Correctional staff reject contract extension; other public servants accept deal
Posted June 23, 2017 10:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario correctional workers have voted overwhelmingly to reject a government offer to extend their contracts by four years with 7.5 per cent in raises.
Meanwhile, 27,000 other public servants represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have accepted an offer with the same wage hike.
The Liberal government has offered deals to a spate of unions in the broader public sector, which would put off any potentially contentious bargaining until after the June 2018 election.
The public servants voted 81.7 per cent in favour of accepting their deal, but correctional staff voted 94.7 per cent to turn theirs down.
The correctional bargaining unit had recommended its members reject the deal, in part because they said it came about through closed-door negotiations without the elected bargaining team.
Correctional workers’ previous contract removed their right to strike, meaning any future bargaining disputes would be sent to binding interest arbitration, like police and firefighters.
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