Missouri correction workers seek to oust union

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Some state corrections officers filed a petition Wednesday seeking an election on whether to end their union representation.

The petition signed by 2,666 officers was submitted to the state Board of Mediation, which must verify the signatures before setting an election.

Correction officers are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which is in middle of contract negotiations with department administrators.

The effort to oust the union is being led by the Missouri Correction Officers Association, which has about 2,300 dues paying members but does not call itself a union.

State records show the AFSCME union has about 1,300 members, but it is authorized to bargain on behalf of nearly 6,300 employees in the Department of Corrections.

Those opposed to the union say it has done little to help them during the past 18 years.

"It's not necessarily (that) we don't want a union, we choose to represent ourselves," said Gary Gross, a corrections officer in Tipton who founded the association last year.

Union spokesman David Miller pledged that corrections officers would see improved results in the latest negotiations thanks to an executive order by Gov. Bob Holden that expanded union bargaining powers.

"We're not concerned" about efforts to decertify the union, Miller said. "As folks continue to see what the negotiations process means to them, they will continue to join the union."