Officials reprimand 10 state prison employees for `organized sick-out’

THOMASTON — Ten Maine State Prison employees have been reprimanded in the wake of what prison administrators said was an organized sick-out.

Notice of written reprimands and 5-, 7- and 10-day suspensions without pay were delivered orally to the employees of the prison’s business office on Monday.

As of Thursday, the reprimands had not been delivered in writing, and the 10 workers targeted were still on the job.

John Graham, a spokesman for the Maine State Employees Association, said the suspensions could not be effective until the employees were notified in writing, and that the employees affected planned to appeal the suspensions to the American Arbitrators Association “for final and binding arbitration.”

“These disciplinary actions are completely unjustified,” he said.

The trouble began Feb. 28 when 10 employees of the prison’s business office called in sick. The previous day, the office had been evacuated by prison administrators because fumes from a maintenance garage over which the office is located permeated the workplace.

Employees had complained about fumes in the poorly ventilated office frequently, Graham said, and on Feb. 28 the 10 employees who called in sick “all had gotten a couple of good lungsful of fumes” the day before.

“These were very serious reactions — some people were very ill,” he said.

Corrections Commissioner Donald Allen confirmed the suspensions, which he said were justified because organized sick-outs are a violation of the contract between the Corrections Department and the employees. Prison officials, he said, had good evidence that the absences were a result of an organized effort on the part of employees.

“We are sure it was thought of during a meeting two days before the sick-out,” he said.

Allen also confirmed that fumes from the garage under the business office were suspected to have caused employees to feel ill. The office is located in a building outside the main prison compound and the fleet of prison vehicles is maintained in a garage beneath it. Some welding and all general engine work is carried out there, Allen said.

Air samples from the office were taken by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. No toxins were identified, Allen said, probably because the fumes entered the office sporadically.

“But we believed that something was causing the illness — we generally agreed with our employees,” he said.

Prison Warden Martin Magnusson allowed employees to do their work elsewhere or take the remainder of the day off with pay on days when the fumes were noticeable, Allen said.

The OSHA team identified a malfunctioning vent in the office, which Allen said was under repair. Additionally, negotiations were under way with the Bureau of Mental Health and Retardation, which occupies an office on prison property. The BMHR office could be moved to new space in Rockland as soon as next week, Allen said, and the prison business office relocated to the space it now occupies.

Allen said he regretted the “morale problems” caused by the fumes.

“We just want to get back to doing what we’re supposed to be doing instead of squabbling about air quality,” he said.