Stand Up for County Correction Officers

Stand up for our county correction officers who risk their lives everyday to make sure our communities and families are safe from hardened criminals by restoring their binding arbitration rights.

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Governor Jennifer Granholm (if you live in Michigan)
Your State Senator (if you live in Michigan)

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to urge your support of House Bill 6112, "the Correction Officer Compulsory Arbitration Act", which restores binding arbitration rights for the correction officers employed by our 83 county sheriff departments.

Public Act 312, amends the Public Employees Relations Act (PERA) to provide binding arbitration procedures for the resolution of labor disputes for Michigan's police, fire, medical emergency public employees, and originally included county correction officers when it was signed into law in 1969.  In fact, it was the intent of the legislature to include all of the employees in a sheriffs department who were deputized by the sheriff, making no distinction between road patrol and correction officers.  Seventeen years after its passage, a conservative appeals court reversed the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC), holding that correction officers were "not critical service employees" and therefore not subject to PA 312.  Therefore, thwarting the original legislative intent of PA 312 and severing the bargaining unit in our law enforcement facilities.

It's important to understand that Michigan's county correction facilities are becoming ever increasingly dangerous due to overcrowding situations in both the local and state correctional facilities.  Due to jail diversion programs, local correctional facilities are housing more hardened criminals who were normally imprisoned in our state's penal system.  Additionally, due to the closure of many of our state's mental health hospitals, county correctional facilities have also seen a large influx of severely mentally ill individuals.  County correctional officers risk their lives everyday going to work to make our communities and families safe by ensuring hardened criminals are safely locked away.  In fact, Michigan being a state that boarders a foreign country, I can't think of a more "critical service" than making sure these criminals stay locked away.

House Bill 6112 restores binding arbitration rights for county correction officers and PA 312's original legislative intent.  County correction officers are essential to the safety and security of Michigan and its citizenry and an "alternate, expeditious, effective, and binding procedure for the resolution of disputes" in our correction facilities is good public policy.

Based upon the above, I urge your support of House Bill 6112 to restore the binding arbitration rights for our county correction officers who risk their lives everyday to make sure we are safe.  Thank you for your consideration in this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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