BOP Workers Battle Retaliation

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)AFGE members who work at the Federal Bureau of Prisons will rally today to speak out against retaliation for filing EEOC complaints. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) employees have a lot to worry about. They face life threatening situations every day watching over our country’s most dangerous and notorious criminals. They face unsafe correctional officer-to-inmate ratios created by years of agency underfunding. And they face retaliation from managers should they choose to file an EEO complaint in the system. “That’s the one that really stings,” says AFGE, which is urging Congress and Attorney General Holder to take action and demand accountability of BOP management for their “cavalier attitude” toward the well-being of their employees. “No more tepid responses from the Bureau of Prisons,” says AFGE. “A little accountability would be nice.” photo: AFGE Corrections Officers deliver symbolic body bags to the steps of Congress at a protest march & vigil in October 2009; photo by Chris Garlock