A deal has been reached to avert a strike at Ontario's correctional facilities, including the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents the guards and probation officers, announced early Saturday morning that a deal had been reached with the province.
The Canadian Press reports, as part of the negotiations, corrections workers have been declared an “essential service,” meaning they will no longer have the right to strike, and future bargaining disputes will be determined by binding arbitration.
Another part of the deal is a commitment to lift a long-standing hiring freeze and hire at least 25 new probation and parole officers.
The deal averts a strike at Ontario jails, which could have begun at 12:01am Sunday. The union members' last contract expired December 31, 2014. Last month, members rejected a tentative deal that was reached in November.
Had there been a strike, the province was planning to staff jails with managers from other areas of the public service. That caused concern with the head of OPSEU, Smokey Thomas, who warned the managers would not be able to ensure the safety of themselves, inmates, and other staff covered under a different contract.
Thomas says this latest development is “huge,” although the union originally wanted 100 new probation officers, and hundreds more corrections officers and jail guards. He adds the province has not agreed to hire a specific number of corrections officers.
"This is a first step to stabilizing a correctional system that's in crisis. But it can't be the last," he says in a media release. "Our jails are bursting at the seams and our probation officers have the highest caseloads in Canada. We're facing a severe staffing shortage. Violence continues to escalate. We want to be part of a constructive dialogue with the government on ways to ease this crisis and ensure the safety of the public, correctional staff, and inmates."
-With files from the Canadian Press