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| OTHER ISSUES Feb 4/00
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December 17, 1999 Penetanguishene spits out "cyanide pill" as campaign leaves the launch pad
At a public meeting in Penetanguishene last night, local citizens blasted two flak-catchers sent by Corrections Division and told them to take a message back to their political masters: this town will not accept a private superjail. About 40 OPSEU members picketed today in front of the Mississauga office of Corrections Minister Rob Sampson. "A year ago, [former Corrections minister] Bob Runciman said the superjails would be public because there were just too many unanswered questions about public safety in private jails," said Barry Scanlon, chair of OPSEU’s Employee Relations Committee for the Corrections Division. "The U.S. experience with private jails is one long story of riots, murders, corruption, and greed. We’d like to know why Sampson thinks the story won’t repeat itself in Ontario." Penetanguishene’s Mayor Klug said last night that the town was being offered a "cyanide pill" with sugar on it and being told to take it because it tastes sweet. "There was no one at the meeting who had anything but venom to throw at the government," Scanlon told protesters in Mississauga today. "They’re outraged because the Minister didn’t bother to show up, and neither did the MPP [Garfield Dunlop]. "Penetanguishene is not going to take this lying down. They know the value of publicly-run facilities in their community."
"Don’t be scared," Scanlon told them. "We’re people who uphold the law. We took an oath to the Queen." A special guest at the Penetanguishene meeting was Gord Wilson, past president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. Wilson, now a resident of the Penetanguishene area, has retired but has not lost the powerful voice that kept him at the top of Ontario labour for so many years. He gave the audience a lesson in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Under free trade, he explained, a U.S. jail corporation would be almost impossible to get rid of if it ever got a foothold in Ontario. Free trade rules force goverments to compensate companies for money that they might have made if the government had not taken back the service.
"This was an important message to send to Sampson," he said. "We’re here, and we’re not going down quietly. "This government can be swayed. They do back down on things. We can get them to back down on this." More to come Next week’s Lock Talk will include more information on the employer’s plans to (try to) mess with schedules at correctional facilities. There will also be more details about stepping down from acting positions and other voluntary assignments. Stay tuned. We’ve only just begun.
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The campaign by OPSEU members to block the privatization of correctional services
is off to a roaring start.
Ex-banker Sampson was not at his office today, although Friday is a traditional
constituency day for MPPs. Corrections workers spoke to his staff through the locked glass
door.
"This is a very winnable campaign," Scanlon told
protesters today, stressing that the next 90 days will be crucial. 