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The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre is in lockdown after all managers called in sick Sunday, leaving a deputy superintendent to run the notorious jail, according to correctional officers.
“There are no sergeants who showed up to work today,” said Denis Collin, a correctional officer and president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 411, representing officers at the Innes Road detention centre.
Collin said there would ideally be six managers running the institution, but the jail often runs with fewer managers due to staffing issues. It was not clear exactly how many managers called in sick Sunday, but their duties are now being handed by a single deputy superintendent, according to correctional officers who are working inside the jail. That deputy superintendent’s background is in nursing, according to Collin.
Normally there are sergeants in six areas of the jail: protective custody, admitting and discharge, minimum security, maximum security, segregation and the female unit.
Attempts to reach the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Ottawa MPP and Minister Yasir Naqvi about the situation were not immediately successful.
“Our dangerous workplace has become today a more dangerous place because of this situation,” said Collin.
Collin said it has left a “lack of direction” for staff, and that he has never seen anything like it in his 17 years as a correctional officer at the jail.
Collin added that correctional officers are already short-staffed to begin with on Saturday and Sunday, where the number of inmates typically increase as prisoners who are serving intermittent sentences on the weekend come into the jail.
“Not having any sergeants show up for the work day is really putting staff in a really bad spot,” said Collin. “The risk is having our workplace run without direction. Having zero managers is really unacceptable.”
The latest trouble with staffing at the jail comes just four days after correctional officers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract offer between the province and their union. Correctional officers in Ottawa voted 93 per cent against the offer, and then picketed outside the jail on Thursday morning.
The correctional officers are expected to be in a position to strike by January. If correctional officers walk out, that would leave managers in charge of running the institution.
The situation Sunday does not bode well for a potential strike, said Gareth Jones, OPSEU regional vice-president and a correctional officer.
“If they had to staff the entire place, this should be a wake up call to them to say ‘hey, we’re in trouble’,” said Jones.
“I’m hoping for everyone’s sake that it is a quiet day inside,” said Jones. “I would say they are sending a message to some degree.”
Jones said he is concerned that deputy superintendents who may be running the jail when there are no managers may not have all their training up to date, particularly in the use of pepper spray and handcuffs. There is also a question of how much operational experience they possess.
Jones said bargaining on a new contract for correctional officers is expected to resume Friday, when OPSEU will meet with a conciliator and the provincial government. Saturday has also been set aside in case the two sides are able to make progress on a new deal.
Jail managers had been trying to unionize in 2013, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Ontario vice-president’s report. According to that report, there were attempts to organize the ministry’s 600 operational managers. Those attempts were being held up by an employer challenge to the managerial exception, according to the report, and hearings were continuing on the matter in 2015.
One employee at the jail, who asked their name not be used, reported the actions of the managers were a protest against not being able to unionize.
Both Collin and Jones said they did not know why the managers didn’t report to work.
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
“There are no sergeants who showed up to work today,” said Denis Collin, a correctional officer and president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 411, representing officers at the Innes Road detention centre.
Collin said there would ideally be six managers running the institution, but the jail often runs with fewer managers due to staffing issues. It was not clear exactly how many managers called in sick Sunday, but their duties are now being handed by a single deputy superintendent, according to correctional officers who are working inside the jail. That deputy superintendent’s background is in nursing, according to Collin.
Normally there are sergeants in six areas of the jail: protective custody, admitting and discharge, minimum security, maximum security, segregation and the female unit.
Attempts to reach the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Ottawa MPP and Minister Yasir Naqvi about the situation were not immediately successful.
“Our dangerous workplace has become today a more dangerous place because of this situation,” said Collin.
Collin said it has left a “lack of direction” for staff, and that he has never seen anything like it in his 17 years as a correctional officer at the jail.
Collin added that correctional officers are already short-staffed to begin with on Saturday and Sunday, where the number of inmates typically increase as prisoners who are serving intermittent sentences on the weekend come into the jail.
“Not having any sergeants show up for the work day is really putting staff in a really bad spot,” said Collin. “The risk is having our workplace run without direction. Having zero managers is really unacceptable.”
The latest trouble with staffing at the jail comes just four days after correctional officers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract offer between the province and their union. Correctional officers in Ottawa voted 93 per cent against the offer, and then picketed outside the jail on Thursday morning.
The correctional officers are expected to be in a position to strike by January. If correctional officers walk out, that would leave managers in charge of running the institution.
The situation Sunday does not bode well for a potential strike, said Gareth Jones, OPSEU regional vice-president and a correctional officer.
“If they had to staff the entire place, this should be a wake up call to them to say ‘hey, we’re in trouble’,” said Jones.
“I’m hoping for everyone’s sake that it is a quiet day inside,” said Jones. “I would say they are sending a message to some degree.”
Jones said he is concerned that deputy superintendents who may be running the jail when there are no managers may not have all their training up to date, particularly in the use of pepper spray and handcuffs. There is also a question of how much operational experience they possess.
Jones said bargaining on a new contract for correctional officers is expected to resume Friday, when OPSEU will meet with a conciliator and the provincial government. Saturday has also been set aside in case the two sides are able to make progress on a new deal.
Jail managers had been trying to unionize in 2013, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Ontario vice-president’s report. According to that report, there were attempts to organize the ministry’s 600 operational managers. Those attempts were being held up by an employer challenge to the managerial exception, according to the report, and hearings were continuing on the matter in 2015.
One employee at the jail, who asked their name not be used, reported the actions of the managers were a protest against not being able to unionize.
Both Collin and Jones said they did not know why the managers didn’t report to work.
aseymour@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/andrew_seymour
查看原文...
