In the face of uncertainty in the federal government generated by the new incumbency of the president Donald Trumpemployees of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC, in English) They met this Friday to, among other things, clarify doubts about administrative changes and personnel reduction orders.
One of the main concerns of the workers of the so -called Federal Prison, in Guaynabois the scope of one of the orders to make a “Large Scale Reduction in Force” or a large -scale reduction of the workforce.
“The Trump administration asked all federal agencies to make a plan to reduce the number of employees, but the order they have does not say which agencies are exempt. The problem with that is that many of those guidelines, which are already in force, do not apply, in large part, to the agencies that are of law and order “he said Jorge RiveraPresident of Local 4052 of the American Federation of Government Employees (EGE, in English).
“Sometimes, we see that they have nothing specific, then, that brings some concerns to people (because) do not know if they are going to touch us or are not going to touch us (…) and what are the agencies that are considered most essential,” he added, in an interview with The new day.
Answering the questions and doubts of the employees, however, would be complex. According to Rivera, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Bop, in English), as a employer, “he has not said anything.”
“There are many questions that I know that they (employees) have, of which I do not have much answer; I can only let them know based on my experience, because I have been working there and 30 years representing employees, ”he said.
The 4052 of the 4052 of the ANGE represents about 220 Unionate employees of the MDC in Guaynabo, including criminal guards and the case managers. So far, no prison worker has been fired.
In addition to discussing and answering questions, Rivera recalled that there are “policies, guidelines, rules and an agreement that remain in force.”
However, he acknowledged that Trump’s history has been to make the decisions he wants and let those who disagree. Therefore, they are monitoring the judicial resources that have already been filed, in multiple states, by various actions of the president, including the unemployment.
“We are monitoring all those cases, but, after all, what I think is that the president of the United States is waiting for the opportunity to take the case to the Supreme Courtthat he has it in his favor “held.
In fact, Rivera recalled that, in the first Trump administration, from 2017 to 2021, private prisons were prioritized. He did not rule out, therefore, that this happens again now, and that these institutions dedicate themselves to receiving undocumented immigrants, who are also in the sight of the federal administration.
Employees also questioned the “permit” they received to arrest migrants, when they do not have training for it or receive compensation.
In that sense, they are worried about the abrupt departure of the former bop -chief Colette Petersbecause they foresee that they can place, instead, people from outside the prison structure and promote substantial changes.
In addition, they showed concern about the requirement to send weekly the five tasks they completed, because the prison protocols prohibit them from discussing, with people outside the system, security matters.
These meetings between the leadership and the registration of the Union of Workers are usually done quarterly to prepare on various topics and the table is left open so that employees bring their concerns.
