Corrections officers close to a strike or lockout?

About 4,600 Ontario Corrections officers, and another 1300 in Probation and Parole, could soon be on the picket line after the OPSEU, the union representing jail guards, has filed a no-board report. 

The Union says that is the first step towards a lockout or strike, and an indication that union and the provincial government are too far apart.   

That could put the officers - including more than 50 in North Bay - on the picket line as early as the second week of January 2016.  

“A lot of the issues deal with retention and parity with other law enforcement groups,” said Mike Bisallion, an OPSEU Region 6 Executive Board Member and local corrections officer.  

“We are among the lowest paid and our conditions are just awful right now so our membership has said enough is enough.  Also with Probation and Parole, our work loads are the highest in the country.”

Bisallion adds only those who work inside the institutions really know what the conditions are like in the secure provincial facilities.  

“The conditions in our institutions are untenable, something has got to be done and we cannot continue to work this way,” he said.

"This whole thing is symptomatic with the frustration and the anger the officers have now with having their issues completely ignored."  

OPSEU is expecting to hold a small demonstration outside the North Bay Jail on Tuesday, December 22 at noon.