Strike news from your Corrections Bargaining Team
April 17, 2002
“An injury to one is the concern of all!” - Knights of Labour slogan
Talks continue - technically speaking
Your bargaining team is ready and willing to talk to the employer at any time.
“Bargaining with this employer is like watching paint dry,” said Barry Scanlon, Chair of the Corrections Bargaining Team.
Premier Eves commented to the Canadian Press that there’s no need to order the province’s 45,000 striking civil servants back to work, given that an agreement should be soon at hand.
“We are located right across the hall from the employer,” Scanlon said. “We see them scurrying around, but they seem to have nothing to say to us at the moment. Perhaps Mr. Eves should remind his negotiators where we are.”
“I guess they have no reason to settle this thing right now,” says Scanlon. “They don’t care about our members, and they seem to care even less for their own managers who are obviously dog-tired and burnt out. The managers keep screwing up left and right across the province.”
There have been two escapes from the Owen Sound Jail, as well as other serious security concerns in the past few days.
Violence and other problems have increased dramatically at the province’s jails, and new Public Safety Minister Bob Runciman said his immediate concern was to try to get the situation back to “normal”.
“That would be a Number 1 priority,” Runciman said. “It’s a problem area and it continues to fester.”
“No Guns Allowed” in Jails
On Apr. 14, Ministry of Labour inspector Doug Swearengen had to instruct the management of the Thunder Bay Jail that “they shall ensure that the security procedures regarding the transport of weapons by police in the institution is adhered to.”
“All management staff will be made aware of existing policy and standing orders regarding the securing of firearms by police before entry to the jail,” writes Swearengen.
“This order was a direct result of the incompetence of scab managers parachuted into our institution,” said Len Mason, President of Local 737 (Thunder Bay Jail) and Corrections Bargaining Team member. “A police officer, with his gun, was allowed entry into the jail and was escorted into our segregation unit. He
was just a few feet away from the very same inmate who needed ICIT to extract him from a cell just a couple of days earlier.”
“I wonder what our new Minister Runciman thinks about this type of security violation?” asked Mason. “It’s this type of stupidity that’s going to get somebody killed!”
The members of Local 737 are currently at their “safe place” on the picket line after initiating a work refusal over search procedures and, of course, the incompetence of the untrained scab managers.
Drinking on the job in Sudbury
The Sudbury Star has reported on allegations of alcohol use by at least one manager at the Cecil Facer Youth Correctional Facility during the strike.
“If alcohol is in the institution, it means people are imbibing it,” said OPSEU staff representative Denis Boyer. This can impair people’s ability to make appropriate decisions. A separate problem is the possibility of turning bottles into weapons inside the institution.
Members on the picket line observed a manager who seemed to be drunk last week. The incident was well witnessed by the pickets.
It raises health and safety concerns for staff on several levels. Inmates might gain access to alcohol, or take advantage of impaired managers.
The facility has refused to permit a search of the facility to ensure no weapons or restricted items were circulating, so essential services workers have refused to go in.
“The situation was dangerous to everyone,” said Boyer.
IMPORTANT! Send us the information!
Please send all pertinent information regarding significant local incidents, reprisal complaints, work refusals, illegal lockouts, and health and safety appeals, as well as discipline and/or suspensions, to both:
Sue Philpott
Koskie/Minsky - Barristers & Solicitors
Phone: (416) 977-8353 ext. 2104
Fax: (416) 204-2882
and:
The Corrections Bargaining Team
Fax: (416) 815-1412
ESA Questions & Answers
Attention members:
Please call the OPSEU Central Mob Room at 1-877-561-8692 with your questions around Essential Services Agreements and arbitrated awards. Your bargaining team is very busy strategizing and mobilizing the locals and are not always available at the bargaining centre.
Inquiries may be referred to other areas that can deal with specific issues around your questions.
Corrections team members
Region 1: Jack Hopkins, L. 122
Region 2: Barry Scanlon, L. 230 (chair)
Region 3: Larry Cripps, L. 309
Region 4: Jim Bothwell, L. 467
Region 5: Dave Graves, L. 521 (vice-chair)
Region 6: Rick Dagenais, L. 642
Region 7: Len Mason, L. 737
You can reach the bargaining team at (416) 815-0284 or by e-mail at correctionsteam@opseu.org.
The Burn Barrel will be available by fax, by e-mail, and on the OPSEU web site at www.opseu.org . To receive it directly, send your secure fax number to Lesley Williams at (416) 443-1762 or send your e-mail address to
lwilliams@opseu.org.
The Burn Barrel is authorized for distribution by Barry Scanlon, chair, Corrections Bargaining Team, and Leah Casselman, president.
|
..gif){kind=small}