It is also sad that membership in unions is not "exploding" in other occupations that could benefit from collective bargaining, instead of prison guards.
And yes, it is sad because generally unions are a good thing, BUT obviously the devil is in the details of particular unions, and how they are run. And both police and guard unions as political forces are wholly reactionary.
I was thinking further about this this afternoon. I can't begrudge these guards collective bargaining for better wages and working conditions. But the union leadership obviously sees its future and expanding base in the expansion of the prison system, even at the expense of putting away somebody for life for shoplifting on their "third strike". Its also ironic though that actual work and safety conditions are probably much worse in these over-crowded prisons.
So yeah, its sad in any number of different ways.
Sheldon