EDMONTON- Striking corrections officers at the Edmonton Remand Centre remained on the picket line Saturday afternoon despite being ordered back to work by the Alberta Labour Relations Board.
“To go into a meeting thinking that you’re going to make some solutions to a very volatile situation across this province, and have someone point their finger at you and tell me that I should be telling my members to go back to work is shameful,” Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) said Saturday.
After a provincial injunction was filed against what the province called illegal job action by staff at the remand centre, the board began hearing the request at 9 a.m. Saturday. At the meeting, a large group of members from the Alberta Federation of Labour rallied to show their support for the striking workers.
At the board hearing, the executive director of the Edmonton Remand Centre testified that the facility was working with less than half of its normal staff Saturday morning. He said that it was tense in the jail and that inmates had kicked doors, smashed windows and flooded cells as a result.
After much deliberation, the board declared the wildcat strike illegal and ordered staff back to work.
The hearing comes after approximately 120 correctional peace officers walked off the job at the Edmonton Remand Centre Friday. The AUPE says the reason for the job action is due to the way two union representatives were treated after speaking out about health and safety concerns Friday. Members believe those unions reps were too severely disciplined for voicing their concerns.
“The one gentleman voicing his concerns was escorted off the premises today, causing a huge backlash because he was the voice that they were hearing and they didn’t like the way they were being told,” Clarke McChesney, Local 003 Chair, AUPE explained Friday.
The move prompted the building to go into lockdown, with the RCMP riot squad, police resources and managers left to staff the facility. Those who remained outside overnight say they heard crashing, banging and alarms coming from within the jail.
Despite the back to work order, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour said he wasn’t certain what would happen next.
“Will the workers listen to the order that’s been handed down by the board? Or will they stay on the picket line? We don’t know,” explained Gil McGowan.
He says the most important point, and the reason his members rallied at the board meeting, is to send a message that the issues raised by their fellow workers are legitimate issues.
“These workers have been saying for months and months and months that their workplaces are unsafe and that those safety concerns are the result of understaffing, underfunding, which is just getting worse,” McGowan said. “It’s not acceptable to put workers at unnecessary risk, and it’s certainly not acceptable to punish workers for standing up for their right to refuse unsafe work.”
Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk addressed the media late Saturday afternoon. He said the results of the illegal job action has put individuals’ well-being and property at risk. He added he wants to work with the AUPE to have the issue resolved as quickly as possible.
“We will do everything to restore order,” he said. “We will continue operating the corrections centres using our contingency plans until union staff return to work. Our efforts continue to focus on the safety of the public and inmates. With the assistance of police and management, the critical operational needs of the centres are being met.”
“This situation can be resolved quickly. We have and will continue to do everything we can. It’s the union’s turn to step up.”
Lukaszuk did, however, say he has been told the remand centre is being “trashed.”
Meanwhile, the job action by the peace officers from the new Edmonton Remand Centre had a ripple effect right across the province Saturday, as officers from seven other facilities in Alberta walked off the job in a show of solidarity.
Corrections officers on the picket line at the Edmonton Remand Centre maintained they planned to remain there as long as took to have their safety concerns addressed.
“We’ve been making it work in all of our centres for a long time. We did it at the actual old remand centre for so many years and we’re not going to do that here. It’s a big beautiful facility with a lot of great technology and a lot flaws right now,” McChesney said Saturday morning.
“We’re not going anywhere any time soon… I have a whole bunch of officers prepared to stand up for each other province wide and an injunction slapped on a telephone pole isn’t really going to stop us from doing that,” McChesney added.
Smith says he will also continue to support his members, and says the government needs to step up and confront the concerns they’ve brought forward.
“Instead of dealing with us and trying to get us back to work under the conditions that we need to, instead they’re spending all of their time on lawyers at the labour board trying to turn us into criminals. Because that’s what they’re making us now. They’re turning hard working workers into criminals and it’s shameful.”
Now that the strike has been declared illegal, management can serve summons to guards for being in contempt of court. If charged, workers could face fines or jail time. Lukaszuk would not elaborate on whether or not correctional officers would be fined.
The $580 million facility in north Edmonton opened its doors two weeks ago.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Jenna Bridges.
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