November
28, 2000
Abuse of power
Ministry wants complete control
In a blatant attempt to exercise total control over its
employees, the Ministry of Correctional Services has refused to allow the
OPSEU Corrections Ministry Employee Relations Committee (MERC) paid time
off to assist recently surplussed members.
The MERC made the request in a meeting with the employer
last Friday. This paid time off, allowed under Appendix 18 of the
Collective Agreement, would have allowed MERC members to meet with local
officials and provide direction on how to deal with member inquiries.
Ministry bureaucrats arbitrarily denied the paid time off.
The MERC also requested that some members (selected by
OPSEU) at the Barrie Jail, Burtch Correctional Centre, Guelph Correctional
Centre and the Parry Sound Jail be allowed paid time off to meet with
members to discuss their concerns. The Ministry would only agree if
management was present at those meetings, and had control over the
scheduling and the length of the meetings.
"This is totally repulsive," said Barry
Scanlon, chair of the OPSEU Corrections MERC. "In effect, employees
are being held hostage by their employer. We cannot understand why the
Ministry won’t allow us time off to give the correct information to our
affected members. What are they trying to hide?"
The Ministry also refused to comply with an OPSEU
request to put lateral transfers, job trades and job postings on temporary
hold while this exercise is occurring.
"A temporary hold on these moves would allow us to
assess each position and use these positions to minimize impact on our
affected members," Scanlon said. "Again, this employer appears
to be doing everything in their power to create additional hardship for
these people."
OPSEU plans to immediately challenge the employer on
these decisions. We will continue to keep you updated.
Grievances moving quickly
OPSEU grievances filed on the entire RFP/surplussing
exercise are moving rapidly ahead. The main thrust of these grievances is
the Ministry’s refusal to disclose their business plans.
The Ministry has yet to justify why the Barrie Jail,
Burtch Correctional Centre, Guelph Correctional Centre and the Parry Sound
Jail were the institutions selected to match with Penetanguishene. OPSEU’s
position is that the Ministry does not have the right to arbitrarily
choose these links, and that these matches must be negotiated.
OPSEU has also filed a complaint on the election
notices. OPSEU maintains that employees who do not choose to go to the
private employer have access to full redeployment rights under Appendix
13, as opposed to the "go private or take a package" provisions
in Appendix 18.
OPSEU has given direction to our legal representatives
to begin these grievance hearings next week. This expedited process is
allowed under the Collective Agreement’s "reasonable efforts"
provisions. Psychiatric hospital grievances, utilizing the same
"reasonable efforts" expedited grievance process, generated
awards prior to members having to make irreversible decisions about their
careers. Although we can’t guarantee that we will have decisions before
the Dec. 22 deadline, we will try to have news as quickly as possible.
Cook-Chill grievance also filed
OPSEU is grieving the entire cook-chill exercise because
we have received almost no information on how the Ministry is trying to
implement this process. Members affected by this Ministry plan only have
until Dec. 11 to sign their election notices. OPSEU intends to fast track
this complaint as well.
Stay tuned
OPSEU will continue to keep you notified as events
unfold. We ask that all members stick together and assist us in fighting
the continued low blows that this Ministry keeps dealing out to its staff.
If we are successful in beating back the employer this time, it will
prevent every member from eventually becoming a target.
United we stand.
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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