TORONTO -- The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has invited
Ontario Corrections Minister Norm Sterling to take part in a province-wide
task force to uncover the real reasons behind the use of sick time by
correctional officers.
“You have just over two months’ experience in the field of
correctional services,” OPSEU president Leah Casselman wrote to Sterling
Feb. 27. “Our members have thousands upon thousands of years of
experience. It is not unreasonable to suggest that you may have something
to learn from them.” Click here to read
letter.
Provincial corrections workers are outraged by statements Sterling made
Feb. 22 and Feb. 26, when he vowed to publicize sick time usage by
correctional officers.
The use of sick days has shot up since the Mike Harris government was
elected, said Barry Scanlon, union chair of the Corrections Ministry
Employee Relations Committee.
“We have reached a state of supercrowding in Ontario jails, which is
leading to superviolence,” said Scanlon. “I used to feel relatively
safe going in to work. I don’t have that feeling any more.”
Beginning this Thursday, March 1 in Sudbury, OPSEU will launch a
province-wide task force to investigate health and safety conditions at
Ontario correctional facilities.
“Our method will be simple and straightforward,” Casselman wrote to
Sterling. “We will ask Correctional Officers to tell their stories of
life behind bars, and to relate those stories to sick time usage. We
believe -- in fact, we know -- that the real-life experience of
corrections workers holds the key to creating safe workplaces and safe
communities.”
Sterling had threatened to privatize all Ontario correctional
facilities, in addition to the 1,200-bed Penetanguishene superjail, if
sick time use was not reduced.
“The record of private correctional facilities in other countries is
one of murder, stabbings, corruption, and escapes,” Casselman said. “Penetanguishene
is being set up to be the next Walkerton.”
Remarks by Len Hupet,
OPSEU First Vice-President/Treasurer, at a news conference
