Governor Kathy Hochul addresses corrections strike (February 25, 2025)
Governor Kathy Hochul has responded to the end of the wildcat corrections officer strike by banning protesters from being hired for state positions.
Hochul signed an executive order Monday that bars the hiring of individuals who continue to participate in strike actions from being hired for state jobs.
She said she would also recommend that those striking officers be removed from the Central Registry of Police and Peace Officers, which would prevent them from being hired as police or peace officers in state and local jurisdictions.
There was no immediate comment from the union.
The strike roiled a state prison system that advocates said was already beset by problems, including overworked staff and the failure to consistently provide incarcerated people with services and medical care.
New York Department of Corrections and Community Services Commissioner Daniel Martuscello announced that the strike was officially over Monday, despite DOCCS not meeting the threshold of 85% of striking workers returning to the job by that morning. He also announced that more than 2,000 striking workers were terminated that morning after they failed to adhere to the return-to-work deadline.
The unsanctioned strike came to an end after 22 days and four negotiations aimed at getting striking and protesting corrections officers statewide to return to their posts within the state’s corrections facilities.
There have been seven deaths of incarcerated people during the strike.
The strike came as Hochul seeks authority in the upcoming state budget to close up to five prisons to make the system more cost-effective and efficient.
State Senator George Borrello issued a statement calling Hochul’s executive order “vindictive and authoritarian.”
He said, “These men and women weren’t criminals or corrupt. They were public servants driven to the breaking point by dangerous policies and the outright disregard for their pleas for help. Now, Hochul is punishing those who stood up for their safety and their families.
This isn’t leadership – it’s political retribution at its worst. A governor who silences dissent rather than exercising leadership by addressing profound safety failures is not fit to lead.”
Under the state’s Taylor Law, some public employees, including Corrections Officers, are not allowed to strike. The strike also was not endorsed by the union.
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