Workers picket Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre; 93% reject tentative contract
Posted Dec 10, 2015 10:35:57 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — Dangerous conditions and a toxic work environment, according to OPSEU members, are to blame for an overwhelming rejection of a tentative contract by workers at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
Employees set up an information picket outside the jail, Thursday morning, delaying vehicles entering the main gates.
A sign saying visits were cancelled was posted at the gates. Picketters said the cancellation of visits was due to the conditions and lack of staffing in the jail, not because of their information picket.
Wednesday night, OPSEU members rejected a tentative contract by a 67 per cent margin, provincially. At the Innes Road jail, the no vote was 93 per cent.
OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said he is not surprised to see the deal rejected, saying the government “didn’t even come close” to addressing what he calls a “crisis in correctional services in this province.”
Thomas is calling on the government to return to the bargaining table.
No details of the tentative deal covering 5,500 corrections employees have been released.
