New York fired more than 2,000 prison guards Monday for failing to return to work after a weekslong wildcat strike that crippled the state’s correctional system, but said enough officers had come back on the job to declare the illegal work stoppage over.

New York fired more than 2,000 prison guards Monday for failing to return to work after a strike that crippled the state's correctional system, but still declared the illegal work stoppage over.

More than 1,000 prison guards flooded Albany on Tuesday, chanting a defiant message as pressure mounted on them to stop their wildcat strike: “Hold the line.”