorry,” he said, pointing to someone else. “I’m talking to this guy.”
“But you actually look familiar,” I said.
“So do you,” he said, laughing.
I entered the park to hear pop music near the band shell. Two people with a portable speaker were dancing.
I wanted to join the party, but I realized that I hear the music, so I’m in the party. I danced along from a distance.
From high above, hundreds of blackbirds swooped down like falling peppercorn into the black-and-white woods ahead. As I got closer, I saw specks of tiny green buds emerging on each tree limb.
I left the park, passing three people who had converged because their dogs could not contain their joy. The people laughed like old friends, but within seconds they had walked off separate ways.
As I passed Seeley Street, I overheard a friend through the open window, cheering on a drum student.
I laughed. I should be getting home before the possible rain, I thought, but today, everywhere was home.
— Mare Berger
S. Klein’s Basement
Dear Diary:
It was around 1960, and my mother, my sister and I were in the bargain basement at the S. Klein department store on Union Square.
My sister, 13, was trying on winter coats in the aisle between the bins and discussing two final options with my mother when a woman riding the escalator up to the ground floor weighed in.
“Take the red!” she called out.
We took the red. I miss S. Klein’s.
— David Hammond
Brooklyn Warehouse
Dear Diary:
I woke up to my alarm at 2:45 on a Saturday morning, then maneuvered trains and city blocks through darkness to an unremarkable warehouse in Brooklyn.
Inside was a cathedral of music. Hips gyrated, and arms exalted rhythm. Fog embraced kissers, dancers, exhilaration, prayer, meditation, community.
I found my intention and connected with my spirit and the energy of bodies around me, alone and together, holding friends as family and strangers as friends.
I departed at 8:45 a.m. to a cold, golden morning, feeling lighter, freer, learned and loved.
A shopkeeper opening up for the day called out from behind me, his question nearly drowned out by the morning traffic.
“Hey, what’s happening over there?” he asked.
“Just a little dance party,” I replied. “Nothing crazy.”
— Carlie Cattelona
Helping Hand
Dear Diary:
I ride my bicycle 99 percent of the time. It’s just me and the city. I move fast enough to keep things interesting, but slowly enough to catch the weather changing or feel the mood of the people on the sidewalks.
Every so often, I have to take the train. On very rare occasions, it’s me, the train and my bike, a combination no one ever seems thrilled to encounter.
Because I know this, I try to shrink myself into an apologetic bicycle origami project once I’m on the train. I fold. I hover. I whisper “sorry” to people who haven’t even seen me yet.
On one such evening, I was trying to avoid anyone’s shins while hauling my bike up a flight of stairs after getting off the train, when I felt someone close behind me.
Terrified that I’d clipped someone, I whipped around to see a smiling woman who had one hand casually gripping the back of my bike.
“I got you,” she said, like we were old friends moving a couch.
I told her I had it under control.
“Two hands are better than one,” she said. “I got you.”
So we climbed the stairs together: me, my bike and a total stranger, moving in perfect, unspoken coordination. At the top, she let go, nodded and vanished into the crowd.
— Evan Abel
Central Park Zoo
Dear Diary:
Years ago, our nanny would take our son and daughter to the Central Park Zoo, where they could be set free from their stroller.
It was safe because the children loved the zoo and always stayed in the nanny’s sight and because the zoo’s walls meant there was no way they could leave.
One spring day when I was not working, I decided to accompany them all on a walk through the park, with the kids in their stroller.
As we passed the zoo, a guard at the entrance beckoned our nanny over and had a deep consultation with her.
She was laughing when she came back.
“He wanted to know who was that strange woman walking with me,” she said.
— Georgia Raysman
Read all recent entries and our submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter.
Illustrations by Agnes Lee
Employees at the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston are gearing up for contract negotiations with the Seaport museum after quietly opting to unionize last month.
Just over 90 employees, in roles ranging from visitor services to development to curation, are now being represented by the UAW Local 2110, a New York-based union, as they prepare to go to the bargaining table, seeking better pay and other job protections.
The ICA voluntarily recognized the union shortly after the workers went to museum leadership in early April, said Maida Rosenstein, UAW Local 2110’s director of organizing. That meant the employees could sidestep a formal election through the National Labor Relations Board and instead conduct a card-counting process.
“That all happened quite quickly,” said Rosenstein.
“Our experience with getting voluntary recognition was that the ICA was reasonable about the process,” she added. “So hopefully that will continue through the bargaining process.”
The next step, Rosenstein said, is for the workers to elect a bargaining committee from among their ranks, and then draw up some specific proposals. “We’re hopeful of being able to be negotiating this summer,” she said.
In a statement, the ICA’s director, Nora Burnett Abrams, who stepped into the top job last May, noted that “our exceptional staff are at the heart of what makes the museum so special.”
“We are voluntarily recognizing our employees’ choice to be represented by a union and view the decision to organize as an expression of their deep dedication to the institution,” Burnett Abrams said. “We look forward to working collaboratively and in good faith with Local UAW 2110 toward a collective agreement.”
The ICA is just the latest local institution to see labor action among its workforce. UAW Local 2110 also represents employees at the MFA Boston, who voted to unionize in 2020 and secured compensation increases and other benefit improvements when they ratified their first contract in 2022. Workers at MASS MoCa in North Adams, the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine are also represented by UAW Local 2110.
Carter Seggev, a 28-year-old events coordinator at the museum, said seeing the MFA go through its own unionization process served as something of a blueprint for the ICA workers.
“It has been a very helpful beginner example, to sort of be like, ‘Oh, yeah, they can do it,’ and especially that scale,” he said.
Rosenstein said a chief concern among workers is improving pay, which is currently “very slightly above minimum wage at the entry level,” she said. Other concerns include protections against layoffs and other “health and safety” provisions, such as adequate rest and seating for visitor-facing employees.
For Seggev, who earns $50,000 a year at the museum, better pay is only one piece of the puzzle. He wants more transparency from museum leadership into policy decisions — and a greater say in the institution’s future.
“I like the ICA a lot. It’s a fun workplace, and I would love to have more of a voice in making sure that everyone is being considered and everyone’s needs are being taken into account,” he said. “For me personally, that’s been the biggest driving force.”
He added that, since workers went public with their organizing efforts, he’s been happy with leadership’s willingness to talk with workers about their aims. He was also encouraged by the museum’s voluntary recognition of the union.
“I know that is a very rare thing, and so far, the communication has been very positive,” he said. “I think everyone’s sort of looking forward to working together to make the ICA better.”
The ICA, which has been housed in a gleaming glass building perched on the waterfront since 2006, had an operating surplus of about $800,000 in the fiscal year that ended in June 2025, according to its latest publicly released financial statements. That was up more than a quarter-million dollars from the previous year.
Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.
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