Andrea Horwath, MPP for Hamilton Centre, made the following Statement in the Ontario Legislature on January 28, 2009, regarding the McGuinty government’s failure to address the workplace issues affecting Ontario’s correctional service workers:
Ms. Andrea Horwath: The people who undertake some of the most dangerous and important work in Ontario aren’t getting the respect that they deserve. I’m talking about the correctional service workers represented by OPSEU, who work in jails in an environment that is never without danger and hazards.
While these 5,500 workers continue to put their work ahead of their own health and safety, the government is forcing a confrontation that could push these workers to strike. A vote on a feeble government offer tabled on December 24 wraps up tomorrow, January 29; the old agreement expired on December 31.
Note the McGuinty government is doing everything it can to ensure negotiations fail. Rather than addressing the real issues confronting these workers, the government continues to ignore the brutal working conditions and daily risks to their health and safety. Stress, overcrowding and deteriorating working conditions take an extremely heavy toll on correctional service workers.
The failure of government to take these issues seriously over the past decade has created a powder keg of problems. For one thing, it’s making a lot of workers sick. I went to see first-hand what correctional service workers face on the job every day. on January 6. I visited the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, accompanied by Steve Smith, president of OPSEU Local 248, and Mike Barton, manager of security.
What I saw and heard was shocking. Workers have to go home because they are covered in feces, blood and bodily fluids from inmates. They get sick after escorting inmates with infections and illnesses to hospital. They witness suicide attempts, particularly in secure isolation, and sick building syndrome. These workers go through a heck of a lot. They deserve a good deal. Let’s hope the government gives it to them.
