In February of 2018 and January of 2019, local and congressional leaders heard issues affecting employees at the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale when union representatives of AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) brought their plight to the leaders in a public meeting and stories in the local newspapers. Today those same union representatives are thanking their congressional representatives for helping solve some of those problems.
In 2018, members became concerned when the budget projected 77 positions were going to be cut. In 2019, another issue involved the government shutdown and nonpayment for federal employees. Over the two years, Ronald Morris, president of the AFGE Local Union 1007, and Corey Trammel, president of the AFGE Local Union 3957, and their staffs have worked hard to make leaders aware of their plight in the federal prison system as they asked for help to solve several issues.
Both men said they want to give a shout out to congressional leaders Mike Johnson, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy.
Morris said, “In January 2016, Bureau of Prisons staffing numbers were at 43,369 nationwide. In August 2019, following the self-imposed Bureau of Prisons hiring freeze, the staffing numbers were 35,516. This is a decrease of nearly 20 percent.”
At a time when inmate numbers were rising, both Morris and Trammel were concerned in February of 2018 when the projected 77 positions were being cut from their staffs. They had already faced cuts and with more cuts on the way, staff safety was becoming the next big issue. Officers were forced to work overtime and longer hours when mandated shifts were put into effect. And everyone knows, according to statistics, when you are on the job for longer hours, things can be missed putting officers’ lives on the line.
Longer hours produced other problems for staff like an increase in suicide rate. Both Morris and Trammel hit the ground running to make sure employee safety became a reason why more funding was needed.
The freeze on staffing federal prisons also illustrated how the retirement rate among officers was creating yet another issue. “Each year, the Bureau of Prisons have nearly 5,000 employees eligible to retire,” according to the union representatives.
These guys began organizing meetings with local representatives, attending meetings with state representatives and even making on-site visits. Today, Morris and Trammel are pleased our local representatives on the hill listened to their concerns when they brought them up-to-date on issues facing the workforce locally.
“They listened,” Morris said. “We are thankful for their efforts. We asked for more funding and they helped.”
Now, because of assistance from their congressional leaders, things are moving in a positive direction again. Since October, new legislation has the federal prison system hiring again.
Morris said the administration in Oakdale are looking to add 30 more correctional officers to their staff by next month.
He and Trammel encourage anyone interested in becoming a federal correctional officer to go to USA jobs and look at the jobs announced in October (https://www.bop.gov/jobs/). On Monday, there were 44 jobs listed locally including supervisory correctional officer in Oakdale and a supervisory recreation specialist in Pollock. Maintenance, cooks, and correctional officers are needed between Oakdale and Pollock.
“We need employees,” Trammel said. “We need help.”
Employees must go through background and credit checks as well as a physical. Both Morris and Trammel say working for the federal government provides someone with a steady income, good benefits and a good retirement.
