NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an agreement late Thursday to end a wildcat strike that has roiled the state’s prison system for more than a week.

Hochul said the state and the union for striking correctional workers agreed to binding terms after four days of mediation talks.

The workers must return to work by Saturday to avoid being disciplined for striking, mediator Martin Scheinman in a seven-page memo detailing the agreement, known as a binding consent award.

The deal includes changes to address staffing shortages and provisions to minimize mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts.

Hochul said the mediated settlement addresses many of the workers’ concerns, puts the state prison system on the path to safe operations and prevents future unsanctioned work stoppages.

“My top priority is the safety of all New Yorkers, and for the past 11 days, I have deployed every possible State resource to protect the well-being of correction officers, the incarcerated population and local communities across New York,” Hochul said in a statement.

The union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, Inc., did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Strikers won several key concessions, including a temporary bump in overtime pay, a potential change in pay scale and the suspension of a prison reform law they blamed for making prisons less safe.

For the next month, under the agreement, overtime will be paid at a rate of 2½ times instead of the usual 1½ times regular pay. The state also agreed that within the next four months it will finish its analysis of a union request to bump the salary grade for officers and sergeants.

The reform law, which limits the use of solitary confinement, will remain suspended for 90 days while the state evaluates if reinstating it will “create an unreasonable risk” to staff and inmate safety.

The state and union also agreed to form a committee to study staffing and operational inefficiencies at each facility in an effort to relieve strain on existing staff.

Corrections officers began walking out Feb. 17 to protest working conditions. Hochul deployed the National Guard to some prisons to take the place of striking workers. The job action violated a state law barring strikes by most public employees. Several inmates have died during the strike.

Scheinman, a seasoned mediator who serves as the permanent arbitrator for Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and their unions, said the sides demonstrated “good faith and enormous commitment to finding workable solutions for the workforce.”

“What has become clear during the mediation is the relationship between the parties and the workforce is strained,” Scheinman wrote in a memo explaining the agreement. “No single issue, law, or policy entirely explains the current situation. It is obvious this erosion did not happen all at once.”

The National Guard will draw down from state prisons as correctional officers return to work. In the agreement, National Guard members who remain in place will be used to prevent prison workers from being mandated to work a 24-hour overtime shift.

U.S. longshoremen reached a contract agreement with ports and shippers Wednesday, averting a potential strike that could have damaged the American economy.

The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline.

In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement protects union jobs and allows ports on the East and Gulf coasts to modernize with new technology, ” making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.”

They said they were not releasing details of the agreement publicly to give union and alliance members a chance to review and approve the document.

The longshoremen staged a three-day strike in October, suspending the walkout after agreeing to a 62% pay increase over six years. But that truce was contingent upon reaching an agreement over automation: The union worried that machines — especially semi-automated cranes — would replace human workers.

The agreement came a day after the two sides resumed negotiations.

A strike would have shut down ports along the East and Gulf coasts and would have begun damaging the economy if it lasted much more than a week, economists said.

“We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage on January 15, 2025,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports – making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.

“This is a win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace.”