MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) filed an injunction with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to stop facilities closures announced by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP).
Thursday, the FBOP announced the deactivation of camps in Morgantown and five other states, plus the permanent closure of Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California.
The announcement said some of the approximately 400 workers affected would transfer to another nearby facility. Workers at the Morgantown facility will be moved to Federal Corrections Complex Hazelton, and the inmates will be transferred to other minimum-security federal facilities. The release said the agency is not downsizing, so any remaining employee will have the opportunity to move to another facility.
The announcement was a surprise to U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, as well as the Mid-Atlantic Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Rick Heldreth, who said the announcement came with no preliminary notification that is required by law.
“They have an obligation under the statute and our contract to notify the union first and bargain a reorganization, and they kept the whole thing secret,” Heldreth said.
Heldreth said the action was officially filed on Friday taking issue with a portion of the FBOP directive that said some of the employees could be subject to a reduction in force (RIF) procedure. The action calls the move by the FBOP “constitutes massive changes to working conditions and conditions of employment.”
“We’re planning on filing an unfair labor practice charge with the FLRA in Washington, D.C., to seek an injunction until they bargain properly,” Heldreth said.
A similar action was rejected by the FLRA during the pandemic when the vaccine mandate caused division and staffing issues at the facilities. Heldreth believes this action is taken to address longstanding system-wide problems that have been common knowledge for years.
“It was a national emergency because of the pandemic, so they wouldn’t step in,” Heldreth said. “But in this case I don’t see that happening here—it seems like a knee-jerk reaction to something that has been a long-standing problem.”
Heldreth said it’s important to note the FBOP facilities are historically located in isolated areas, making relocation disruptive, time-consuming, and costly.
“Staff should be eligible for all of the benefits through the displacement process,” Heldreth said. “That would give them priority placement wherever they want to go that there’s a vacancy instead of uprooting them and telling them where they have to go.”
The announcement comes at a time when staffing issues are a challenge across the system and at FCC Hazelton, where there are reportedly 90 open positions for correctional officers. The shortages lead to mandatory overtime and a process called augmentation when administrative employees at the prison are forced to fill correctional officer positions despite not being trained.
“Three of those seven facilities are satellite camps, which means they are attached to a larger facility,” Heldreth said. “So in those cases it’s a little easier; they have another prison there where they can be reassigned, but for the other four facilities they’re closing the entire site, so they’ll have to go somewhere else.”