Winning Hearts in Texas

Texas Council 7 organizes corrections officers one prison at a time.

Palestine, Texas

Here's a real Texas-sized problem: How to organize the largest prison system in the country in the second-largest state in the nation?

Council 7/AFSCME Texas Correctional Employees Council has found a solution: They call it "the blitz."

A small AFSCME affiliate with limited resources, Council 7 is trying to organize workers in some 100 prisons employing more than 40,000 workers spread across the vast Texas expanse.

Each month the council "blitzes" a different part of the state, sending in organizers to leaflet the prisons, dis-tribute material of interest to the corrections officers (COs), answer questions and sign up new members.

"Blitzes have increased the membership and have made our members aware of our legislative issues," says Council 7 Exec. Director Carlos Carrasco. Union representatives also attend programs for new COs at their pre-service academy. "We average 100 to 200 new members," he says.

Texas does not have collective bargaining for state workers, so AFSCME cannot sit down with prison management to negotiate for wages. But the union has been fighting in the state legislature to win a pay raise -- the first in five years -- for the state's COs, and the blitz is a way to involve them in the fight.

These efforts continue AFSCME's history of legislative action for Texas state employees. One battle won mediation for workers who have been terminated -- saving many jobs. Another led to upgrading the status of attacks on corrections workers from misdemeanor to felony.

Texas COs know they need someone to speak up for them. That's why they pick AFSCME.