I want to thank the members of Local 719 at the Kenora Jail and the local president for their hospitality. I spent two days in Kenora at the local completing the staff briefings regarding the closing of the Y.O. units.
With Kenora being the most impacted of the adult institutions, it was important the members be briefed in person on all the information. The MERC agreement will save jobs for all eight members who other wise would be out of a job. The disentanglement of the Y.O. units at HWDC, OCDC, TBCC, and Kenora Jail continues and is a work in progress.
The other big news this week was the failure of the OPS negotiations. I expected that someone should'a/would'a have been at least consulted from our division when discussing the reconfiguration of the corrections division. That said a great opportunity was missed to better represent our members. We will move forward together, that is what we do, we are a real union. Perhaps the elected Corrections Bargaining team will have the opportunity to address some of the much needed changes.
In Solidarity
Dan Sidsworth
