BATAVIA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Genesee County Legislature is taking a stand against an executive order signed by Governor Hochul barring corrections officers who lost their jobs while on strike from holding a state job again.
“We decided it was time for our voice to be heard and to come out in opposition of this executive order,” Genesee County Legislature Chairwoman Rochelle Stein said.
Q: “Why did you guys want to wrap your arms around these COs during this time?”
Stein: “Let’s just say we are a practical bunch here in Genesee County… Through the Constitution of the State of New York, we are endowed with Home Rule. Therefore, we as a county, we get to say what we want to do and how we want to do things… If [the county or sheriff] wants to hire people, we have the ability and authority to do that ourselves…. This executive order of 47.3 overreaches past the constitutional powers of the sheriffs of the State of New York.”
“[Corrections Officers] think this is a vendetta and vindictiveness coming directly after them because they do not believe it was an illegal strike. They are all saying that I wanted to be safe,” Retired NYS Correctional Lieutenant Vinny Blasio said about his former co-worker's thoughts on this order.
While many parts of this legislation are temporary and end on April 9, a few parts are permanent.
You can read the full order here.
Those officers who lost their jobs as a result of the strike are now ineligible to be peace officers unless they take several months to recertify themselves.
Peace Officer status is a requirement for many county/municipality jobs, such as police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and country corrections officers, all positions, that Stein tells me she’d love these individuals to fill in her county.
“We know they have excellent training. We know they have credentials that we would take, and we would want to employ them in our facilities and also as local law enforcement,” Stein said.
