Union of Canadian Correctional Officers
Syndicat des Agents Correctionnels du Canada
Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux

Ottawa, June 20, 2017 – The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers Canada (UCCO-SACC-CSN) strongly opposes Bill C-56, tabled yesterday in the House of Commons by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. This bill proposes amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act by imposing a 15-day maximum limit on the time period an inmate can be placed in administrative segregation. UCCO-SACC-CSN National President Jason Godin denounces the fact that measures outlined in the bill are not based on any data and offer no alternative to administrative segregation. “In its current state, this bill is unacceptable. It increases the danger of correctional officers’ work and compromises inmate safety.” Data collected by the New York Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA) has confirmed Mr. Godin’s statements. For COBA, the numbers speak for themselves: violent incidents in New York correctional facilities dramatically increased following reforms by Mayor de Blasio that limited administrative segregation. Indeed, New York City correctional officers are now suing New York City and claim that reforms increase the risk of serious injury in their work environment. For the past several years, UCCO-SACC-CSN has repeatedly asked governments for a seat at the table to participate in discussions when significant changes to correctional policy are proposed. “We are outraged to see the government has caved to pressure from various interests’ groups lobbyists who, for the most part, have never set one foot inside a correctional facility,” adds Mr. Godin. “What goes on inside the walls is not the same as what we see on television and in movies. Those who work there are well placed to know the reality. This is why we ask to be consulted, especially when it relates to measures that could put our lives and the lives of inmates at risk,” concludes Jason Godin. About the union The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) represents more than 7400 members, spread across Canada’s five major regions: British Colombia, the Prairies, Ontario, Québec and Atlantic. UCCO-SACC-CSN represents the CX1 and CX2 job titles in 49 federal institutions. For further information: Katerine Desgroseilliers Communication Advisor – CSN katerine.desgroseilliers@csn.qc.ca 514 265-4250

Reprinted by permission of Canadian HR Reporter. © Copyright Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd, (May 2016) Toronto, Ontario 1-800-387-5164. Web: www.safety-reporter.com

2016-05-Correctional-officers-call-for-inmates¹-medical-information

UCCO-SACC-CSN held a demonstration in Atlantic Institution in Renous, New Brunswick to highlight the unacceptable number of assaults made by inmates against Correctional Officers involving the use of bodily fluids. 100 Correctional Officers were present even though the temperature was –16 degrees. It was a great success and received extensive coverage in the media. Below are some pictures from the demonstration.      

Montreal, October 30, 2014 — The Harper government is playing a Halloween trick on Canadian workers whose jobs are governed by the Canada Labour Code, but federal correctional officers aren’t laughing. A new and weaker labour code definition of “danger” that was hidden in the 308 pages of last spring’s omnibus budget implementation legislation, the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2, takes effect October 31. For the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN), the amendment will hamper future efforts to make federal penitentiaries safer and more secure. The law also eliminates independent federal Health and Safety Officers, who until tomorrow are responsible for investigating complaints of dangerous workplaces. HSOs will be replaced by political appointees reporting directly to the Labour Minister, who will now also have the power to unilaterally overturn their decisions. “This is a revolting trick for anyone working under federal labour law, but especially on those of us who wear a uniform on behalf of our country,” said UCCO-SACC-CSN National President Kevin Grabowsky. “As correctional officers, we are outraged by these reckless and unnecessary changes to the labour code.” As amended in 2000, the Canada Labour Code definition of danger includes “any existing or potential hazard or condition or any current or future activity that could reasonably be expected to cause injury or illness to a person exposed to it before the hazard or condition can be corrected.” The new definition subjects federal workers to the pre-2000 notion of “imminent” threat in order to justify a refusal to work under Section 128 of the labour code. “In our workplace, when there is a two-foot length of steel pipe missing we know there will be danger, even if it is not imminent,” Mr. Grabowsky noted. Indeed, UCCO-SACC-CSN was one of the first unions to make extensive use of the 2000 definition of danger, winning a landmark Federal Court decision in 2004 that widened the application of the concept for all federally regulated workers. The Federal Court’s Verville ruling – which resulted in our members’ right to carry handcuffs – affirmed that “danger” included unpredictable human behaviour. The wording in the new legislation eliminates these obvious elements of frontline correctional work as a consideration in the labour code. “For correctional officers, this change is crucial,” noted Mr. Grabowsky. “It seriously weakens our ability to use the code to force safety changes in our institutions. It’s a prime example of the Conservative government’s dangerous anti-labour agenda.”

Ottawa, September 30, 2014 — Unionized correctional officers begin to push back against the Conservative government’s anti-union attacks this afternoon by talking directly to voters in the federal Ottawa West-Nepean riding. About 200 members of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) will be going door-to-door in the riding to give a factual rebuttal to the Harper government’s misrepresentation of the role unions play in Canada. Under the slogan “Danger Ahead,” this is the first of many targeted outreach campaigns that UCCO-SACC-CSN intends to carry out over the coming months. After a series of laws that weaken union rights for workers under the Canada Labour Code and number of policy resolutions adopted at the Conservative Party’s last convention that would essentially destroy the union movement, UCCO-SACC-CSN National President Kevin Grabowsky says it is time for correctional officers to take action. “We have reached a point of no return with this government,” said Mr. Grabowsky. “That’s why we are going directly to the public to explain why Harper’s anti-union attacks are anti-Canadian.” The federal correctional officers will also tell residents that many of the tools they use to help protect Canadians were obtained from union efforts that may have been impossible under the series of laws Conservatives have implemented or intend to enact. Recent amendments to the Canada Labour Code contained in the omnibus budget-implementation Bill C-4, for instance, weaken the definition of “danger” in a workplace. Correctional officers are directly targeted by this change, as the old definition was crucial to making their workplace safer and more secure. “Unions are essential to Canadian society. By working together unionized workers have won many of the benefits all Canadians take for granted today – a 40-hour workweek, health and safety protections, vacations, overtime pay – the list goes on and on,” said Mr. Grabowsky. “All Canadians should ask themselves if they want a society that does not treat working people with basic respect. That’s why we are warning people that there is ‘Danger Ahead.’ Because that is what we will have if the Conservatives are able to implement their anti-union agenda.”

Press Release Montreal, May 7, 2014 — In his spring report tabled yesterday, the Auditor General of Canada warned that inmate population growth will outstrip the current expansion program in Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) institutions within five years, plunging the system into another cycle of overcrowding and violence. Worse, noted Auditor-General Michael Ferguson, neither CSC nor the federal Public Safety Ministry appear to have a plan to deal with the coming population crunch in Canadian prisons. The report underlined many of the concerns that the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN) has been expressing for years. “We have tried to have a dialogue about the changes taking place in our penitentiaries since the adoption of several ‘tough-on-crime’ laws, but the Harper government is refusing to hear from the people who work on the front lines of the system,” observed UCCO-SACC-CSN National President Kevin Grabowsky. The consequences of this refusal to consult are now playing out in Canadian prisons. As the Auditor General emphasized, overcrowding and double-bunking combined with budget cuts have produced “increased levels of tension, aggression, and violence.” “I’ve worked for 35 years at CSC, but never have I seen the level or intensity of violence that we are experiencing now,” said Mr. Grabowsky. “This is a huge risk for our members’ safety, but also for the Canadian public. We don’t have the resources or the infrastructure to ensure inmates are properly rehabilitated now, and almost all of them will one day be back in our neighbourhoods.” The recent expansion of several institutions to deal with higher inmate population levels was not accompanied by increased capacity or funding for health-care, segregation units or rehabilitation programming. “More and more inmates face pressure to join criminal gangs, often as a way to protect themselves from intimidation or attacks,” added the union president. “But they don’t stop being gang members once they are released. The public will bear the brunt of this reality.” Finally, Mr. Grabowsky called on recently appointed Public Safety Minister Stephen Blaney to accept the union’s invitation for a meeting to establish a dialogue and to ensure proper resources are in place to ensure a safer and more successful penitentiary system.