Strike averted at South Texas detention center

Union workers at the South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall ratified the new deal late Wednesday that union leaders say promises improved equipment and increases the likelihood of wage increases.


Chief union negotiator Howard Johannssen for the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of Ameica (SPFPA) http://www.SPFPA.ORG said the new three-year contract passed by a slight margin but declined to release the vote.

Negotiations with The GEO Group Inc. had been ongoing for months. Guards threatened to walk off the job unless a deal was reached this week, and brought about 100 picketing signs to the negotiating table.

About 1,400 detainees are being held at the South Texas facility because of their immigration status, and more than 300 workers there are union members.

A strike would have been the latest problem in Texas for GEO, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private contractor disrupted by two recent inmate riots at a West Texas federal prison.

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Tags: SPFPA, Security Guard, Security Police, GEO Group Inc, Labor Union, Labor Union News, South Texas Detention Facility, Prisons, Correctional Facality,immigrant detention facilities