Deadline day!

Season's greetings, brothers and sisters.

As of 1700 hrs today there is nothing new to report.

That is sad news for the holidays, and the four issues that are sticking points are as follows:

1. Surplus factor 80
2. Termination rights
3. Reasonable efforts to find you work
4. The employer mishandling SICK TIME!!

When we, the Union, offered to help the employer deal with officer stress at MERC and Provincial health and safety they shrugged us off and continued to mishandle the issue.

When we, the Union, explained to the auditors all the factors that we believe cause high sick time totals they dismissed us as abusers of a benefit instead of coming up with solutions.

When we, the Union, tried to be a trilateral resource to enact the duty to accommodate properly they stalled to avoid exposing their mishandling of return to work protocols and post traumatic stress issues that continue to cause high sick time levels.

This issue can't ever be dropped by us as a bargaining issue to stave off a strike or we will lose more than we ever hope to gain.

I stress that you support the Union in defeating any offer that guts our ability to look after ourselves since the employer refuses to offer any assistance that is meaningful in our high stress environment.

In solidarity, Emidio.

BIG TIME THANKS!!

Good day brothers and sisters.

Thank you for the show of support on Friday morning during the information picket, and thanks to the members who stopped and joined me on the line.

I also want to remind you of the countdown and date of the deadline for a contract offer.

We are going into the holidays and I want to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope to report we are having a Happy New Year with a contract we can live with, too!

Remember that the the federal and provincial governments just gave auto companies billions to bail them out for doing nothing more than asking so we should be demanding a fair deal to keep the economy strong and our families secure.

Remember that other public service workers are getting three percent raises per year and we do a hard enough enough job so that should be a start.

In solidarity, Emidio.

Bargaining update.

Good day, brothers and sisters.

Nothing to report in the way of a contract!!

Our local is now mobilizing for a strike/lockout!

In the meantime I hope that the holidays are good to you and your family and that the employer is good to us too.

I wonder what the holdup is?

WE WANT A FAIR CONTRACT,
NOT A SHAKEDOWN!!!

In solidarity, Emidio.

Letter to Joyce Savoline MPP Burlington

Good day to my brothers and sisters in corrections. Here is a sample of the letter I sent to the above-mentioned MPP who was quoted on CTV news. I also wrote a revised one for Dalton, as he doesn't seem to know facts either.

"Good day.
As a Correctional Officer, President of the largest OPSEU local in the corrections division and an employee member of the Provincial Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, I wish to address your comments in the media.
First of all, I am appalled to have sick and injured workers slandered in the media during a bargaining period. Our jobs are not cushy, and, at the Milton area complex I work in, there are roughly 1400 inmates to contend with.
Our officers work twelve hour shifts and the days you quote are based on eight hour equivalency. You also quote that an officer made 140,000 dollars, but you fail to mention that the officer worked well over their scheduled shifts to keep this system running.
As far as working conditions go, many inmates enter with significant health and hygiene issues that front line staff come into direct contact with. Some of these inmates collect bodily waste as weapons and use it on our staff and put it on surfaces to contaminate our work areas.
When the unfortunate death of an inmate occurs on our shift there are no automatic days off to come to grips with the event.
After a fight for your very life the employer asks for reports and sends you right back to work, as if this is normal.
The stress of being under attack is a constant work environment, much like soldiers on the front line. We do this in a system that was revamped by the Tory regime in the 1990's as a cost saving measure.
Many of our staff who are injured, contract sickness or are victims of assault use sick time instead of WSIB due to ease and because of a lack of a post-traumatic stress plan.
Perhaps the employer side at the bargaining table, who received the Union's request to study this issue, would bargain in good faith instead of using you and the auditors to harass the vast majority of staff who don't use high amounts of sick days.
I would like to invite you to attend our facility during peak times to see what we deal with and smell the aroma of a cell of an inmate who urinates in Styrofoam cups to hurl at you.
Perhaps you would like to do this "cushy" job day after day instead of sitting in Queen's Park?

Respectfully
Emidio Casullo
Correctional Officer
Maplehurst Correctional Complex
Milton, Ontario"

I sent these today and urge you to start the calls to these politicians if you haven't already!

In solidarity, Emidio.

Local News

Good day, brothers and sisters.

There is a lot of questions about what is going on at the bargaining table and I hope you are checking out the OPSEU web page for information. News should be posted there as it becomes available.

I attended the Maplehurst Christmas Party yesterday to emcee and it was a great party. Thanks to all the people who help to put it on and fund raise throughout the year.

I hope the Vanier Party is a success and wish you all a happy beginning to the season!

I attended the EC Drury rally today and extended them our support as they are having intimidation issues around the number of unclassified members and job security. We also have the same issues in corrections and need to show a united front in this cause for full time jobs.

The Local SAROC training was held over the last two weeks and the committees should be up and running in the near future. This is a highly charged issue and I will speak more about it as time goes on. It is years in the making and has potential to make changes in the entire ministry.

Also, please keep visiting the blog as I have more information that will only be posted here as bargaining develops!

In solidarity, Emidio.