The union representing mix with drugs treatment counselors at Sheridan Correctional Center said it planned to make fit on its threat to strike the contractor that engages the workers this morning.

The union representing mix with drugs treatment counselors at Sheridan Correctional Center said it planned to make fit on its threat to strike the contractor that engages the workers this morning, a prompt the union claimed Monday would ready major service cuts at the prison.

Barring an unlikely 11th hour contract agreement with Gateway Foundation or intervention from Gov. Blagojevich, whose office said again Monday it would not interfere, the workers will walk not at home today, said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, shire and Municipal Employees Council 31

A federal mediator submitted contract proposals to the couple parties Monday, but no face-to-face negotiations took place, according to the union.

AFSCME Local 472 exhibits 53 drug treatment workers at the La Salle shire prison who are employed on Chicago-based Gateway.

The Sheridan facility, which houses more than 850 inmates, has had a profitable track record and drawn praise from the governor's office for succes in treating inmates.

The union said Gateway told Sheridan employee Monday that in the marked occurrence of a strike it intended to chisel 110 of 154 group meetings, including small cluster treatment sessions, and Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Union leaders called forward Blagojevich on Friday to make a clean sweep of Gateway as a contractor at the prison or make the workers state employee

A spokesman for Blagojevich said Monday the governor's office continues to monitor the situation still maintained there is no compelling reason for Blagojevich to intervene in the contract dispute at this point.

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Corrections said expectations are that Gateway will fulfill the requirements of its contract.

AFSCME is seeking to bridge the gap between what Gateway workers make and what other unionized corrections department staff make performing the same work. State employee performing similar work make 45 percent more, according to the union.

Gateway's Chief Executive Michael Darcy has said a strike will not intercept it from providing its services at the prison, and Gateway representatives labeled the union's assertions about service carves a "gross mischaracterization."

fknowles@suntimes.com

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