The Factual Report on Corrections Negotiations
Issue 30 - March 12, 2002
“You have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t sue you, for the law is too slow. I’ll ruin you.” - Cornelius Vanderbilt
Round and round we go
As of 3 p.m. today, the media blackout has been lifted. Management continues their stance of global bargaining with your team.
“The employer tosses something at the Unified Bargaining Team and then comes to us ten minutes later with the same offer,” said Dave Graves, vice-chair of the Corrections Bargaining Team. “We made a very serious move to try and jump start actual bargaining between us and the employer. We told the mediator that
if the employer moved on certain parts of our proposal, that they could avoid a strike.”
The employer continues to ignore the fact that we have a separate bargaining unit and want to bargain our own issues.
“We are ready and willing to negotiate our issues 24 hours a day,” Graves said. “At this point it appears our employer wants a strike. They are trying to force a global deal on us. Your team will not allow that to happen.”
Management responds to the union
The employer has sent a message to the Corrections Bargaining Unit. “The employer’s message is loud and clear,” said Barry Scanlon, chair of the Corrections Bargaining Team. “They want us to go on strike!”
Factor 75 Proposal - No, No Way, Never!
Your team asked for Factor 75. The employer said, “No! Not now! Not ever!” The employer offered (at a cost of $85.00 per pay, per person), a new pension plan that would require a minimum of 30 years service combined with a minimum age of 50 years. This is not even Factor 80. A maximum of 130 people would have
been able to take advantage of this 50/30 program over the next five years. The employer estimated that 70 per cent of those employees would take advantage of the 50/30 plan, so roughly 90 people would benefit. Total Cost: $124 million.
P & P ‘Special Case’
The government proposed a 1.95 per cent increase over 3 years - No special increase of any kind for PO2s. The employer proposed creating a new PO3 classification and hiring ten new PO3s, to be phased in over three years. Competitions for these positions would be open to the public.
Wage Recovery
The employer has proposed selling out correctional officers working with young offenders in young offender and adult facilities. The employer wants to reclassify these correctional officers in order to set them up for privatization and to severely restrict their ability to move to different work locations. “The
employer offered another 0.5 per cent if the Corrections Bargaining Unit sells these members down the river,” said Scanlon. “This would be in addition to all of our unclassified members who would already be looking towards shore as they are floating down the river.”
Bargaining Team strike avoidance issues
Your Bargaining Team sent a package to the employer, and informed them that if they addressed the following four issues, they could avoid a strike:
Autonomy - Local Negotiations, Bargaining Unit Work, Training and Development, and MERC agreements.
Unclassified Members - Wage Grid Movement, Service Usage and hiring formula.
Pensions - See the comments above.
Compensation - Weekend Premium, Wage Grids, P&P Special Case and wage recovery in correctional institutions.
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 Correct View is your only accurate source of Corrections Team information during this round of bargaining. If you don’t read it here, you can't be sure it's true. Don’t rely on gossip and rumours. We will provide the facts.
The Correct View 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 Correct View is authorized for distribution by Barry Scanlon, chair, Corrections team, and Leah Casselman, president. Previous Issues of the Correct View
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