By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
DOVER - What appeared to be a slowdown at the beginning of the week reversed course Wednesday in a monthlong voluntary overtime protest by Delaware correctional officers.
No officers stepped forward to accept one of 11 overtime shifts offered for transporting inmates to court.
The result, as has been the picture since the protest started July 26, was that dozens of court transports had to be canceled due to lack of personnel.
According to the Department of Correction, 10 of the canceled transports were in Kent County. Twenty-one more were scratched in New Castle County.
"It appears to me that all those young fellows are going to continue doing this, at least for a while,'' said Cpl. Paul Smith, a veteran New Castle County court and transport officer who helped organize the protest.
"There's no loss of steam in this thing that I can see.''
Monday marked the start of the fifth week in which correctional officers turned down DOC's voluntary overtime offers to protest long-standing issues of low pay, inadequate staffing and inaction on their repeated calls for a 25-year retirement plan.
Staffing issues were further kindled July 12 when a female correctional counselor was taken hostage and raped by an inmate at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna. The standoff, which lasted almost seven hours, finally ended when inmate Scott A. Miller was shot and killed by an officer.
The protest appeared to be ending Monday when DOC put out a call for 18 voluntary court and transport shifts.
Contrary to previous weeks, when almost no acceptances were received, 14 officers agreed to come to work on overtime to augment the 32 regular court and transport personnel assigned for duty that day.
DOC also ordered 11 Staff Training Relief Officers to help. The result was 164 transports with just three cancellations.
Cpl. Smith said Monday's surge in voluntary overtime acceptances was probably due to officers wanting updates from regular court and transport staff as to the how the protest was going and its effect on operations.
"I think people who did show up Monday just wanted to know what was going on,'' he said. "I believe (refusing voluntary overtime) is going to continue for some time.''
The informal protest, which initially was supported by the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, has disrupted court schedules across the state.
DOC's court and transport unit regularly uses voluntary overtime to fill staffing needs as it transports inmates to and from courts, medical centers and other locations outside prisons.
COAD, representing about 1,300 officers, backed off endorsing the protest after receiving legal advice that the union could be held liable for supporting an illegal work action. State workers are prohibited from strikes and other formal work protests in Delaware.
After receiving the legal opinion, COAD said it was "encouraging'' members to accept voluntary overtime but noted that taking it or not was each individual officer's choice.
COAD President Allan Deal and Senior Vice President David Knight did not return repeated phone messages Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday seeking comment on the protest.
Corrections Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor did not care to comment Wednesday, DOC spokeswoman Elizabeth Welch said.
Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or teldred@newszap.com.
