Regional Treatment Center layoffs begin

By Dan Nienaber
Free Press Staff Writer

ST PETER July 16, 2008 11:18 pm

— A notice of likely layoffs became reality this week for 32 employees at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.
Chuck Carlson, president of the AFSCME Local 404 union, said he was called back to work at 5 p.m. Monday so the layoff letters could be hand delivered to him. He issued the notices to employees Tuesday morning.
A total of 26 security counselor jobs were cut and six billing office jobs eliminated. At least some of the office jobs will be moved to St. Paul, but Carlson said no one knew those jobs were being eliminated until the letters were issued.
“We had people get layoff letters yesterday who, 48 hours ago, we didn’t even know they would be losing their jobs,” Carlson said Wednesday during a news conference in St. Peter’s Minnesota Square Park. “There was no way for me to prepare employees for this, to tell them what there options were, because we didn’t have time.”
Carlson estimated more than 100 more jobs will be eliminated by September. About 500 employees work at the two facilities.
Most of the employees who lost their jobs Tuesday worked in what was a unit of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program that served low-functioning inmates. That unit has been moved back into the main facility for that program.
Cuts were also made Tuesday in the Minnesota Security Hospital, which houses people who have been civilly committed because they’re mentally ill and dangerous. That population includes people who committed assaults, murders or other violent crimes.
Several employees who received a layoff notice, or notice they could be bumped in the future by employees with more seniority, also spoke during the news conference. Lindsey Ryan, a Security Hospital security counselor, said the cuts would impact security at the facilities, putting citizens, employees and inmates at risk.
Wes Kooistra, Department of Human Services assistant commissioner, said that isn’t the case. Many of the cuts were from a unit that doesn’t exist any longer. He also said the staff-to-inmate ratios will not change as a result of the first round of cuts, although he did say that could change with future layoffs.
Eight jobs that were scheduled to be cut Tuesday were not because they would have lowered the staff-inmate ratios during late-night and early-morning shifts. Those layoffs could be made in the future, however, Kooistra said.
The current ratios at the security hospital are a total of three staff for one inmate (that is total security staff, not a staff ratio that’s maintained 24 hours per day), Kooistra said. The ratio is more than one-to-one in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.
The ratio in Minnesota’s prisons is closer to one staff member for every two inmates.
“In both programs we have a much higher ratio than a high-security correctional facility would have,” Kooistra said. “This is really about job loss. We don’t take that lightly.
“But to try to preserve jobs by misrepresenting the facts, that’s a disservice to our patients and the citizens of St. Peter.”
During the news conference, Carlson said security staff numbers can’t be reduced without reducing security.
“They’re laying off the people who do the head counts, who check the windows, who are the front lines of those units,” Carlson said.
Kooistra did say administrators are considering ways to make the layoff process easier for employees. One reason details about job cuts weren’t released until the notices were issued is it would create undue anxiety for employees.
“We followed a process that we typically follow,” Kooistra said. “When we met with AFSCME members, we heard repeatedly they were not happy with the process. We take that seriously. This is not pleasant for anyone. If there’s a way we can improve this process, we’re going to look at doing that in the future.”

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.