Union to battle jail closures
Posted April 1, 2011 1:29 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have plans to fight a move by the province to close several jails northeast of Toronto.
A union spokesperson said there are about 50 workers at the two jails in Owen Sound and Walkerton, which have been ordered closed by Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
A Facebook group with hundreds of members opposing the closures already exists.
The closures would mean a loss of nearly three-million dollars in wages at each detention centre.
In Sarnia, The Sarnia Observer reported a closure of the jail will affect approximately 70 employees and see inmates shipped to a new “super-jail” to be built in Windsor.
In the Ontario budget, Duncan called for the closure of “under-utilized” prisons in Owen Sound, Walkerton and Sarnia.
