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Correctional officers and staff set up an information picket line outside the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre Thursday morning after overwhelmingly rejecting a tentative contract offer from the province.
Officers holding signs that read “Strike alert” and “crisis in corrections” held up police paddy wagons and other vehicles as they pulled into the jail.
“We’d like to see much better wages because we have fallen behind over the years, we’d like to see us recognized for the essential work we do, we’d like to see our own collective agreement,” said union local president Denis Collin.
Correctional officers said they also want greater respect and to be treated like the first responders they are.
“When a fight happens, we are the first ones through the door,” said correctional officer Nick Kennedy.
“We deal with emergencies in our institution before any other agency. To say I am not a first responder is outrageous.”
The information picket came after 93 per cent of correctional staff at the jail rejected a tentative contract offer. The officers have been working without a contract since last December.
Collin said if the province doesn’t make another contract offer correctional officers could be on strike by January.
Kennedy said correctional officers don’t want to strike, but may have no choice.
“It’s the only way we have a voice,” he said. “We try every other means possible and we are not heard.”
Conditions inside the jail are the worst they’ve ever been, said correctional officer Francine Dufresne.
Dufresne said three days ago an inmate splashed her hands and uniform with urine.
Three days ago, a correctional officer and three inmates were injured following a hostage taking at the jail in Thunder Bay.
Dufresne said gang members believe they are running the institution, and a lack of support from management when correctional officers use force has left them reluctant to do it now.
Chronic understaffing has created a situation where inmates are tense from constant lockdowns and cancellation of professional and personal visits, said Dufresne, a 28-year veteran.
Moments earlier, a correctional officer posted a sign on the gate announcing that visits were cancelled.
Visits are cancelled Thursday in the face of the labour dispute at the corrections centre.
“It’s really not safe inside,” said Dufresne.
“We have that in our head all the time. We start our shift and don’t know if we’ll come out alive,” she said.
“Management only cares about the inmates. Us, we’re second-class citizens in there.”
Veteran correctional officer Jeff Pinhey said it has been years since correctional officers saw a wage increase.
“Our last two or three contracts, we’ve had zero,” said Pinhey, a 33-year veteran.
Special constables from the Ottawa police and OPP who take prisoners to court earn $7 and $6 more an hour than correctional officers, he said.
Pinhey said government promises in the latest contract that they’d give correctional officers their own bargaining unit had more “secret holes for them to get out of it than a Harry Houdini routine.”
“You can only kick someone for so long,” said Pinhey.
In a joint release Thursday, Treasury Board President Deb Matthews and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi termed the correctional officers rejection of the contract “disappointing.”
“It is disappointing that employees with the Correctional Bargaining Unit have rejected the tentative agreement that was reached between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the (province),” the release said.
“Correctional Services staff in our communities work hard every day to keep us safe and we acknowledge the difficult challenges they face.”
The release said that the government is considering next steps.
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen)
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen) EDS NOTE: Main in the middle is the president of Local 411, Denis Collin. (OPSEU)
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen)
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
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Officers holding signs that read “Strike alert” and “crisis in corrections” held up police paddy wagons and other vehicles as they pulled into the jail.
“We’d like to see much better wages because we have fallen behind over the years, we’d like to see us recognized for the essential work we do, we’d like to see our own collective agreement,” said union local president Denis Collin.
Correctional officers said they also want greater respect and to be treated like the first responders they are.
“When a fight happens, we are the first ones through the door,” said correctional officer Nick Kennedy.
“We deal with emergencies in our institution before any other agency. To say I am not a first responder is outrageous.”
The information picket came after 93 per cent of correctional staff at the jail rejected a tentative contract offer. The officers have been working without a contract since last December.
Collin said if the province doesn’t make another contract offer correctional officers could be on strike by January.
Kennedy said correctional officers don’t want to strike, but may have no choice.
“It’s the only way we have a voice,” he said. “We try every other means possible and we are not heard.”
Conditions inside the jail are the worst they’ve ever been, said correctional officer Francine Dufresne.
Dufresne said three days ago an inmate splashed her hands and uniform with urine.
Three days ago, a correctional officer and three inmates were injured following a hostage taking at the jail in Thunder Bay.
Dufresne said gang members believe they are running the institution, and a lack of support from management when correctional officers use force has left them reluctant to do it now.
Chronic understaffing has created a situation where inmates are tense from constant lockdowns and cancellation of professional and personal visits, said Dufresne, a 28-year veteran.
Moments earlier, a correctional officer posted a sign on the gate announcing that visits were cancelled.
Visits are cancelled Thursday in the face of the labour dispute at the corrections centre.
“It’s really not safe inside,” said Dufresne.
“We have that in our head all the time. We start our shift and don’t know if we’ll come out alive,” she said.
“Management only cares about the inmates. Us, we’re second-class citizens in there.”
Veteran correctional officer Jeff Pinhey said it has been years since correctional officers saw a wage increase.
“Our last two or three contracts, we’ve had zero,” said Pinhey, a 33-year veteran.
Special constables from the Ottawa police and OPP who take prisoners to court earn $7 and $6 more an hour than correctional officers, he said.
Pinhey said government promises in the latest contract that they’d give correctional officers their own bargaining unit had more “secret holes for them to get out of it than a Harry Houdini routine.”
“You can only kick someone for so long,” said Pinhey.
In a joint release Thursday, Treasury Board President Deb Matthews and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi termed the correctional officers rejection of the contract “disappointing.”
“It is disappointing that employees with the Correctional Bargaining Unit have rejected the tentative agreement that was reached between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the (province),” the release said.
“Correctional Services staff in our communities work hard every day to keep us safe and we acknowledge the difficult challenges they face.”
The release said that the government is considering next steps.
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen)
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen) EDS NOTE: Main in the middle is the president of Local 411, Denis Collin. (OPSEU)
Members of correctional and probation officers gather in front of the main entrance of Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre to stage information picket after the members voted down the agreement on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen)
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
