Hundreds of guards and workers at prisons statewide called in sick Thursday and Friday in response to state government’s failure to finalize their contracts.
“We had some action yesterday on first shift, and today on first and second shift,” Bill Clausius, public information director for Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections, said Friday. “There was a mass calling-in sick by correctional officers statewide. On Friday, about 28 percent of our guards called in sick for first shift, and 23 percent on second shift.”
Clausius said first shift call-ins Thursday forced state prisons to operate with only 65 percent of their operational staff.
Clausius said prisons employed several tactics to deal with the situation.
“There were a number of things done to control the situation,” Clausius said. “We asked some guards who were on their first or last day of vacation if they could come in for awhile. We also ordered officers who were on prior shifts to work another shift.”
Clausius said that with Friday’s reduced number of call-ins, they “were able to operate almost as normal.”
Overall, Clausius called the incidences manageable.
“Even with fewer guards, the inmates were very quiet,” Clausius said. “There were no incidences of any kind of disruption.”
Mike Wild of the Bureau of Labor Relations in the Department of Employment Relations said the state would be within its rights to discipline any workers participating in the call-in activity.
“Those employees that are considered participants in the job action are subject to disciplinary action, and they will not be paid for unauthorized absences,” Wild said.
Upon notification of the call-ins, the state Department of Employment Relations sent a letter to the Wisconsin State Employees Union, which negotiates contracts on behalf of prison workers, notifying the WSEU that the sick-out action was in violation of state law. The letter called the action a strike and said it had already cost the state $72,200 in overtime costs to replace the missing workers. The letter continued to say that if action continued, Doyle would disperse the National Guard to fill the missing positions at state prisons, costing the state a minimum of $175,000 per day.
The WSEU responded promptly to the DER’s request, telling truant workers to desist from call-in activity immediately.
Clausius said he couldn’t comment on whether the correctional workers’ strike-like action was ill-advised in light of Gov. Jim Doyle’s assurances that no state-funded programs would be exempt from cuts in his budget plan.
Doyle’s office deferred comment on the sick-out situation to the DOC Friday. On the Wisconsin Radio Network program “Ask the Governor,” Doyle said that while state workers had reason to be upset, the sick-out was unacceptable.
“Saying they have a right to be disgruntled does not mean they have a right not to do their jobs,” Doyle said, “I think everybody should do their job. If you’re hired to do a job you should do the job.”
The WSEU and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers have filed lawsuits against the state, citing the state government’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations as defendants. The organizations are suing for the JCER to do its job pursuant to statute and hold hearings to ratify collective bargaining agreements negotiated with the DER.
