Sign at FCI Ray Brook. (Enterprise file photo — Andy Flynn)

RAY BROOK — Corrections officers and staff at the federal prison in Ray Brook are currently working without pay during the now-11-day government shutdown.

Officers and staff there also had their union contract terminated two weeks ago, as the federal government seeks to outlaw labor organizations for most federal employees.

Regional and national union leaders say this removes rights and protections the contract gave staff.

For some local officers, there’s no love lost with the contract termination, since they didn’t feel it represented them well in recent years.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons director is promising that the bureau will honor the protections, pay, benefits and policies the union contract guaranteed. So far, this is mostly true. But national and regional union leaders say they are seeing some deviations that they believe could increase.

Corrections officers are getting a partial paycheck from the last pay period on Tuesday. They will get their pay for current work retroactively, after the shutdown ends. But with no clear end in sight, it’s unclear when that might be.

Brian Eggleston, a senior corrections officer at FCI Ray Brook, has worked without pay during government shutdowns before, including the 35-day shutdown in 2018. He said his budget allows him to go a few weeks or months without a paycheck. But for other officers at the prison, he said the coming weeks will be a struggle.

“Not knowing when you’re going to get paid, that’s rough,” he said. “It’s not hard to get caught up and stuck in a situation.”

It costs money to get to work — gas and food — he said.

He said there probably should be an emergency fund with temporary loans set up for COs who work through government shutdowns, since they are becoming more common.

Eggleston also feels officers should be considered “essential staff” during shutdowns and get paid. They are considered “excepted employees,” which means they are required to work, but do not get paid during a shutdown.

CPL-33 National Council President Brandy Moore-White said all COs, union members and union leaders — including herself — are being told they are no longer allowed to speak to the media about the agency, or they will face discipline. The Enterprise was able to interview some who were willing to speak on the record and some who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

“Your job security is protected by civil service law,” BOP Director William Marshall said. “You will not be removed, suspended or demoted without cause and due process. Your civil service protections, including whistleblower rights, appeal rights and anti-discrimination protections, remain fully in place.”

Marshall said the BOP has been ranked among the worst places to work in the federal government for “too long.”

He said the union has made positive contributions over the years.

“Despite those efforts, we have not seen the progress we need,” Marshall said.

He alleged that the union has “slowed or prevented changes” and called it an “obstacle to progress.”

“We are the furthest thing from an obstacle or a roadblock,” Moore-White said.

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Good, bad or different

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FCI Ray Brook is part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. BOP staff are part of the Council of Prison Locals 33 under the American Federation of Government Employees union. CPL-33 represented more than 30,000 federal correctional officers and support staff until Sept. 25, when its contract was terminated.

CPL-33 leadership called the contract termination an “attack” on employees, “deplorable” and an effort to silence them.

Eggleston is unsure what will happen next. He wonders how complaints will be filed. If they are filed with the administration, will they take complaints seriously?

“I don’t know if this is going to be good or bad, but it’s different,” he said.

He feels the local and national union have not done much for him in recent years. He’s been there for 25 years.

He feels the union has become “self-serving,” with leaders working on issues that benefit themselves and their friends first.

“They’ve really just become another set of bosses,” Eggleston said.

Union leaders don’t get paid for their union work, and he understands it’s a challenge to balance the two, but he’s still frustrated.

Eggleston still wants a union to represent him, just one that he feels would do a better job at it. Other federal labor unions fight for decisions that impact the entire industry, he said. Because the BOP’s union is part of AFGE, he said, when decisions are made at one institution, it doesn’t apply to all institutions — each one has to have its own fight. He wants a BOP-specific union.

Eggleston hasn’t noticed a huge change at work yet.

He estimated FCI Ray Brook has around 750 inmates currently. In August, the prison had 82 corrections officers and 851 inmates. In March, it had 70 corrections officers and 796 inmates. The inmate number has gone up a bit as more prisoners get moved here to make room for immigration detentions at other federal prisons.

Moore-White said the contrat termination “strips away a lot of rights and protections that staff have had.” Things like seniority, the ability to bid for shifts and vacation picks.

Moore-White said it also strips staff of having an independent or third-party decision if they feel they have been harmed or wronged.

“But most importantly, it takes away representation for inmate allegations,” Moore-White said. “A staff member no longer has the ability to have someone walk them through the investigation and disciplinary process.”

If a complaint is made against an officer, a union representative is present at their questioning during the internal investigation to monitor the conversation to make sure it follows policy.

Some officers rely on the union as a “safety net” if they make mistakes, Eggleston said.

“Now that the union’s gone, they don’t have anyone to rely on and now the administration can hold them accountable, and they can probably do it a little faster,” he said.

He believes people who are seen as “problem-starters” or “lazy workers” will likely find different jobs soon.

FCI Ray Brook’s biggest problem is the staffing shortage and large amounts of overtime resulting from the shortage. Eggleston feels overtime has not been spread out evenly.

“You’ve got a handful of people who are doing the majority of the work,” he said. “The rest of the people just come and go as they please. … The workload is just not being shared properly.”

He said he has worked more than 1,000 overtime hours annually in recent years, and still gets mandated for more, while others work regular 40-hour weeks.

He feels he’s not seeing the better pay or better benefits he wants.

The union fought for higher pay for new officers and incentives to join, in an attempt to address the staffing shortage. But Eggleston said it has not done enough for the people who have been there for years, who train the new recruits.

“I understand it, it just kind of sucks,” he said.

He said there’s not much incentive for longevity at federal prisons, adding that the retirement package is “horrible.”

Moore-White said the union has fought for increased staff pay and safety items like stab-resistant vests and pepper spray.

Marshall said pay and benefits are guaranteed by law and remain, and that the BOP has a legal obligation to provide a safe workplace.

“CPL-33 didn’t give you your protections; the law did, and Bureau policy continues them,” Marshall said.

Moore-White does not believe the BOP will uphold these protections and policies.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “We already have people being skipped for overtime with no avenue or recourse to dispute it. … People are already being told their shifts and posts will change. They’re already being skipped for overtime. Supervisors are already playing favorites. And we know there’s a lot more to come.”

An AFGE regional leader, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said that supervisors are circumventing processes laid out in the contract

The contract outlined how COs set their work schedule. Every three months, officers bid for jobs based on seniority, bidding for different shifts, days off or posts. The anonymous regional AFGE leader said, without the contract, prison leadership has the ability to stop using seniority in the bidding process and could get rid of bidding altogether. They said the allowance officers get for their uniforms could be removed.

Union leaders say they will fight the termination in court and in Congress.

Other federal unions have been fighting their contract terminations in courts. So far, courts have allowed the union terminations, except for the Department of War’s teachers union. The “Protect America’s Workforce Act” in Congress seeks to reverse many of the union terminations from this spring.

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The shutdown

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The current government shutdown, which started on Oct. 1, is the first in six years and has no clear end in sight.

Republicans and Democrats have competing funding bills, and neither have been able to garner the 60 votes needed in the Senate.

Republicans want to pass a “continuing resolution” which would fund the government through Nov. 21.

Democrats are voting against the resolution because Affordable Care Act tax credits, which subsidize health insurance, expire at the end of the year. They want a permanent extension to the subsidies.

Republicans want to split the tax credit discussion from the funding resolution and work on them separately. Democrats say, with open enrollment for insurance starting in less than a month, action needs to be taken now — not just before the end of the year.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Congress expanded the eligibility for these tax credits to include people earning up to more than four times the federal poverty level. Four times the federal poverty level is $62,600 for a single-person household and $106,600 for a family of three.

If these subsidies are not renewed by the end of the year, the people receiving them could see their monthly or annual insurance premium payments rise severely.

Insurance commissioners across the country feel Congress was overlooking the deadline up until just recently.