Here’s the scene: The employer says you can’t leave after a shift of essential services duties is over. They lock you in.

Call it “criminal confinement.” And it’s happening in correctional facilities and psychiatric hospitals across the province.

What to do about it? If you’re locked in, call your union staff rep. OPSEU will handle it with the lawyers and the police.

Criminal confinement: Don’t stand for it.

Members at the Metro West Detention Centre in Toronto didn’t: They were prepared to work essential services Wednesday - provided management would follow the agreement and assure staff they would not be locked in.

Management refused, so did we.

Management’s reaction: “Wednesday night management made no attempt to get the afternoon or the midnight shifts in. They simply ignored us,” said Mort Todd of Local 517.

Think it can’t happen? See the 27-hour shift on Page 2 of this edition of FRONTlines.

Because of the two-week delay in OPS pay, the March 14 pay is already done. If you have direct deposit it will be in your account as usual. The March 28 pay will probably also be deposited. The two days of strike activity in that pay period will be deducted from a later cheque.

The OPSEU website had 2 million hits from 51,000 separate individual visitors between 6 a.m. March 12 and 6 a.m. March 13. That’s a record.

Cally Thompson, a steward at Local 533 (OHIP on Yonge Street, Toronto) got tired of telling people to phone Dave Tsubouchi and Mike Harris. She’s taking in post-it notes to print their numbers on to hand out to people coming in for new health cards. Pass it on.

Mike: 416-325-1941

Dave: 416-327-2333

“After years of concessions and cutbacks, privatization and government mismanagement, you have no other choice and we support you in this action. We hope that through this action, for the sake of all Ontarians, you achieve your goals.” - Kathy McVean, President, Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association

It is important that you know you have the support of many union members and, of course, most of the general public. You are fighting for all of us! We plan on returning regularly to the picket lines to show our support. Good luck in your fight...we are all behind you. - Ron Wener, USWA Local 1998 (University of Toronto Administrative Staff)

Support the strikers. They are your family. Help wherever you can. Make sandwiches, soup, chili or just be there. Walk the picket line. Be in their shoes on the front lines. These are trying times. Be kind and supportive.

We will win. - Ruth Summerhill, Wife of Correctional Officer, London

OPSEU offered its peace officers to assist Metro Toronto police with the search for a missing two-year-old. The missing girl has been the object of a search since Saturday when her father failed to return her after a visit. Her body was found Thursday.

“Our Correctional Officers, Environment Officers, Conservation Officers and others would have been happy to help the search,” said President Leah Casselman. “They never accepted the offer.”

The government is building a new courthouse in Owen Sound, reports Bob Houston of Local 224.

When an information picket went up at the construction site Thursday morning, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 1946, pulled their members for two days.

Bob says a hearty thank you will be sent to the IBEW organizer.

Management tried to force a part-time essential service worker in the Brampton court to take time off.

Why? They had a full-time worker with nothing to do and they didn’t want to pay her to do essentially nothing. OPSEU told the part-timer not to volunteer for the time off.

OPSEU pickets at three locations in Newmarket were treated to free pizza from Pizzaville.

A member who crossed OPSEU lines in 1996 tried again to get into the MNR building in Minden. “This time it’s different,” reports Ron Mackenzie, Local 309 rep.

“A small but determined force of OPSEU members held him at bay for the better part of an hour,” until a manager came out, spoke with him, and he drove away.

The injunction that limits picket delays at Queen’s Park to 10 minutes does not apply across the province.

The longest delay in Eastern Ontario is at the MNR building in Kemptville where the OPP have OKed an eight-hour delay for three would-be strike breakers. They missed the entire shift reports Roger Haley.

A fairly old and rather beaten-up car pulled up at the curb and the lady driver motioned at me, reports Local 508 steward Bob Lubinski.

She handed me a $20 bill saying: “This is the least I can do to show you my support. Take the money and treat your picketers to hot coffee when the weather turns cold.” I thanked her, told people on the line and turned it over to the Picket Captain, for a “rainy day.”

This is a clear indication that we are enjoying a higher level of support than last time. People are as sick and tired of what the Conservatives are doing to this province as we are.

The worksite reps for the weigh scale at Putnam were called in when they found managers doing bargaining unit work.

They said managers had to back out before OPSEU would provide essential services. They refused, so the worksite reps pulled off all the essential service workers and the site was shut down, reports Tom Grimes of Local 140.

Emergency Correctional Officers at Millbrook found out what long shifts really look like, reports Local 341 Chief Steward Peter Wright.

Two COs who were guarding an inmate in hospital when the strike began weren’t relieved for nearly 19 hours. Their replacements were on the job nearly 27 before their shift ended - only because the hospital discharged the inmate.

“The police wouldn’t get involved unless our folks left the inmate unattended, but they are too professional for that. It was a dangerous situation. Nobody is alert after working that long.”

Faith Poole reports that pickets at the Ministry of Health in Kitchener let the cars into the parking lot, but stopped them on the way out to advise them of the strike.

“We asked them to call the MPP’s office and tell them we want to go back to work, and that we care about the public. This was well received and it helped promote our cause.