About two dozen members of the State Employees Association picketed Monday in front of the Statehouse.
They came to protest alleged mismanagement at the Men's State Prison specifically and within the Department of Corrections in general.
And they rallied against the Legislature's proposed budget cuts.
New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.
SOUND UP: what we want? respect. when do we want it? now.....
The State Employee Association protestors said they were demonstrating to shed light on the mishandling of worker grievances within the Corrections Department.
Parole officer Don Valente heads SEA chapter 63.
He accuses Commissioner John Curry and other prison officials of neglecting to follow proper procedures when handling grievances.
they pick and choose when they want to use it and when they don't. and usually when they do is when they want to go after some particular employee only because he's raised some issues, and they don't want to hear these issues.
Valente’s coworkers were also protesting the fact that many prison guard positions have been left unfilled at state prisons.
Some jobs have been vacant for more than a year.
The guards complained that staff shortages left some shifts uncovered….and demanded overtime from already overworked guards.
Lieutenant Jerry Haney says he's worked in Corrections for nearly 20 years.
He says the problem is wearing down personnel who are guarding dangerous inmates.
you gotta be alert 24/7 when you're working at that prison, especially for your whole 8 hour shift. you got to watch the inmates, to make sure they're not up to no good. and if you're short staffed, tired and over worked, you're going to fall down on that aspect of the job.
Corrections Department officials refused to discuss the SEA's charges that grievance cases have been mishandled.
They said these were personnel matters and they don’t discuss those publicly.
But officials did agree that the staff is overworked due to a high number of vacancies.
DOC spokesperson Jeff Lyons says more than 120 positions are unfilled.
45 of those empty posts are due to military call-ups for Iraq and Afghanistan.
But says Lyons these soldiers are now returning to their jobs in New Hampshire.
these people are being phased back in to the prison operations. we are bringing them through a ...reorientation process, in which we'll assist them to ease their way back into the prison system. and that's going to help.
Lyons says The Corrections Department is also hoping to fill additional positions with funding from the next state budget.
But State lawmakers warn the department not to hold its breath.
The House Finance Committee has earmarked only enough money to pay for half of the vacant positions.
The committee proposes to cut spending in virtually every department of state government.
And Committee Chair Fred King of Colebrook says if revenues are higher than estimated, he won't support sending more to Corrections.
if we have money to restore, it will go to health and human services. there's one hundred and forty two million dollars of cuts from existing programs, so, if there's any money put back into the budget, i believe that's where it will go first.
The State Employee Association called their protest in front of the Statehouse an "Informational Demonstration".
State law prohibits the union from going out on strike.
In addition to the problems at the Department of Corrections, the Union is also trying to negotiate a new contract with the state.
It’s been without a contract since the Benson Administration.
Those negotiations have been hung up over the cost of health benefits.
