Unions representing federal correctional officers at Allenwood have met with federal legislators as a means of asking for passage of legislation to counter cuts in pay and benefits and staff reduction moves they said are being done by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Andrew Hill, senior officer specialist and vice president of USP Allenwood – Local 307, has indicated the labor union made contact with the offices of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock; U.S. Rep. Dan Mesuer, R-Dallas; U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard; and U.S. Sen. David McCormick, R-Bloomsburg.
Current legislation to help the correctional officers includes: H.R. 10298 – Keep Our Correctional Officers Paid Act; H.R. 3199 – Pay Our Correctional Officers Fairly Act; S.3771 – Pay Our Correctional Officers Fairly Act and H.R. 866, S. 3194 – FERs Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA), he said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the median annual wage for correctional officers and jailers as of the latest data available was about $53,000.
Fetterman has strongly expressed his support in what the unions are trying to accomplish. But despite the promises of support and the impending legislation there isn’t much else that can be done, Hill said.
“I feel we have not gotten anywhere,” Hill said. “If anything I feel like we are being set back,” he said. He said beside Fetterman, McCormick also listened to the unions. “We can have the two senators on our side but it is getting the other 98,” said Keith O’Neal, president of Local 307.
The labor representatives for the correctional officers said they are losing incentives and say the morale is low at a time when there are staff shortages and the prisons are struggling to remain competitive with jobs in the private sector, including new plants at Great Stream Commons, a business park across Route 15 from the prison complex.
“The BOP is threatening to attack our retirement benefits,” said Feliciano Dosman, president Low Security Correctional Institution (LSCI) Allenwood – Local 306.
The labor union representatives said they could use the rest of the community to back their cause.
They have encouraged people to write to their congressmen and senators about this crisis facing the correctional officers’ staff.
The complex at Allenwood has often been seen as the poster child of the Bureau of Prisons as it is tasked with 13 separate psychology-based missions, Residential Drug Abuse Program and vocational training programs across the complex, Dosman said.
“Everything is basically going negative towards us,” he said.
“Without the ability to offer incentives for new hires and the reduction in retention incentives for eligible retirees our complex is on the cusp of failing its overall missions,” Hill said.
“There will be no more hiring incentives and pay cuts are coming,” he said.
The complex is filled with hard working individuals that put their life on the line every day in a very dangerous environment, he said.
“Adequate staffing is a staple to accomplish any mission, but that is not possible without a formidable difference in the correction officers’ pay scale. It makes a dangerous job even more dangerous,” he said.
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