By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
DOVER — As Delaware correctional officers completed a third straight day Thursday accepting all voluntary overtime offers from the Department of Correction, their union was preparing to file an unfair labor practices complaint against the department.
DOC's prisons chief, meanwhile, called the return to voluntary overtime a good sign and said that if the trend continues, he would probably place the option of hiring private security guards on the "back burner."
John F. Brady, an attorney for the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said the union would file the unfair labor practices complaint today with the state's Public Employment Relations Board.
He said the complaint alleges that DOC illegally overuses mandatory overtime and illegally restricts officers' use of sick leave.
"Hopefully, it will be filed by noon," Mr. Brady said Thursday.
David Knight is senior vice president of COAD. He said the decision to move forward with the complaint was approved by COAD's executive board and by rank and file during general membership meetings last week.
He said the issues are separate from agreements being hammered out with the state based on a task force report's recommendations for improving correctional officer compensation, benefits and pensions.
Although an interim labor agreement permits DOC to use reasonable mandatory overtime to maintain staffing levels, COAD says the department has far exceeded that authority.
Mr. Knight said officers are regularly being forced to work back-to-back eight-hour shifts, with little or no advance warning, often several times during the same two-week pay period.
He said officers, overworked and burned out, are quitting in ever-increasing numbers.
"We had five officers leave after our meetings last week,'' Mr. Knight said. "This is something that should have been fixed a long time ago. We've been doing the state's work for too long.''
DOC has 1,832 established correctional officer positions to maintain minimum staffing requirements.
Elizabeth Welch, a DOC spokeswoman, said that as of Wednesday, 292 of those jobs were vacant, including 44 on military leave.
Mr. Knight pointed out that only eight people were in DOC's most recent recruit class.
"It's incredible how many people are leaving and thinking of leaving,'' he said. "Are you going to take a job like this when you hear about having to work 16 hours straight and then that you can be disciplined for using your sick time?''
Mr. Knight said supervisors regularly violate new federal privacy guidelines by demanding extensive details from officers who call in sick.
"They want to know exactly what it is you're calling off for,'' he said. "They want a lot of information they shouldn't be receiving.
"At some point, if something isn't done about these problems, Delaware may become the first state without a department of correction. If the number of officers keeps plummeting the way it has, we may have to ship all our inmates to another state.''
Cpl. Paul E. Smith, a correctional officer who works in DOC's court and transport unit in New Castle County, coordinated much of the six-week voluntary overtime protest.
But because he said progress is being made negotiating with the state on compensation and pension issues, he asked officers late last week to forego the protest and start accepting voluntary overtime to beef up court and transport operations again.
His colleagues immediately complied. All offers were accepted. All scheduled court transports were completed through Thursday.
Cpl. Smith called filing the unfair labor practices complaint now a "bad decision.''
"I asked our people to start working court and transport voluntary overtime again to give everybody a chance to breathe and think a little,'' he said. "I figured let's hold everything in limbo and see what happens.
"So why do we want to upset the apple cart at this moment? Why not wait until later to file the complaint? We've got the state to the table and we've got some commitments. We've got their attention and we've proved some points. They're not going to walk away from that.
"Why take a chance on aggravating them at this moment?
"I'm afraid if (the compliant is filed) that it will rub some salt in the wounds. This is something we could easily do later on. Right now, I think it's a bad decision.''
Mr. Knight disagreed.
He said the results from negotiations on pay and pension issues would still have to go to the legislature for approval and inclusion in the state's fiscal 2006 budget, starting July 1, 2005.
"Everything we're talking about now is for fiscal 2006,'' he said. "That's assuming we have enough officers left to run the prison system then. Mandatory overtime and sick time issues have to be addressed now. We can't wait any longer.''
Bureau of Prisons chief Paul W. Howard said he was heartened Thursday when he heard all voluntary overtime slots were accepted for a third straight day.
"I don't think three days a trend makes, but I think it's a clear indication of getting back to normal,'' he said. "When we couldn't complete court transports, it was bogging down the whole criminal justice system.''
Mr. Howard said previously that he was considering several options, including hiring private security guards, to fill the vacuum left by the mass voluntary overtime refusals.
"We were scurrying around,'' he said. "We talked to several (private security) agencies, but since our people are back taking voluntary overtime, I'd say (private security) is on the back burner now.''
Nonetheless, Mr. Howard said he wants safeguards to prevent a similar situation from happening.
"As we move forward, we're trying to come up with a solution so this doesn't occur in the future,'' he said. "A possible solution might be to have some kind of contract language with the union.
"We certainly don't want it to happen again. It creates a very precarious situation for the criminal justice system.''
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky contributed to this article.
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Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or at teldred@newszap.com.
