Sept 21, 2001
Lock Talk celebrates its “centennial”
Welcome to the 100th
edition of Lock Talk!
When the corrections campaign
started on November 19, 1999, there was a commitment to ensure
that all members of the Corrections Division were kept
informed on what was happening with the campaign. Over the
past 96 weeks, we have strived to fulfill that commitment.
Lock Talk
has evolved over the past two years. Members have come to rely
on the publication, and it has received quite a wide
following. MPPs, senior government employees, newspapers,
universities, colleges, and unions from Ontario, Canada and
the United States read Lock Talk regularly. In
fact, the Corrections Division of the British Columbia
Government Employees Union includes pages from Lock Talk
in their quarterly newsletter.
As time progresses, Lock
Talk will likely continue to evolve. Now that OPS
bargaining is under way, the Corrections team will be sending
out weekly updates. That may cut down on the frequency of Lock
Talk in the future, but for now we still intend to
send out Lock Talk weekly.
Barry Scanlon, chair of the
OPSEU Corrections Ministry Employee Relations Committee,
thanks all of the members who read, distribute and send
stories into Lock Talk. “Without the members,
this publication would not have attained the success it has,”
Scanlon said.
Our fight is far from over.
United we stand.
Promises to keep
Sampson’s commitment to
transport funding rings hollow
A promise by Corrections
Minister Rob Sampson to City of Barrie police chief Wayne
Frechette concerning funding for inmate court transportation
should ring hollow given Sampson’s track record.
An article in the Barrie
Advance quotes Sampson as saying that “we’re going to meet
(former Minister Bob) Runciman’s commitment to pay for extra
costs.” Hardly reassuring words from a Minister who reneged
on a promise to Penetanguishene town council to ensure that
the private operator would pay applicable business and
property taxes.
Barrie Police Services has been
raising the issue of additional costs of inmate transportation
for months. Currently, police have to only walk inmates from
the Barrie Jail across a parking lot into the courthouse. That
procedure changes when the Penetanguishene superjail
officially opens for business. Barrie police will then face a
45-minute drive to the new jail, and that time could double
during inclement winter weather. With the police force facing
budget restrictions like every other force in the province,
Frechette is unsure how he will come up with the additional
$500,000 needed annually to move inmates back and forth to
Penetanguishene.
Frechette also expressed
frustration that the Corrections Minister took four months to
reply to his letter of concern. Again, Frechette only needed
to speak with any member of Penetanguishene’s town council
to understand that being ignored is common when dealing with
the Corrections ministry.
Sampson appeared to try and
leave himself a loophole when he added in his letter that only
“additional” costs would be covered, not total funding.
Sampson went on to say that his ministry would have to
determine what those costs are. Frechette says that the math
is pretty simple, because right now his costs are zero.
Although Frechette states that
Sampson’s letter has put his mind at ease for the most part,
there is one phrase that should have alarm bells ringing for
Barrie’s police chief. Sampson says that he was going to
meet a commitment made by Bob Runciman. Three years ago, Bob
Runciman promised Penetanguishene a public jail, and that jail
is going private. So how much is Sampson’s “commitment”
really worth?
Resolution watch
Resolutions continue to trickle
in as more communities voice their opposition to private
jails.
This week, the resolution count
reaches 261 with the addition of the United Counties of Leeds
and Grenville (near Brockville) and Champlain Township (east
of Ottawa). Again, we acknowledge the ongoing efforts of the
Resolution Warrior, Len Mason of Local 737 (Thunder Bay Jail).
Many members have been
wondering why the anti-privatization resolution campaign is
continuing. It is extremely important that the municipal lobby
campaign continues so that the Ministry is left in no doubt
that the majority of Ontarians oppose private corrections. Now
that OPS bargaining is under way, this would be a good time to
contact your local council and get on the agenda.
By continuing this campaign, we
can do our best to ensure that the Tory’s privatization
experiment in corrections remains just that - an experiment,
and not the wave of the future.
For campaign information, call
Don Ford (ext. 442) at 1-800-268-7376 or (416) 443-8888.
e-mail: dford@opseu.org
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3P8
www.opseu.org
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman,
president.
