Correctional Officers and Youth Workers
are under attack.And eventually,every
member of the OPS will pay a heavy price.
Under the employers ’ proposal,,
Correctional Officers and Youth Workers
will be removed from the current OPS sick
leave plan,and management of their sick
leave will be given to a multi-billion dollar
insurance company.
If the thought of having your health in the
hands of a profit-driven company isn ’t
scary enough,it gets worse :
•Sick time is only accrued at a rate of
five hours per month,only if you have
full attendance that month .
•After four consecutive days of absence,
Correctional Officers and Youth
Workers immediately move to 66 2/3
per cent pay.
•If you do not have any sick time in the
bank,any absence that is less than
five consecutive days is unpaid .
•If the insurance company denies the
claim,the employee gets paid nothing.
•To add icing on the cake,the denial is
not grievable.An appeal must be made
to the Joint Insured Benefits Review
Committee.
Why is the employer doing this? Simple -
it ’s all about money.Correctional Officers
and Youth Workers have extremely high-
stress jobs in 24-7 operations.
Overcrowding,assaults,exposure to
disease and constant shift work all
take their toll.The result?Higher than
average sick time.
The employer wants to solve the
problem by punishing the victims .And
save a lot of money by not having to
replace workers.
This is all very bad.But the bigger
picture is grimmer.If the employer is
allowed to carve off specific workers from
the benefit plan,where does it stop?A
special plan for older workers who use
more drug and dental benefits?A stand-
alone group of OADs who have more
eyeglass claims?The opportunities for the
employer are endless.
The Corrections Team will continue
to fight this deliberate
and callous attack by
the employer.All other
members need to
support Corrections
on this …because
you might just be
next.
http://www.opseu.org/ops/barg2008/index.htm
An attack on sick leave is an attack on everyone
