ACU Update
Iowa legislators pulled the plug on cable TV for inmates
this April, despite opposition from COs and the state’s director of corrections. Inmates paid the cable bill themselves with profits from prison commissaries. Jan Corderman, president of Iowa AFSCME Council 61 and an International vice president, says the decision was a mistake: "Cable TV was one of the few tools left for our officers to maintain order."...
Female wardens of men's prisons emphasize reform and communication
more than their male counterparts do, suggests an April 23 article in the Christian Science Monitor. Women represent only 10 percent of wardens and superintendents in the 900 statewide correctional facilities for men. The two qualities these women say they’ve needed in these tough jobs with often skeptical co-workers: perseverance and a sense of humor....
On May 1, Council 82 signed a historic agreement on staffing
with New York’s Department of Corrections. The agreement, aimed at improving staffing levels at the state’s correctional facilities, provides that: Department of Correctional Services will add 150 officers beyond the state’s budget fill level; trainees in on-the-job training will not be included as part of the budget fill level; all prisons will be staffed at the budget fill level by July 31; no permanent plot-plan jobs will be taken and replaced by temporary jobs; and before closing a post, the impact on the safety and security of the facility must be considered....
Members of Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA)/AFSCME Local 52
may have helped lengthen the life of a retired member by writing, faxing and e-mailing their state retirement board to speed up the lump-sum payout for a CO who had taken medical retirement in April. The retirement system required a waiting period of almost three months before payments could be made, but 45-year-old Joyce McDonald — sick with breast cancer that doctors had told her was probably terminal — needed the money immediately to pay for experimental medical treatment. The retirement board approved a "hardship exemption" for all former state employees who need immediate benefits for emergencies like McDonald’s.
AFSCME CO Receives Award
CO Rudy Arensberg, president of Local 2500 (Council 13) in Pittsburgh, was recognized by the International Association of Corrections Officers as a finalist for Corrections Officer of the Year. In a May 3 ceremony held in conjunction with CO Week, the organization praised Arensberg's "ability to be an effective, conscientious, articulate advocate for the valid and legitimate interests of his fellow corrections officers through their union, while at the same time being a corrections officer interested in running a good prison with sound practices." Arensberg attended the ceremony with his family and said he accepted the award "on behalf of the members of AFSCME Local 2500. It's only with their support that I've made it through these tough times."
