FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2003
Private jail operator slaps gag order on local union
PENETANGUISHENE - The American company operating Canada's first private adult correctional facility has threatened to fire the local union president for distributing union newsletters at the workplace.
In a letter dated June 5, 2003, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) facility administrator Doug Thomson threatened local union president Dwight Stoneman with "discipline, up to and including dismissal" if he did not cease and desist distributing union-related information at the Central North Correctional Centre.
"MTC has made it clear from the beginning that a union was not welcome in 'their' jail," said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. "I believe that MTC's biggest fear about this newsletter is that some of their questionable practices will start becoming public knowledge. For the administrator to threaten to fire someone over
the existence of a newsletter shows that this company wants to operate in anonymity and without public scrutiny. Someone needs to remind this company that we don't do business this way in Ontario."
MTC is calling the newsletter "non-work related materials" and says that their policy states that these types of materials are banned from the jail. This is despite the company distributing its own newsletter in the jail publicizing social events.
The MTC-operated Central North Correctional Centre houses nearly 1,200 inmates and has been besieged by problems since opening in November 2001. A riot occurred at the facility in September 2002, and a recent inmate death is still under investigation.
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For more information: Don Ford, OPSEU Communications (416) 788-9104
