MERC Update

Update…
January 6th, 2010

Greetings Division,

We hope you all had a good holiday season, as we all recognize that 2009 was a challenging year.

We want to provide a few updates:

As we have discussed at our 2009 all-president’s meetings, we are striving to enhance the professional image of our Correctional Services members with the public. These efforts are important in raising our profile as peace officers and correctional workers at large in this province. It will lead to better public support when we face everyday challenges and when we negotiate our contract.

We hope that the locals will look within their communities for programs and/or individuals that need our help. Some locals already donate time and money to charities and sporting organizations.

ASMPP

Although we have stated this clearly in previous communications, it is important to reiterate that OPSEU never agreed to the Attendance Support and Management Pilot Program. It was fully imposed by the employer. The Union has filed a policy grievance about ASMPP and that complaint is following typical processes.

There appears to be some confusion between ASMPP and The Joint Attendance Strategy and Implementation Committee (JASIC). JASIC is the committee that monitors the sick time numbers as indicated in the C.A. . See the December 23, 2009, Lock Talk for the JASIC Terms of Reference.

The union has already brought concerns forward regarding some of the numbers and the sites that are attached to them, as we do not see all things being equal when it comes to absenteeism. Some of our concern revolves around the H1N1 issue/period and how that would have affected our numbers in some cases.

Through this committee we are also looking for resources from management to assist our members in getting better, not penalize them for being ill, many times through no fault of their own but merely because of the working conditions they are subjected to.

CTO

The removal of CTO was a unilateral decision made by the employer and we are still actively pursuing a policy grievance on this matter as well.

SOME POSITIVE NEWS:

Our Regional ERCs are meeting in all four regions and we hope to see continued success at resolving issues with those forums.

We are working to have stage two hearings held every month at the local sites and have more grievances resolved there…rather than going to full arbitrations.

Management has agreed to waive the probationary period for all Fixed Term Employees who were recently classified under the Appendix COR9 – Letter of Understanding.

We will continue to pressure management to see that many of the recommendations that came out of the Security and Inmate Management Committee be moved on this year, such as the search dogs.

We have been making slow but steady progress with improving the labour relations at MERC and corporately. We will continue to do our best to improve the working conditions and safety for all our membership.

In Solidarity, Corrections Division