Blaming COVID vaccine mandate, Pekin prison workers say staffing shortage could get worse

Mike Kramer, Pekin Daily Times
·2 min read
FCI Pekin employees Jeff Frank (left) and Thomas Kamm (right) demonstrate outside the facility Monday afternoon.
FCI Pekin employees Jeff Frank (left) and Thomas Kamm (right) demonstrate outside the facility Monday afternoon.
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Waving placards with such slogans as “Stop the Mandate,” "Will Not Comply,” and “My Body, My Choice," members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 701 demonstrated outside the Federal Correctional Institute Pekin on Monday afternoon.

The demonstration lasted from 1-5 p.m., with union members showing up to picket throughout the course of the afternoon. According to AFGE Local 701 President Thomas Kamm, between 40 and 50 AFGE members participated in the protest.

Kamm said the picketing was a protest to President Joe Biden’s September executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all federal employees. He maintains that the mandate could lead to loss of personnel in a facility that has already seen significant staff reductions over the past two decades.

“When I got hired in 1997, we had over 330 staff members at FCI Pekin,” Kamm said. “Currently, we’re in the 250s. So, we’ve lost approximately 80 positions in those years through staff cuts. If (the government is) threatening termination to current employees if they don’t get this vaccination, we could lose (more) staff. It’s also going to deter new staff from applying, because they’re making (COVID-19 vaccinations) a condition of employment.”

FCI Pekin employees Mario Young (left) and Nekeya Sylvester (right) protest the vaccine mandate for federal employees during Monday's demonstration.
FCI Pekin employees Mario Young (left) and Nekeya Sylvester (right) protest the vaccine mandate for federal employees during Monday's demonstration.

Kamm noted that current officer staffing levels at FCI Pekin are 30%-40% below the level needed to safely manage inmates, resulting in officers working large amounts of overtime and in non-officer employees being reassigned to work as correctional officers.

“We’re trying to draw awareness to the mandate and the effect it’s going to have on public safety and the community,” he said. “If we lose staff out here, it’s not good for the economy in Pekin, and it’s not good for the safety and security of the institution. It’s just bad all the way around.”

More: These hundreds of Peoria-area employers will fall under umbrella of Biden vaccine mandate

Nekeya Sylvester is a material handler at FCI Pekin who participated in the demonstration because she believes the vaccine mandate is contrary to federal employees’ civil rights.

“We don’t want to take an experimental vaccine,” she stated. “We don’t feel anyone should have to choose between their job and (declining) a vaccination. A lot of our staff also have natural immunity (from a COVID outbreak last year).”

According to an Aug. 5 fact check by USA TODAY, all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use underwent clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people, as well as peer-reviewed studies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccinations even for people who have previously contracted the disease. Research suggests that infection plus vaccination provides the strongest protection against a wide range of COVID-19 variants.

More: Natural immunity is good. Getting vaccinated after being sick with COVID-19 is better.

The Pekin Daily Times has reached out to FCI Pekin for comment.

This article originally appeared on Pekin Daily Times: FCI Pekin prison employees protest federal COVID vaccine mandate