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Deadlocked on security, negotiations stall between Mich. COs, state

A state board will be called in to settle the conflict

By Corrections1 Staff

LANSING, Mich. — Disagreements over security and staffing have left the Michigan Corrections Organization and the state government at a standstill as a third party is called in to mediate contract negotiations.

The Lansing State Journal reported the deadlock will begin impasse proceedings that start Oct. 31 with presentations to the Employment Relations Board. The board will pass their conclusions to the Civil Service Commission, which will decide how to end the deadlock.

Security and staffing at state prisons affect 6,000 COs and other MCO members, MCO Executive Director Andy Potter told the Journal. He said state prisons currently do not have manned watch towers, which were cut due to budget constraints.

COs are currently operating under a three-year agreement, under which they have received annual pay increases of up to 3 percent and bonuses rising according to tenure. That contract expires this year.

“There has to be an incentive for [officers] to continue to do the work they’re doing in the kind of conditions that have been allowed to manifest,” Potter told the Journal.

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