Legislative Update

MCOFU Members,

The last couple of months have been busy on the legislative front. We have had several meetings concerning PFML. We all realize that this is an unfair tax on the hard-working men and women of this union. The benefits of this leave will most likely never be utilized by most members. These benefits spelled out in this leave are benefits that union members already enjoy. We believe that if private employees want benefits like ours than they should join a union. Your Executive Board is still in contact with our attorneys to decide what if any steps can be taken on this issue.

As many of you know I am a member of the Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee. This committee came about with the implementation of the Criminal Justice Reform Act. We have been tasked with determining the effects of RH and determine what could be done better with respects of RH. We will be touring most of the major institution’s RH and I’m asking that Correction Officers take part in the “focus groups”. We need to ensure that people understand the hard work we do and the realities of prison from our point of view. Please get involved in this as it will affect how RH is utilized in the future.

On August 28 I gave testimony in support of H2049 an act relative to LEOSA. On October 1 I gave testimony in support of H2248 and S1531 An Act relative to disability pensions for violent crimes and H2379 and S1509 An Act relative to the disability or death caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

On November 13 there will be several bills that I would like to call, “second versions of criminal justice reform”. These bills have things to do with inmate visitation, phone calls, minimum wage for inmate workers, training for officers when it comes to inmate visits, a correction oversight commission and the lists go on and on. These bills will severely hamper the way we do our job if passed. A lot of the language in these bills refer to us as guards and require us to go to civility training.

These bills are a slap in the face of every hard-working officer who does an extremely difficult job that few want to do. I will continue to have meetings with members of the legislation to explain the job we do, the reality of our job and to make sure that the people at the State House knows how valuable we are to public safety.

Here is a list of some of the Legislators I’ve recently had meetings with:

Speaker DeLeo

Sen Rush

Rep Jim Hawkins

Sen Feeney

Rep Dan Cahill

Sen Lovely

Rep Dan Donahue

Sen Gobi

Rep Paul McMurtry

Sen Tran

Rep Alan Silvia

Sen Dizoglio

Rep Tom Walsh

Sen Collins

Rep Joe McGonagle

Sen Crighton

Rep Mike Day

Sen Moore

Rep Carole Fiola

Sen Pacheco

Rep Pat Haddad

Sen Rodrigues

Rep Dan Ryan

I have explained to these and other Legislators our job and how the CJRA has affected each and every one of us, to include how staffing levels have decreased and forced overtime has increased. Your Executive Board is working hard to make sure the next versions of the Criminal Justice Reform do not affect the membership in a way the last version did.

Election season is beginning and will be in full swing after the new year. Several candidates have reached out to MCOFU seeking endorsements. We on the Board take this seriously and need to do are due diligence in ensuring that the people that get elected have public safety and Correction Officers at the forefront. We will be having meetings with candidates to make sure we continue to be well represented in the State House. We ask for you to sit down with your State Rep and Senator to make sure they know you and the work you do.

Tomorrow is election day and although not every community has an election it is still important to get out and vote. These local races will have an effect on what communities you live in with regards to education, transportation and public safety.

If at any time you have questions or concerns about anything please call, email or text me anytime.

On behalf of Your Executive Board,

Kevin Flanagan

Legislative Representative