2,000 Striking N.Y. Prison Officers Fired and Barred From Public Jobs

New York|2,000 Striking N.Y. Prison Officers Fired and Barred From Public Jobs

More than 2,000 state prison officers who failed to return to work after three weeks of wildcat strikes have been fired and will be barred from future law enforcement and other civil service jobs in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday.

The affected officers, unlike 5,000 of their striking colleagues, spurned a Monday deadline set by their union and state officials as part of an agreement to end the labor actions, which, although illegal under state law and not authorized by the union, spread to nearly all of New York’s prisons.

The deal to end the strikes was contingent on 85 percent of officers’ returning to the job by Monday morning. Although not enough strikers went back to meet that threshold, Ms. Hochul declared the strike over and said the state would fulfill its obligations under the agreement.

“Today, we can finally say this work stoppage is over and move forward towards making our prisons safer for all, supporting our correctional staff and recruiting the correction officers of the future,” the governor said in a statement.

Ms. Hochul signed an executive order on Tuesday prohibiting officers who did not meet the deadline from future state employment and local law enforcement jobs. It made good on a threat to punish those who stayed out of work in defiance of a state civil service law that prohibits most public employees from striking.

In the order, the governor justified her action by citing a provision of the civil service law that “authorizes the disqualification of applicants for civil service employment who have previously been dismissed from public service for misconduct.”