Caring for Our Own: Union Members and Their Families

Work during a prison disturbance produces exceptional strain. Employees may be required to work longer hours to meet the increased staffing needs that arise during the unrest. The anger and frustration of knowing co-workers are being held against their will are exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about their treatment. The rumors accompanying a disturbance compound any uncertainty.

Employees are not alone in experiencing the upheaval. Their families experience similar emotions and also have needs. A disturbance may reveal to some for the first time what the work of a CO involves.

The union also cannot forget that officers and their families at other locations also have needs, especially the need to be informed about the disturbance on a regular basis.

Officers and Corrections Personnel Working at the Facility

• Union command post. The union’s command post should be a place where employees can go to ask questions and talk at any time of the day or night. The command center creates a union presence, and allows the union to assist employees having problems with payroll, overtime and workers’ compensation claims.
• Regular briefings. The union should also arrange for employees to be briefed regularly by the employer. Such briefings provide an opportunity to raise questions about the disturbance, and quell the rumors that are an inevitable part of any disturbance. If briefings are not possible for all employees, they should at least be arranged for union stewards. The steward structure of a local union is an indispensable mechanism to help dispel rumors and maintain communications with members during the crisis.

The Families

As the union attends to the needs of members who continue to work in the facility, it must also give attention to their families, which it can do in several ways.

• Hot line. Families should be informed of any hot line or toll-free telephone number that has been established to provide information about the disturbance.
• Home visits. Union representatives may wish to visit family members at home to offer support and inquire about what assistance they may require. If union staff and local leadership find themselves spread thin and unable to provide any direct assistance, they may still be able to direct families to help.
• Central location. The union may also wish to arrange for a central location where families of members working in the institution can go to be with each other. Coming together in this manner offers a way for families to support and console each other. It also comforts the men and women working in the facility to know that, although they are working long hours, their families are being taken care of by the union family.

Union Members Working in Other Facilities

Care should be taken to reach out to union members in other facilities and to keep them informed of developments. This can be done by activating the communications network suggested earlier. Communicating with members who work in other jails in this way creates a sense of solidarity among union members. Members may also use this network to communicate any developments in their institutions to each other and the union’s leadership.