There is a particular balance that is needed here... This just shifts the abuse to the typical abuse non-unionized workers receive. Low pay, bad working conditions, dangerous working conditions which leads to more staff rotation and increasing danger in the work environment.
From the article:
Bergami and Whitmore said they also tried to fire an officer who they saw on video throwing away prisoners’ mail, a possible felony. The agency also overruled them in that decision, they said. The bureau did not respond to allegations of staff destroying mail.“How do you root out the bad apples if you're not allowed to terminate those who have been recommended for termination?” Whitmore said.The two former Thomson officials and a current prison employee said the attitude among many guards was reflected by a group who refused to wear their issued uniforms. These officers opted instead for black T-shirts, many with the union logo or the skull logo of The Punisher — a vigilante comic book character popular with far-right groups. They called themselves “The Black Shirt Mafia.”
Also: Seems like they might be looking at lots of staff rotation anyway (union or not): https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/local-news/thomson-prison...
All that you need is rule of law, rather than carving out special cases for police unions.
Unfortunately, while all animals are equal under the law, but some animals are more equal[1] then others...
[1] Still waiting for a cop in my town going 50 over the speed limit, with no lights or sirens running down a woman at a pedestrian crossing to be charged. We're almost coming up to a year anniversary on it!
Unions shouldn't be allow to have management and non-management in the same union. The guy evaluating your performance (police commissioner) should not be allowed to be in the same union regardless of if you are police or tech.
Like if everyone's bosses organized, what they would have isn't a labor union but something else. Police unions use the nomenclature of labor unions but they are actually a different thing.
So, this shows that you have zero idea what the inside of prisons are like for it's employees.
A captain level at a jail would tell a corrections officer to go into a pit of angry inmates in a heartbeat, and in general the unions for these officers are what help push the rules to keep said officers from getting killed, or working double shifts.
A good thing and a bad thing can happen with a system operating normally.
If a group of business owners coordinates for the benefit of their shared interests, what they have is a business association or chamber of commerce or cartel not a labor union. This is despite the fact that their work individually could be grueling or dangerous, or they have an even worse boss or whatever.
Cops and prison guards, like business owners, are part of the system that coordinates who produces value, when and where. But they do not produce that value, and so their organizations aren't labor unions. It's not merely a semantic point either: they have working conditions sure but their goals and tools are different because of this relationship. From a guard's perspective the ideal prison has no prisoners in it; the second best has them drugged and restrained at all times. How would a union reconcile either of these things?
And you're right, I've only ever been in a prison as a prisoner. What's your experience being employed in one?
A very close family member had a 27 year career as a corrections officer until they retired.
But pretty much point you on here is stupid beyond belief. Do you think anyone at any job wants to do anything if the other option was getting paid for doing nothing?
The workers at low levels in these organizations are treated like shit, just like every business that has low paid, low skill jobs. Why in the living hell would you think that a corrections officer is "part of the system". I'd say, "Hey go get one of those jobs and you'll see", but it sounds like you're eliminated from the category.
Go read some theory man I'm not going to try to explain it again. I literally got a TBI in there but I'm starting to suspect that between the two of us I'm the one with less brain damage from associating with prisons.