Federal correctional officers will not be pushed to the back of the bus

UCCO-SACC-CSN denounces Treasury Board's negotiating strategy

MONTREAL, Sept. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - The union representing Canada's 6,600 federal correctional officers vowed today not to be forced into a negotiating pattern set by organizations that do not represent its members or their job reality.

Pierre Mallette, national president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) said the contract talks beginning this week between the Treasury Board of Canada and the Public Service Alliance are an insult to his members. They have been trying to entice government negotiators to the table since their collective agreement expired last May. PSAC had been scheduled to begin negotiations next spring.

"If the federal government thinks it can shoehorn correctional officers into accepting working conditions negotiated by another union, it should think again," said Mr. Mallette.

During their last negotiations, he recalled, federal correctional officers faced three different prime ministers during a contract battle that lasted four years, a record in the federal civil service. Even then, the federal government didn't respect the agreement it signed in 2006, unilaterally reducing a negotiated salary increase in the last year of the contract.

Now, as frontline staff in Canada's 58 federal penitentiaries, correctional officers are being tasked with dealing with a sudden increase in the inmate population as a result of the government's crime legislation. Double-bunking, which is often a cause of prison violence, is set to rise dramatically. Statistics from Correctional Service Canada (CSC) show that assaults against staff are already rising.

"We accept the new challenges facing the prison system. Correctional officers will do their job to keep Canadians safe. But they expect their employer to keep its part of the bargain. Our members risk their health and their lives every day they go to work and they don't deserve to be treated with the disrespect they are now being shown," said Mr. Mallette. 

"We respect the right of other unions to negotiate for their members at the time of their choosing," he concluded. "But correctional officers will not accept being forced to the back of the bus. Treasury Board needs to come to the table now, with a real mandate to negotiate a collective agreement that reflects the reality of our jobs."

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Source: CSN

For more information, contact Lyle Stewart, CSN communications advisor, at 514 796-2066.