Corrections officers union to honor FleetCenter picket lines

The labor dispute that has disrupted efforts to prepare the FleetCenter for July's Democratic National Convention spilled over to the state Department of Correction yesterday, with the head of the union representing corrections officers warning that those who cross picket lines will be expelled.

Commissioner Kathleen M. Dennehy has agreed to provide 130 officers from the riot-control unit to work outside the FleetCenter throughout the July 26-29 convention. A spokesman for Dennehy said officers who refuse to work that detail will be removed from the elite unit.

Steve Kenneway, president of the 4,000-member corrections officers unit, responded with the promise to expel members who cross the line.

Kenneway said his organization has ''drawn our line in the sand" in support of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which has set up picket lines outside the convention site in an ongoing contract dispute with Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ''This dispute cuts to the heart of being a union. Either we are a union or we are not," he said.

Thomas Nee, president of the patrolmen's association, said he was ''deeply grateful for this show of respect and solidarity from the corrections officers union."

Nee and other union officials said police officers on regular shifts must obey orders, even if that takes them across picket lines. But it's a different story for officers voluntarily working outside of their regular duties, they said.

''If the boss says suit up and go, you go," said James Barry, a Boston police union official. ''If you are volunteering for it, that is different, that is antiunion. Coming in and doing our work while we are in a contract dispute is not good."

Members of the Department of Correction riot-control unit are specially trained and equipped to respond to prisoner disturbances within the corrections system, said Justin Latini, a Department of Correction spokesman. Membership is voluntary, he said.

''This is a top-notch, elite unit," Latini said. ''Anyone who is assigned to go to the DNC and doesn't go will be taken off the team."

Officers who refuse the assignment would also be turning their backs on thousands of dollars in overtime pay.

Kenneway said about 80 percent of the Department of Correction's riot-control officers have filled out the paperwork to work the convention.

''If they go, they will be expelled from the union," he said. ''They will be brought up on charges for disobeying a directive from" the union's executive board.

Members expelled from the union continue to pay dues and are treated the same as others under the union contract, but they are barred from participating in any union activities, including special events such as holiday and retirement dinners.

Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com.