FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Security guards employed by a third-party contractor at the Fulton County Jail walked off the job on Thursday after a funding deficit left a roughly $1 million deficit, Sheriff Pat Labat said during a news conference.
Labat said Strategic Security Corp. made a decision -- one that Labat described as "regrettable" -- on Thursday to text workers to walk off the job, despite previously making a written decision it would have workers pull off the job on Friday.
"Unfortunately and regrettably, at around 2:15 today, company employees were told to vacate their jobs, abandon their position and not to come into work tonight," Labat said.
11Alive's Angelina Salcedo spoke to the company's CEO over the phone before and after the press conference. Joseph Sordi explained the issue was solely budgetary.
"It's already a tough situation working in the Fulton jail given everything that goes on there. If they come to the table with an amicable solution we're more than happy to reinstate the guards. We've been presenting them with amicable solutions for over 8 months now; we regrettably had to make this decision today," Sordi said.
The company was responsible for supplementing staff with nearly 80 security officers. Despite workers with the jail walking out, Labat said this has now created an opportunity for the county to actually hire those same individuals for the job vacancies. Labat explained that the positions would be funded by the county.
"The last thing I wanted to do was have anybody be unemployed, be in a position where they are ultimately without a job. So, we have invited those individuals back in," Labat said.
The sheriff said they are focused on hiring for a "security officer specialist" position, the same one they left. The only caveat about rejoining is that they will receive a 10% pay increase and benefits by working for the county, Labat said.
Labat said he does not blame the contract company for pulling out, but he said he found them messaging employees to walk off the job last minute during negotiations "disingenuous."
They are working to hire nearly 50 employees back. Labat said they had talked to 47 as of Thursday night, hoping to bring them into "safer" conditions at the jail.
Labat described the lack of payment to the security contractor as a "budgetary issue" within the county.
"We were not in a position (to pay them). We talk about the historic underfunding of the sheriff's office, and that played a large part," Labat said.
The company claims they have still paid all its employees, but Labat said in the news conference that he had heard from several employees that had not received their full paycheck in the most recent pay cycle.
So, where is the money coming from now to pay employees?
"So there are two different buckets of money," Labat said. "And so ultimately, we are using our vacancies to really bring them on to a livable wage. . . one (bucket) is contractual money, the other, what we're using, is money that was gleaned from the vacancies. And so, we're able to."
He explained that when overtime was cut within county jobs, there are buckets of money that "lie within the vacancies." He said it allows them to offer these employees a sustainable and liveable wage moving forward, which he explained was $41,000 per year.
Labat went on to say he wanted to pay the contracting company and come to a resolution, but that the two sides were not going to be able to reach one as quickly as the company had hoped for.
"We have changed this into a positive," Labat said. "Ultimately, this has allowed us to bring more people on. Allowed us to create a safer environment. And the people that are leaving today, if you stay long enough, you will see an excited, new Fulton County employee."
It's important to note that data over the last five years shows funding for the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Jail has increased by 66%, with $184 million budgeted for this year alone.
Full press conference: