The Department of Human Services said Friday that corrections officers at the Youth Rehabilitation Center were ordered back to work after a job action that began Tuesday.
The Office of Collective Bargaining on Friday filed an injunction against the workers. Monife Stout, public relations officer for the Department of Human Services, said a Superior Court judge is expected to act on the injunction without delay but had not issued an order as of Friday night.
"Human Services does not have the details of when that order will be issued, but we do not suspect delays," Stout said.
According to the DHS news release issued by Stout, YRC officers on the 4 p.m. Tuesday shift left early due to reported illness. Then several officers due to report for the midnight shift did not report to work, and multiple officers for the 8 a.m. Wednesday shift also called out sick, the department said.
None of those officers has returned to work since Tuesday, and others did not report to work, according to the department news release.
DHS believes the protest is connected to a grievance filed on April 24 by the Seafarers International Union, which represents the workers, against Human Services and the Bureau of Corrections. The grievance says that contractually agreed upon raises for the correctional officers have not been given since 2010. The government has not approved salary increases for any unions in the V.I. government for several years due to fiscal shortfalls.
The union has not issued any statement about staffing at the YRC this week.
Work shifts at the facility have been covered by what the department called "an outstanding unit of correction officers, correction officer supervisors, as well as treatment, kitchen and education staff."
Human Services Commissioner Christopher E. Finch has opposed the attempt to disrupt services at YRC. “We will not tolerate efforts, concerted or not, that seek to compromise the safety and well being of our residents, our employees and other officers at YRC,” Finch said.
The commissioner commended staff and management for continuing to operate the rehabilitation center despite constraints the labor action may have caused.
