THE CRG STATEMENT ON THE TENTATIVE UNIFIED/CENTRAL CONTRACT OFFER
The CRG Executive would like to thank CRGMembers for their patience over the last few weeks. A lot of movement has occurred.Your patience allowed us to accurately review and thoroughly digest this information, as it was happening. Accordingly, we nowrelease our consensus-based conclusions.
As you are aware, OPSEU and the Government have both committed to support a“Corrections Only Collective Agreement”(COR-Only C.A.). Weapplaud this long-overdue bilateral commitment. Assuredly, itwill correct bargaining legislation currently used to violate our rights under Canada’sCharter of Rights and Freedoms. However, we must stress that the relocation of Correctional workers from the Unified Bargaining Unit to a Corrections bargaining unit, on its own, will not resolve the divisive Essential Service language in the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act (CECBA). This language prevents us from exercising our Charter right to strike “in concert”with members of our bargaining unit. It also still denies us a meaningful dispute resolution mechanism while classified as “essential”during what has otherwise always been, ineffective CECBA-governed strikes.
This issignificant in reviewing the recently announced tentative Unified/Central contract offer in relation to how you should vote. Many members have expressed concernsover how this proposal may impact on CRG’s efforts to amend CECBA legislation while trying to achieve a“COR- Only C.A.”.
The CRG Executive, in consultation with our legal team, has reviewed this contract offer.
We have concluded that this contract offer must be turned down by ALL correctional employees.
VOTE “NO”TO THIS OFFER!
Our rationale: i) This offer does not remedy the need for an inclusive Corrections Division, subject to a “COR-Only C.A.”, and; ii)It keeps Corrections Division subject to the existing improprieties and potential illegalities existing withinCECBA legislation. Thus, correctional workers in Unified and Corrections Bargaining Unitsmust send a strongmessage to boththe Government and OPSEU!
Should the much larger non-correctional components within Unified Bargaining Unit ratify this agreement, one question appears prevalent:How wouldthis affect our quest for a COR- Only C.A.? In response, CRG’s legal Counsel asserts that the construction of a newCollective Agreement for ALL correctional members within a COR Only Division starts from a blank page.This will be a brand newCollective Agreement. While, much of the Central Agreement language mightbe transferred verbatim from the existing Collective Agreement, ALL items are reopened for negotiation. EACH must be subject to vote, once a new offer has been tentatively accepted.
A strong “NO”VOTE to this tentative offerwill show the fundamental differences between correctional workers and the rest of OPSEU’s OPS membershipwith whom we are presently entwined.The stronger the message we send now will surely impact upon how seriously the government and OPSEU deal with us in the negotiation of a “Corrections Only”environment.
In the interim, please stay tuned for more progressive developments from CRG. Currently, weare developing a potential model, intended to demonstrate how a COR- Only Collective Agreement might best be structured. We shall be sharing this view with ALL shortly.
Stay strong and help shape the future of Corrections!
CECBA REFORM GROUP EXECUTIVE(L. Augustin, C. Gareau, K. Kaufman, B. Roy, G. Stockfish)