This week the Central Regional Labour Relations Forum (Regional-ERC) met for the first time. This is an Adult Institutional Services committee. The forum is made up of the local presidents; the superintendents; the regional director; and a member of the MERC team. With the regional director present the forum is empowered to discuss problems and reach agreements on local or regional levels. This also gives an opportunity for the local presidents to network with each other. As this is a bargaining year, this can not be overstated. All seven locals in the GTA were represented with all coming away with positive reviews.
On the other hand, the P&P Northern Regional-ERC team walked out of the meeting when the employer told them that they would no longer be covering the expenses for any future meetings. This is a change of practice of more than 25 years. What all of a sudden has changed?
If the northern regional director wants to save a little money at the expense of good labour relations, she will find that a spending a little up front will save a lot of money in the long run. To move in this direction before we even start to bargain will surely cost more than just money for years to come. The damage has been done.
The invisible walls that have kept the union out of the Ontario Correctional Services College since its creation have finally started to come down. The MERC team has been advocating for a long time that we should have the opportunity to go into Bell Cairn to speak with all new recruits. The employer has agreed with us for months at the MERC table but we have been blocked by the administration of the “college”.
I am glad to report we finally have been given a date to go into the classrooms to meet with the first group of soon to be members in November. This is a big win for us, not only is it symbolic but also towards getting some representation in the workplace. Who knows maybe one day we could see a union office on site!
In Solidarity,
Dan Sidsworth
