Ontario Corrections Officers to start bargaining with province

Corrections officers in Ontario will sit down with the province Wednesday morning to try and negotiate a new contract.

The corrections employees are represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), but now bargain as a separate unit, rather than with other civil servants.

Greg Arnold, a provincial bailiff and part of the negotiating team for the union, said members are unified in what they want.

"Everybody in this division, this corrections division, is all on the same page. We all speak to each other, we're all represented at the table."

Issues the union has set as a priority include wages, pensions and benefits. Arnold said Ontario's corrections employees lag their federal counterparts when it comes to wages.

Arnold said issues specific to Thunder Bay are echoed throughout the province, such as upgrades needed in aging jails.

"We've been working in an antiquated jail, a hundred year old jail. We've been doing the best that we could. I mean, one of our biggest things in Thunder Bay on a local perspective, is we were trying to force the province to recognize that they said they were going to put a new jail in Thunder Bay in 2005."

Essential Service

"The Ministry's been very vocal with the Sapers report and the transformation of corrections. We've been in the media non-stop. The riot at the Thunder Bay District Jail, two years ago, issues across the province with segregation, with community corrections and caseloads, the Ministry's been vocal in wanting to transform corrections."

This year marks the first time corrections will bargain as its own unit within OPSEU. Corrections employees have also been declared an essential service, meaning they cannot strike. Any outstanding issues that cannot be resolved through negotiations will have to be sent to arbitration.

"Our theme, basically, is saying put their money where their mouth is and fix it. They have very good staff, they have facilities, they're getting new facilities. We're hoping that they'll come to the table, and this is a new era of bargaining with the Corrections Division."

The contract between the province and corrections workers expires on December 31, 2017.