Galesburg, East Moline prison employees will join state-wide picket

AFSCME-represented prison employees statewide will picket statewide Thursday over workplace safety, and Quad-City area employees will be among them, according to a news release.

Demanding safer working conditions, employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections will demonstrate at more than two dozen prisons statewide. At East Moline Correctional Center, the picket will be at 3:15 p.m. adjacent to the visitor parking lot. At Hill Correctional Center, Galesburg, the picket will be at 3 p.m. at 600 Linwood Road, Galesburg.

Union members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 say that state prisons are short-staffed; offenders increasingly abuse narcotic, synthetic, or toxic substances (and staff are increasingly exposed to these dangerous substances); and violent assaults on staff are too common.

Saying "Safety Matters," AFSCME members are calling on the Department of Corrections to prevent illegal substances, enforce policies requiring clear consequences for offenders abusing substances or assaulting staff, and expedite hiring for safe staffing levels.

"AFSCME members should not have to face violent assaults, illegal drugs and chronic staff shortages as common occurrences when just doing their jobs," Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. "We demand that leadership of the Department of Corrections step up and do more to make this essential work safer."

AFSCME represents more than 10,000 Illinois prison workers.