THE CRG STATEMENT ON THE TENTATIVE UNIFIED/CENTRAL CONTRACT OFFER
The CRG Executive would like to thank CRG Members 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 now release 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.). We applaud this long-overdue bilateral commitment.
Assuredly, it will correct bargaining legislation currently used to violate our rights under Canada’s
Charter 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 is significant in reviewing the recently announced tentative Unified/Central contract offer in
relation to how you should vote. Many members have expressed concerns over 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 within CECBA legislation. Thus, correctional workers in Unified and
Corrections Bargaining Units must send a strong message to both the Government and OPSEU!
Should the much larger non-correctional components within Unified Bargaining Unit ratify this
agreement, one question appears prevalent: How would this affect our quest for a COR- Only C.A.? In
response, CRG’s legal Counsel asserts that the construction of a new Collective Agreement for ALL
correctional members within a COR Only Division starts from a blank page. This will be a brand new
Collective Agreement. While, much of the Central Agreement language might be 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 offer will show the fundamental differences between
correctional workers and the rest of OPSEU’s OPS membership with 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, we
are 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)