The United Probation Officers Union has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court in an attempt to force NYC to turn over verified salary figures for employees of New York Children's Services and New York City Department of Corrections to see if union members are paid fairly compared to the other departments.
The United Probation Officers Union released a statement that read, "The UPOA represents 700 probation officers and is the most racially diverse branch of law enforcement in the city, we'd like to be sure that we aren't treated like second-hand public servants."
Dalvanie Powell, President of the United Probation Officer Union told the New York Daily News, "These men and women are true public servants who build a safer New York, who give people opportunities to turn around their lives and stay out of the justice system, but sadly the city of New York is clearly showing it is not committed to supporting our ranks and is ignoring the transparency one would expect from our government leaders."
A union spokesperson said they filed the lawsuit because New York City has stonewalled and denied the request for the data claiming that it would break privacy laws.
Union lawyer, Yetta Kurland said, "It's clear that the city is once again going out of its way to avoid production of the data and is shirking the law. So we must ask: what is the city hiding, and why?"
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