December 8, 2000
Sampson resigns
With this week’s resignation of Corrections
Minister Rob Sampson, we could say much about the Minister in retrospect.
However, it would seem that just about every media outlet beat us to it.
Besides, after 13 months and 59 issues of Lock Talk, some things are just
better left unsaid.
So what did the media have to say about this
event? Let’s have a look.
Just about every news outlet carried the report
of Sampson’s resignation on Tuesday, Dec. 5. It wasn’t until Wednesday that
the major newspapers began to ruminate about the reasons and ramifications.
The Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park
columnist Ian Urquhart wrote a lengthy piece titled "Resignation could
stall drive for private jails." Urquhart pointed out that Bill 144 (the
government legislation to allow private jails) will still likely pass before
Christmas. However, Urquhart comments that the government now has the
opportunity to re-think this whole mess and that the Tories have good reason for
doing so. Urquhart quotes government polls showing that 70 per cent of Ontarians
are against privatization, not to mention intense community and union opposition
to the scheme. To quote Urquhart, "Sampson’s resignation is all the
excuse Harris needs to change course."
Wednesday’s Globe and Mail took a
different tack. Columnist John Ibbitson surmised that Sampson was turfed because
he didn’t have the right friends and lacked political clout. Ibbitson reminded
readers of a Globe report earlier this year which revealed that in 1997 the
Province of Ontario Savings Office, an agency of the Finance Ministry, released
the names, addresses, social-insurance numbers and bank balances of 50,000
depositors to polling firms as part of a customer survey. Did Finance Minister
Ernie Eves resign? No.
The Ontario Realty Corp., a government agency,
conspired with several firms to rig bids for the environmental cleanup of public
lands. This is part of a larger scandal concerning sloppy and perhaps biased
procedures that led to a massive selloff of Crown land at below-market prices
and the whole mess is still under police investigation. Did the responsible
minister, Management Board Chair Chris Hodgson, resign? No.
Ibbitson says this is because Eves and Hodgson
are friends of the Premier. And Sampson is not. Ibbitson portrays Sampson as a
weak minister who was tossed by Harris to make an upcoming cabinet shuffle
easier.
Regardless of the reasons, this now leaves us
with the dilemma of where our Ministry is going from here. Will our interim
minister, Government House Leader Norm Sterling, slow everything down and review
the privatization plans? Will Sterling wait until a new Minister is appointed?
Or will the Tories continue to plow blindly ahead?
No matter what happens, we will continue on our
own course of fighting this agenda. We won’t assume that anything has changed.
We will not miss a step. Back to you, Mike Harris.
What about the non-confidence vote?
Although Corrections Minister Rob Sampson has
resigned his position, little has changed in the way of the Tory government’s
drive to privatize Ontario corrections.
That being said, we ask that all locals continue
with the non-confidence vote. Not only will that send a strong message to
Ministry, it will also serve as a reminder if Sampson re-surfaces at some point
down the road.
Local presidents or highest-ranking officials are
reminded that the deadline for returning ballots is Dec. 15. If you have not
received your package yet, please notify Don Ford, OPSEU Head Office, at once.
Grievance win throws privatization for a loop
A Grievance Settlement Board (GSB) win by OPSEU
this week has thrown a wrench into the private operation of Syl Apps Youth
Centre, Maurice Genest Centre and Project Dare.
OPSEU grieved the download of these facilities,
saying that the Ministry of Community and Social Services (ComSoc) did not meet
all of the reasonable efforts provisions found in Appendix 18. Specifically, the
new employers were not being obliged by the Ministry to recognize service and
seniority.
OPSEU had requested that ComSoc put the transfer
of these three facilities on hold pending the outcome of the grievance hearings.
ComSoc refused.
The win means that OPSEU will now schedule
meetings with the Ministry to find out how ComSoc will retroactively remedy the
employees who went to the private employers as well as those who left the public
service.
OPSEU also won another major provision through
this grievance that will give divested members an additional option if they
choose to return to the OPS. Under current Collective Agreement language,
members forced to leave the OPS had to return their enhanced severance money if
they took a government job within 24 months of leaving the public service. Now,
members can obtain OPS jobs without having to repay their severance money. The
only catch is that the employee would lose all of their previous seniority. This
option will be of great benefit to employees who wish to apply for unclassified
OPS positions.
Bob Eaton, chair of the OPSEU ComSoc Ministry
Employee Relations Committee, was extremely pleased with the win.
"The Ministry could have avoided this mess
by agreeing to put the privatization of these three facilities on hold,"
Eaton said. "This win gives our members more security if they go to a
private employer, and may make it that much more difficult for the government to
privatize in the future."
Investigation may widen
The investigation into the release of
confidential young offender information may widen to include information
released by Probation and Parole to Operation Springboard, a non-profit
alternative sentencing agency.
Liberal Corrections Critic David Levac has sent a
memo to the Attorney General’s office asking for an investigation.
"I am concerned that this action, in
addition to the events in the Ontario legislature on December 4, 2000, shows a
pattern of abuse by the Ministry of Correctional Services and an apparent
misunderstanding of the law," Levac said in his letter.
Probation and parole officers state that they
were ordered to release this information by their supervisors despite the
P&P officers’ objections.
David Kerr, Probation and Parole member on the
OPSEU Corrections Ministry Employee Relations Committee, is disturbed by the
whole event.
"Our members were ordered to provide this
information to Springboard. Now, they are wondering whether they will be liable
for releasing it, or if they will they be disciplined for refusing directions
from their supervisors. It’s a complete mess."
For campaign information, call Don Ford (ext. 442) or Carol Whitehead
(ext. 356) at
1-800-268-7376 or (416) 443-8888. e-mail: dford@opseu.org
or cwhitehead@opseu.org
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3P8
www.opseu.org
opseu@opseu.org
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
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