CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) — In the latest move by the governor regarding the illegal strike, local leaders say they stand with their local law enforcement by supporting their sheriffs.
“I will not obey one bit of that order,” stated Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin during his state of the county address where he fired back at the governor’s executive order limiting job prospects for striking correction officers whose employment was terminated.
“She’s trying to prevent counties from hiring these corrections officers,” said McLaughlin who went on to explain, “A number of corrections officers from state prisons have applied for transfers and some have already been accepted to work at our county lockup.
Other county leaders are deferring to their sheriff. “I foresee litigation resolving what the governor can and can’t do. I think can remove them, decertify them from the state registry. I think she cannot prevent us from hiring them and retraining them,” stated Fulton County Sheriff, Richard Giardino.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said, “I think there’s just a lot of emotions in the mix right now. So, you know, give it some time, let the smoke clear and, you know, cooler heads prevail.”
The Albany County and Fulton County Sheriffs both said training and preparing new officers is a concern.
Sheriff Apple said, “It saves the county a lot of money as well because you don’t have to do the training. They’re experienced and they know the working conditions.”
Sheriff Giardino said the time to train is also a concern by saying, “Then we got to spend six weeks, eight weeks training a new correction officer when they’ve already got the training.”
Retired Correction Officer, Sergeant Rudy Pavlin says safety concerns inside the prisons led to the strike, but now life outside the prison is dire. “I don’t know if you quit, you’re not eligible. I don’t know if you resigned, you’re not eligible. If you’re fired, I believe you would be eligible. So, it very well may be terminology she’s using to be slick, because from word that I’m hearing, a lot of officers cannot get unemployment.”
He says the men and women who were striking appreciate the support from local leaders and law enforcement, but he said, “This is not over yet. The men and women who are out here, they are still fighting behind the scenes, now. So, if the governor thinks that they’re going to lay down and that’s it, they’re going to fight to be heard and get their jobs back and that’s all.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
