OPSEU members in strike or lockout position on Jan. 10
Ontario correctional workers will be in a legal strike or lockout position on Jan. 10.
The Ontario Ministry of Labour issued a “no board” report on Dec. 24, 2015, with respect to negotiations between the provincial government and Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members in the Correctional Bargaining Unit of the Ontario Public Service.
The strike deadline comes after 67 per cent of bargaining unit members rejected an earlier tentative agreement signed by the parties in November.
OPSEU represents some 6,000 correctional workers throughout the province. Its members work in correctional facilities and in probation and parole offices across Ontario.
According to the union, its bargaining team “continues to hope” the employer will bargain seriously before the deadline.
“The crisis in corrections is real,” said OPSEU bargaining team chair Tom O’Neill.
“It cannot even begin to be solved unless and until this employer shows that it respects the frontline workers who put their own health and safety on the line every day.”
