Federal correctional officers kick off next round of negotiations

Union presents demands to Correctional Service Canada, Treasury Board

Federal correctional officers across the country organized tailgate parties in front of each of Canada’s 50 federal penitentiary institutions to kick off the next round of negotiations with Correctional Service Canada (CSC) and the Treasury Board.

Members of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) gathered together only 240 days after their last collective agreement was signed. The union said it is determined to improve working conditions for its 325,000 members — 7,500 of whom gathered together on July 3.

“Our unity is the key to obtaining better working conditions,” said Kevin Grabowsky, president of UCCO-SACC-CSN. “From the Pacific to the Atlantic, correctional officers support their negotiation team and are mobilized to make sure that CSC and Treasury Board clearly hear their demands.”

The union’s demands include a salary increase of 8.1 per cent over the next three years, an improved annual leave accumulation, increased allowance based on seniority and improvements to various premiums.

The negotiation team is also requesting the inclusion of instructors in the union’s bargaining unit, the right to meals and meal breaks when officers are on escort or overtime and the inclusion of armed inmate escorts from multi-level, medium and maximum institutions.

“Our members are proud to contribute to Canadian public safety,” Grabowsky said. “However, if it wasn’t for our members’ determination to obtain proper tools and working conditions in the last two rounds of negotiations, the very notion of prison safety would have been irrelevant.”

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