Guards At Texas Detention Facility Threaten To Strike

Guards At Texas Detention Facility Threaten To Strike



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Guards at the largest immigrant detention facility in Texas were poised to strike Tuesday.

The unionized workers at the South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall are locked in a dispute with the GEO Group, which runs the center.


GEO is the same private contractor that runs a West Texas prison disrupted by two inmate riots in the past two months.

Workers' representatives say that more than 300 employees could walk off the job as early as this week if The GEO Group doesn't agree to improved wages and working conditions.

Negotiations began in August, and union officials say a meeting Tuesday with GEO in San Antonio is the last chance to hammer out a deal.

About 1,400 federal detainees are held at the facility because of their immigration status.

A strike would be the latest problem in Texas for the Boca Raton, Fla.-based contractor, which is still sorting out two inmate riots since December at the Reeves County Detention Center near
Pecos.


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