By Hector Flores
The Legislature¹s presiding officer, Judy Jacobs, however, insists that negotiations are still in the works, with meetings scheduled for July.
John Duer, president of the Sheriff Officers Association, or ShOA, said that county correction officers have been working under the terms of an expired contract for over two years. ³We are demonstrating before the Legislature to bring attention to the unfair treatment correction officers are receiving in Nassau County,² Duer said. ³Not only are we working without a contract for more than two years, [but] offers that have been put forward are so far off base that we cannot take them seriously.²
Brian Sullivan, ShOA¹s first vice president, explained that the officers¹ old contract expired on Dec. 31, 2004. ³We did negotiate a contract with the county, in the middle of September 2005,² Sullivan said. ³The contract had gone through [County Executive Tom] Suozzi but was turned down by the Legislature.²
One of the problems the Legislature had with the contract, according to Sullivan, was a so-called ³me too² clause in the Nassau County Police Department¹s contract with the county: Whatever concessions the county made to sheriff officers had to be extended to police as well.
Sullivan said that since the near-agreement, the union has been unable to reach an accord with the Legislature. It has charged the county with negotiating in bad faith, and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a bill in the Legislature calling for binding arbitration.
In May, the union and the Legislature entered into the fact-finding stage of negotiations, during which a mediator from the state examines the issues raised by the union and the Legislature. The mediator will then issue a report, though his findings are not binding, and both parties have the option of either accepting or rejecting the recommendations.
Jacobs says that the county is trying to reach an amicable solution with ShOA. ³I have been working hard toward a resolution that will be acceptable and fair to everyone,² she said. ³A fact-finder has been appointed, and there should be a decision within the next few months.²
Defining ³peace officer²
At the rally, ShOA members were joined by their Suffolk County and upstate colleagues in opposing a bill that has been introduced in Albany, which would grant civilian employees at the Nassau County Correctional Facility peace officer status.
Duer derided the legislation, which would expand the authority of non-correction officers working at the county jail. ³This specific legislation only impacts Nassau County, and would allow untrained individuals to be granted peace officer status while working at the facility,² he said. ³This would cause a great risk to the safety of the citizens of Nassau County.²
Brian Dawe, executive director of the American Correctional Officer Intelligence Network, also expressed his opposition to the bill, saying that it would set a precedent that is unacceptable to ShOA and to correctional officers across the state and the nation. ³Untrained individuals cannot take the place of correctional officers,² Dawe said. ³This is a dangerous proposition for these individuals ‹ who are considered civilian staff ‹ as well as the correctional officers currently working in the facility. Working as a correctional officer is a dangerous job, and if they are forced to work with people who have no training at all, there is a strong possibility that someone could be seriously injured.²
One of the bill¹s sponsors, Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), said that many civilian workers at the correctional facility in East Meadow regularly perform correction officers¹ duties. According to a justification for the bill issued by Skelos¹s office, the bill ³would stipulate [that] employees ... are officers only during the course of their duties. This will grant them the authority that correction officers in other correctional facilities have when performing their jobs.²
Ryan Mulholland, director of communications for the Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing civilian employees at the county jail, said that the union is not looking to replace the correction officers. ³The peace officer status will not change anything for the correction officers,² Mulholland said. ³We are not looking to demean the officers. We want them to have a fair contract. We just want to have the same rights as they do.²
Mulholland explained that CSEA workers are support staff for the jail, and include cooks, engineers and mechanics who work with the inmates. ³They have been doing that for the last 40 years,² he said, ³and peace officer status would just give CSEA workers more rights.²
Ken Banschback of Wantagh, a ShOA trustee, said he believes that if the legislation is passed, it would hurt the bargaining power of the sheriff officers¹ union. ³We have many hours of training,² Banschback said. ³We are trained in law enforcement, penal law, firearms and weapons of mass destruction. ... When there is a problem, we are the responders. When you give peace [officer] status to civilians, it chips away at the status of our jobs.²
Banschback added that, on average, correction officers receive three months of specialized academy training, while civilians do not. ³They are trying to give our jobs to civilians,² he said.
The bill, currently in the state Senate, has also attracted the attention of correction officers upstate. Karen Joycox, president of the Green County Jail in Catskill, said that she is vehemently opposed to the bill. ³This is our profession, and to give peace officer status to civilians would demean our jobs and take away from our training,² Joycox said.
Brian Costello, president of the Rockland County Correction Officer Benevolent Association, believes that elected officials in Albany should see for themselves the duties that come with being a correction officer. ³This is another case of people making laws without having stepped foot in a jail,² Costello said. ³They don¹t know what we go through.²
The effect at home
For Correction Officer John Hogan, 39, of East Meadow, the prospect of having a civilian doing his job only adds insult to injury, with the county Legislature and ShOA at loggerheads on a new contract. ³First we don¹t get a new contract, and now this law,² Hogan said. ³They are going to kill our profession.²
Hogan, who has two children, said that in order to make ends meet, he must work overtime, which leaves him with little time to spend with his family. ³It¹s a trickle-down effect,² he said. ³I don¹t have enough time for my family because I have to work more hours. Being a correction officer is not a 9-to-5 job, it¹s a 24-hours-a-day job.²
Hogan¹s wife, Tracy, is frustrated by her husband¹s situation. ³We are financially strapped,² she said. ³Everything keeps going up. My house assessment keeps increasing, [along with] school taxes, fuel and gasoline. Everything increases with inflation, and we haven¹t gotten a cost-of-living increase in over two and half years.
³I¹m disappointed at the way the county is treating the sheriffs,² she continued. ³My husband risks his life every day, but because he works [behind] closed doors, no one knows or sees what he goes through and the risks involved with his job. They don¹t get the respect, and they are treated very unfairly.²
In order to make ends meet, Tracy works part-time at an insurance company, and she sees her husband rarely. ³He is walking in and I¹m walking out,² she said. ³We just tell each other what the kids need and then we say, ŒSee you later.¹
³I wish this Legislature would live a day in my husband¹s shoes. Then they¹d see what he goes through, and what he¹s truly worth.²
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
