Florida’s correctional officers and probation officers want their old union back. After a recent vote, the Florida Police Benevolent Association won the right to represent the officers.
Back in 2011, the Florida Police Benevolent Association lost the right to represent corrections officers to the Teamsters Union. But, after a recent election, 73 percent of those who voted say they want the PBA back.
“You know, it’s a good feeling to win the election,” said Matt Puckett, the FPBA’s Executive Director. “But, the point of this election was never just to win it. The correctional officers, the probation officers have had a really rough go over the last decade.”
Puckett says correctional officers and probation officers haven’t really seen a pay raise and continue to work under poor conditions.
“So, we have our work cut out for us,” he added. “We have to immediately hit the ground running in the legislature to try and get them some money in their pocket. We need to get our staff in the field to start providing much better representation than they’ve been receiving and then, we’re going to work with the department to see if we can help get the staffing levels up so that the working conditions improve because it’s dangerous to be corrections officer right now.”
If the Teamsters Union doesn’t challenge the results, the PBA will become the officer’s bargaining representative in December.
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