OPSEU has negotiated a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Correctional Services Division, for the establishment of a Diversity Sub-Committee, which will be a sub-committee of the Corrections MERC. In the coming weeks, we will be identifying the members for this committee.
As part of a Transformational Strategy,(read more)
It’s Probation Officers Week and the POAO encourages you to celebrate your role in the community and your contribution to public safety. I would suggest that the clebration should be held off until we see the results of the PO3 grievance in June.
OPSEU Going Strong
The song “OPSEU Going Strong” is now available for download. Composed as a special anthem for OPSEU’s 100 year anniversary, it was first performed at the 2011 Convention. The composer is Canadian artist Justin Hines.
Convention 2011 Community Corrections Caucus
Gord Longhi, MCSCS MERC
David Kerr, MCSCS H&S
PPO3 Grievance:
In 2009 Vice Chair Herlich agreed with our position on the PPO3 issue and ordered the employer to negotiate settlement with the union. The employer instead asked for a judicial review of the decision. The hearing was held on April 23rd, 2010 and the appeal was denied. The employer did not negotiate an agreement with the Union , preferring to go back to the Vice Chair for a decision. The matter will be back at the GSB before Vice Chair Herlich on June 3rd, 2011.
Ministry File Review Committee
Appendix 41 in our Collective Agreement provided for the development of a pilot project creating 6 Ministry File Review Committees (MFRCs).
These committees have the purpose of reviewing grievances that have been referred to the GSB. The committee is comprised of 3 Union and three management representatives, who attempt to find effective and expeditious resolutions at the Ministry level. (Dave Kerr and Trevor Jones as co-chairs, Gord Longhi and Frank Inglis for OPSEU, Don Chillman and Brian Scott for the employer) It can be considered like stage 2.5 for lack of better explanation. The committee has been meeting since January2010. We have had limited progress in resolving matters at this table.
A number of grievances have been sent to the union with detail summaries missing. When you submit the grievance to OPSEU after stage 2 response, we require, almost immediately:
a.) A clear explanation of what the grievance is about including articles relied on.
b.) A detailed summary of notes taken during stage 2.
c.) A copy of stage 2 response from the employer.
d.) All relevant correspondence
Accommodations in P&P:
People with injury illness or disabilities have been experiencing difficulties trying to get an appropriate accommodation from the employer. Those with accommodations find issues where their accommodations are being challenged by the employer.
A working group was agreed to by the employer in November 2010. The objective was to review accommodation practices in Community Corrections and develop some guidelines on how the employer can best meet their duty to accommodate employees in P&P offices.
Unfortunately the employer has been slow to provide the names of individuals who are to represent their side and only recently have I been advised that a meeting has taken place between the management members of this working group.
I would ask that our Regional ERC teams take this issue to their regional directors and request that this working group be given higher priority.
Staffing/Hiring:
As you are all aware the economic climate has lead to drastic measures by the employer especially in the area of staffing. In 2010 MGS had ordered a 0% increase in FTEs for all Ministries. That has repercussions in our offices when short term unexpected leaves or recurring short term leaves happen. The employer has been reluctant to backfill any of these leaves.
To approve the backfill for leaves, a compelling business case must be submitted by your area managers. That includes detailing all of the circumstances of the office, IE how many staff are new and require training(these leaves create office pressures) , how many are on accommodation, are there higher than average PSR demands, what demands create pressures and what impact failing to replace staff will cause. In the cases where backfill has been denied, the AMs have likely done poor business cases that basically just stated the details of the leave and the request for staff.
When you are aware of a potential leave or backfill situation, stewards or staff should be approaching the area manager to discuss the office dynamics that should be included in the business case.
Lateral Transfers:
The issue of developing a fair and equitable practice around the use of lateral transfers continues to be at the MERC table. We are seeking a document that will ensure a fair balance between the use of lateral transfers and competitions so that both classified employees and fixed term employees have opportunities at vacancies.
The employer is having difficulty agreeing to this because it will limit the manager’s ability to control who they get in their office. It is clearly a discriminatory practice that erodes fair opportunities for many employees.
Workload:
The Workload Subcommittee is still piloting the Workload Analysis Tool (WAT) in 8 offices across the province. We have continued to receive useful feedback. A common concern raised by staff was the accuracy of weighting for intensive supervision cases as well as domestic and sexual offences cases.
The Ministry PESAR unit (Program Evaluation Statistics and Research) recently completed a time study for these special cases in an effort to verify weightings and have a more accurate tool for the provincial rollout. Final results are being re-calculated as there were a number of participants who had missed entering data on a significant number of cases. This will likely have some impact on the current tallies.
Preliminary results do not support any increases in index weights nor does it support significant changes between the current index weights for specialty cases.
The union side of the workload committee will carefully consider the findings of the study before agreeing that they are acceptable for use in altering the present tool.
The Best Practices Document for Workload Distribution has been out for almost 2 years. Workload should be a standing item at all staff meetings and it should be discussed in a fulsome manner. That includes the sharing of workload statistics and any other information that would impact workload in a given office.
Any workload issues that cannot be resolved at a local level should be referred to your Regional ERC teams for discussion at the regional level. If they continue to be unresolved they can then be referred to the MERC table as per the collective agreement.
MCSCS Health and Safety
We are still waiting for the year end tallies of violent threats or actions made against staff for the 2010 year. Eighteen (18) incident reports were filed during the first nine months of 2010. These reports represent incidents of offender assaults/threats against probation staff. Of these, 88 % (16) were threats made towards staff; there were no physical assaults on staff. Approximately half of the threats were made by telephone and the rest were made in person. As a result, seven out of the 18 offenders were charged with new criminal offences. In the first quarter of 2011 there have been two full offices that impacted by these types of matters. Additionally has been one assault where the Crown withdrew the charge as part of a plea bargain. During H&S follow-up, after the fact, the Crown wrote an apology letter to the worker and Employer stating that this happened in error and would not happen again.
Threats against staff as well as assaultive behavior continue to be under reported. I receive information regularly that occurrences arise and that incident reports are not filed. Please ensure that every incident is reported on the Offender Incident Report as well as the Employee Incident Report forms so that the Union becomes aware of all incidents. The Employer seems to be quite good in sending information along to the Union (me) when they are aware. If any incidents arise please notify Gord and myself so that we can ensure proper steps were taken as well as begin a tracking system to monitor what the courts are doing with these charges. If at all possible we should be asking and/or insisting that a charge of Intimidation of a Justice System Participant is filed under Section 423.1 CCC.
Of note is the involvement of JOPIS. (Joint Operation Police Intelligence Service). This branch of the OPP can be activated to assist in preparing specialized personal and office safety planning for any employee that works for the Ministry of the Attorney General or the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. They are located across the province and have assisted many of our members feel and be safer not only in their offices, but in their homes and on the street. They can provide assistance in personal protection planning as well as training in safety planning. To date I am quite satisfied with what I have seen and the employer is very active in supporting access to this program, at least in the Western Region. It has been effectively used with both Community and Institutional staff.
Training For H&S Representatives
Prior to his death Kevin Cowie ADM, had approved in principle, the need for training H&S representatives in all of the offices that had greater than five staff, as per the OHSA. Statistics of offices that meet these criteria have been collected as well as a list of workers including managers that need the training. This issue should be resolved, hopefully, before the summer season.
Staff meeting minutes
Please ensure that your office meeting minutes are specific when documenting health and safety concerns. Some offices have included a standard question for the purpose of the minutes as follows, “has any staff member felt threatened or intimidated by an offender in the last month, either in the workplace or the community”. This at the very least will cause people to think and record concerns for follow up by your Regional ERC teams and up the ladder to provincial health and safety.
Glenna Caldwell MCYS MERC
Eric Thompson MCYS H&S
Anti Discrimination Systemic Change Committee (ADSC):
Survey data has now been received and will be analyzed in conjunction with the consultants report. As programs are being implemented, communication to the field will occur. Thanks for your support. We had a 32 percent survey result which is significant. Working on mediation model for the fall
Competitions:
Remind members to follow the job spec when applying. Putting down that you are a P0 or and OAG is not enough to get an interview. Some members have failed to get interviews despite having the qualifications.
Investigations:
Please take a steward with you. The employer is also conducting fact finding sessions which could lead to discipline. Protect yourself and the members by bringing a steward.
Training and Development:
Currently working on probation orientation package for new probation officers.
P03 Grievance:
As noted above – GSB date. June 3rd.
MCYS Health & Safety
Eric Thompson
Your divisional health and safety team has been very busy over the last year. We are presently working on the following issues:
a) Georgian glass in all institutions and some probation offices
b) The recently completed probation survey
c) Secure isolation release plans
d) Violence protection policies and risk assessments
e) Post traumatic stress
f) Fire safety plans
g) Physical demands analysis
We will continue to push the employer get these items resolved as soon as possible. We feel confident that we can come up with some good results
for all employees.
Probation officer and disclosure
VANCOUVER – A British Columbia judge has awarded more than half a million dollars to a former hockey player who was sexually assaulted by his coach, a decision an ex-NHL star who was abused himself says is most meaningful if it helps the victim heal.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Dev Dley awarded the victim $605,000 in damages after ruling the 35-year-old B.C. man’s playing career suffered because he was sexually molested twice by his junior hockey coach when he was 13.
The man, who is not identified in the judgment, sued the B.C. government to get compensation for the possible income he might have earned through multiple hockey contracts over several years.
The province admitted liability in the case, after a previous trial found a probation officer failed to tell the minor hockey association where the man first played that convicted sex offender Richard Hall was volunteering in the organization.
In early March, a Victoria court heard expert testimony that the abuse was a critical factor in the development of dysfunctional moods and excessive drinking as the man grew older, and that those problems limited what might have been a promising hockey career.
The judge said without the disorders there is a real possibility the man would have had a better chance to secure an NHL contract. Dley noted in his written judgment posted online on Wednesday that the victim was aToronto Maple Leafs prospect but never made the team.
Former Calgary Flames forward Theo Fleury(notes), whose 2009 autobiography exposed his own story of sexual abuse as a teen, said the most significant part of the ruling was the portion of costs awarded for rehabilitation.
The man was awarded nearly $15,000 for vocational rehabilitation and psychotherapy, in addition to $372,000 for the loss of his unrealized first hockey contract and other damages.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much time the perpetrator serves, it doesn’t matter how much the government pays,” Fleury, co-author of Playing With Fire, said in an interview.
“In the end, you want the individual to get the therapy that they need so that they can live a happy, productive life and at peace. At the end of the day, there isn’t a certain amount of money that’s going to make the pain go away.”
Fleury is now a vocal opponent of sex crimes he says permeates not just hockey, but all parts of society. He’s still waiting for prominent former coach Graham James— who served almost two years in jail in the late 1990s but later got a federal pardon — to go to trial on nine new sex charges involving himself and two other boys.
Fleury was encouraged by the recent judgment, and said he hopes it pushes governments to enact stiffer laws and forces people in authority, like politicians and police officers, to “pay more attention.”
But the outcome didn’t sway him to advise all victims to go to the courts.
“It’s really up to each individual, where they are in their life,” he said.
“If you’re in the beginning of your recovery process it’s probably not a good idea to throw that on top of what your’e already dealing with.”
According to the judgment, the victim was taken under the wing of his abuser starting at age 10, when they went fishing and to the movies together.
“The plaintiff looked upon Mr. Hall as a father figure and big brother,” the judgement said of the elder, who was a goalie coach.
When the boy was 13, Hall convinced him his niece wanted to engage in sex acts as long as the boy was blindfolded.
The boy complied but lifted his blindfold to realize the person was Hall.
“The plaintiff was horrified as to what had occurred and terminated his relationship with his assailant. The plaintiff was ashamed and embarrassed. He told no one.”
Hall’s actions were made public a year later, and the boy told his parents what happened. He got a medical exam but no counselling. The judgment describes the following years of his life, in which he progressed in hockey playing at various levels, as ones in which he increasingly suffered from personality, depressive and alcohol abuse disorders.
There will be 2 meetings held at the Convention that P&P members should attend;
On Wednesday evening at 5:00pm the Corrections Division (MCSCS and MCYS) will have a Breakout Session in room 201B at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. That session will focus primarily on Institutional issues however a number of issues such as ASMPP and investigations will be relevant to all Corrections members. Furthermore you will receive a report from the MERC and H&S teams at this meeting.
On Thursday evening at 5:15pm Community Corrections (MCSCS & MCYS) will hold a caucus to discuss our current issues within Probation and Probation and Parole. That meeting will be held in room 201D at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
See you there
Gord
Corrections is Looking For Mediators
MEDIATION is a voluntary process in which two or more employees, who are involved in a dispute, agree to meet with an impartial third party who helps them communicate directly with each other in order to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of their dispute.
As part of an agreed-to Mediation Program between OPSEU and Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services, Correctional Services Division, we are seeking applications to fill vacancies for Mediators. These are considered “duty assignment” positions.
Click here for the posting/application and contact information, The posting/application can also be found on the MCSCS website and work location P- drives.
Closing date for receiving applications is December 21st, 2010 by 4:00 p.m. If you require further information please contact Margaret Smoke, A/Human Rights Officer for SAROC msmoke@opseu.org .
Systemic Change work arises out of two key legal cases in which the Ministry of Community, Safety and Correctional Services was found to be in violation of our members legal rights. Systemic remedies were ordered to address sexism (GSB O�Brien decisions) and discrimination against Aboriginal and racialized people (OHRT McKinnon decisions) in the workplace. In order to implement, enforce and build on these systemic remedies, OPSEU has engaged with the Ministry in a joint committee; as of November 2005 the long standing Systemic Change committee was reworked to integrate anti-sexism and anti-racism initiatives in the Systemic and Anti-Racism Organizational Change (SAROC) Steering Committee.
The main objectives of the Systemic and Anti-Racism Organizational Change (SAROC) Program are:
As part of the ongoing process a Pilot Project has been initiated in nine facilities across the province. These pilot projects have been set up as a precursor to a full roll out of the SAROC initiatives in both facilities and probation and parole offices. The local SAROCs are providing valuable information on how to move forward with this important work and helping to streamline the process. OPSEU is always looking for constructive feedback on improving communications, education and critical review.
The following are the results from the Corrections Divisional
MERC TEAM
Dan Sidsworth, Maplehurst, Co Chair
Monty Vieselmeyer, Metro West Vice Chair
Jim Mitchell, North Bay
Gord Longhi, Alliston, P&P Rep
Gary Peck, Metro East – alternate
Joy Wallace, Jane St -P&P alternate
PROVINCIAL HEALTH & SAFETY
Brian Chauvin, Windsor, Co Chair
Tammy Carson, CNCC , Vice Chair
Nick Mustari, Metro West
David Kerr, St Thomas P&P REP
Emidio Casullo, Maplehurst – alternate
Kim King, Port Perry – P&P Alternate
P&P REGIONAL ERC TEAMS
________________________________________
CENTRAL REGION
Dianna Fedun , Etobicoke South, Co Chair
Joy Wallace, Jane St
Sherry Douglas, Black Creek
Denise Sidsworth, Brampton
Alternates:
Mike Kirlew, Halton South ,
Ida Rosati, Black Creek ,
Vanessa Silverman, Halton South,
__________________________________
EASTERN REGION
Mike Letwin, Belleville, Co Chair
Brian Dunham, Cornwall
Paul Russell , Ottawa West
Todd O’Flaherty, Ajax-Pickering
Alternates
Ron Gendron, Cornwall
Kim King, Port Perry
Richard Kucharski, Peterborough
__________________________________________
WESTERN REGION
Dave Kerr , St. Thomas, CoChair
Tracey Rath, London East
Diane Trachy, Welland
Lorraine Skitch, Brantford
Alternates:
Jeff Kennedy, Guelph ,
Katherine Lehti, Windsor,
____________________________________________
NORTHERN REGION
Barb Friday, Thunder Bay, Co Chair
Jane Van Toen , Kenora,
Scott McIntyre, North Bay
Richard Larcher, Sudbury
Alternates:
Mike McCourt, Midland
Bobbi-Lynn Freeman, Sioux Lookout
Evelynne Michaud-Rheault, Sudbury
Dennis Ginter, Sault Ste Marie
Hello Colleagues,
RE: PPO 3 Issue
In order to put a rest to the multitude of queries on this topic, I would like to advise that there has been no progress on this issue since the decision of the Judicial Review. OPSEU has contacted the employer with a request to provide dates for negotiations as directed in the original decision. The employer has not provided a response to date. OPSEU will be following up with the employer and we hope to set dates soon.
Any progress on this issue will be reported to the membership as soon as reasonably possible and where the integrity of the negotiation process allows.
I would ask that any significant concerns be directed to me by email rather than inundating the grievance department.
If you are hearing rumours, they are just that. The only official news will be through notification by OPSEU communications (Locktalk) or through the employers official communications.
In Solidarity..
From Gord Longhi
RE: PPO 3 Issue
In order to put a rest to the multitude of queries on this topic, I would like to advise that there has been no progress on this issue since the decision of the Judicial Review. OPSEU has contacted the employer with a request to provide dates for negotiations as directed in the original decision. The employer has not provided a response to date. OPSEU will be following up with the employer and we hope to set dates soon.
Any progress on this issue will be reported to the membership as soon as reasonably possible and where the integrity of the negotiation process allows.
I would ask that any significant concerns be directed to me by email rather than inundating the grievance department.
If you are hearing rumours, they are just that. The only official news will be through notification by OPSEU communications (Locktalk) or through the employers official communications.
In Solidarity
Gord Longhi
MERC P&P Rep
As part of a professionalism initiative our Ministry is planning to be purchase blazers with Ministry insignia on them for PPOs.
I believe the intent is that PPOs would wear these at events that PPOs would attend in a professional capacity or perhaps at Court.
Has anyone heard of PPOs requesting a Ministry Blazer or any form of uniform. The Ministry doesn’t have money to fix the aging chairs, the broken phone systems but it can send you to the tailors to be fitted for a blazer that you didn’t ask for.
