THUNDER BAY – Correctional officers could be walking off the job this holiday season, a local union president warns.
The sounding of the alarm came hours after it was announced correctional officers across Ontario rejected a tentative three-year agreement struck with the province last month, with 67 per cent voting against the deal.
OPSEU Local 708 Shawn Bradshaw said the union will be requesting a no-board report and wants to go back to the conciliator in hopes of working out another round of negotiations, but a labour dispute could be imminent.
“We’re ready to go. We’ve been ready a long time,” he said. “We haven’t felt the government has been serious with us right from the get go. I hope to be on strike by Christmas, maybe by Jan. 1.”
Deputy premier Deb Matthews and Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi released a statement following the rejected vote, saying it was "both fair and reasonable."
"It is disappointing that employees with the Correctional Bargainging Unit have rejected the tentative agreement that was reached between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Government of Ontario," the statement reads.
More than two dozen correctional officers and supporters held a demonstration outside the Thunder Bay District Jail on a chilly and rainy Thursday morning, blocking the entrances and preventing vehicles from entering the parking lot of the MacDougall Street facility.
Bradshaw, who represents workers at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre on Highway 61, said 100 per cent of the officers at the district jail and nearly 90 per cent of staff at the correctional centre rejected the contract.
The previous contract expired nearly a year ago on Dec. 31, 2014.
“We want a fair wage increase. We’re not looking for the moon but we’ve taken zeros. We’ve had very little in the way of an actual increase in over seven years and they want us to take three more on top of that,” he said.
“We’ve fallen behind. We run the most violent institutions in the country and we’re on the low end of the pay scale for corrections.”
The demonstration was held just three days after a riot and hostage situation at the district jail sent three inmates and one officer to hospital.
While he couldn’t provide details, correctional officer Ken Dowhaniuk said there was an incident inside the facility on Wednesday night.
He said conditions desperately need to be improved.
“Our lives are important. When we go to work we want to come home after our shift. It doesn’t look like the government is willing to help,” Dowhaniuk said.
While an incident like Monday’s might be rare in Thunder Bay, situations like that are not uncommon across the province.
“It’s not isolated to one specific institution,” Bradshaw said. “We’ve been so short-staffed inmates aren’t getting their rights. Their rights aren’t being met. They’re acting out because of it in a lot of situations.”
With the prospects of a strike growing more and more likely, things might only get worse.
“The safety levels aren’t going to be met. There won’t be visits, there won’t be yards. There will be lots of lockdowns and inmates can expect it to get a lot worse if we go on strike,” Bradshaw said.
