EDMONTON- A highly placed government source tells Global News the province has sought an injunction against what it calls illegal job action by members at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Officers from the new remand centre walked off the job in protest Friday afternoon. The province says the move is illegal job action and as a result, the facility has been put on lockdown.
Following that move, 35 correctional peace officers from the Fort Saskatchewan Correction Centre walked off the job in a show of solidarity for their fellow members. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) says that action resulted in that facility also being put on lockdown.
Approximately 70 correctional peace officers from the Edmonton Remand Centre, scheduled to work the afternoon shift at 3:00 p.m., gathered outside the facility Friday afternoon, after refusing to go into work. Morning workers remained on shift inside the facility, as those outside began to protest.
By 8:45 p.m. the group of protesters outside the remand centre grew to about 120 people, as some of morning shift workers were allowed to leave the building. Those workers were replaced by managers and police resources.
Watch Vassy Kapelos’ live report from outside the Edmonton Remand Centre Friday night:
Thirty-five correctional peace officers from the Fort Saskatchewan Correction Centre then gathered in protest outside that facility Friday night, to show support for their fellow members. The facility was forced to work with a skeleton staff, as there were just seven correctional peace officers left in the building that houses 470 inmates.
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Staff at a growing number of facilities within Alberta have joined the walk-out, including the Peace River correctional centre, the Lethbridge correctional centre, the Calgary correctional centre, the Calgary remand centre, and the Edmonton Young Offenders Centre.
AUPE also confirmed late Friday, that commercial vehicle enforcement officers shut down the weigh scale on Highway 2 near Leduc. This was also in a show of solidarity for their fellow members at the Edmonton Remand Centre.
The union representing the some 550 workers from the Edmonton Remand Centre says the reason for the job action there was due to the way two union representatives were treated after speaking out about safety concerns. 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,” explained Clarke McChesney, Local 003 Chair, AUPE.
The president of the AUPE says it’s important for members to speak up on behalf of their fellow workers.
“These workers are sticking together. They say these issues have to be addressed and that’s why they’re out here now,” Guy Smith said from outside the remand centre Friday evening.
This is not the first time members have voiced concerns over safety at the new centre. Just days before the jail opened, the AUPE said it found five pages of design flaws after touring the $580 million facility. At that time Smith asked the provincial government to delay the transfer of prisoners from the old remand centre until the changes were made.
“There’s been no desire to really, seriously address those issues and have serious discussions,” Smith said. “We already knew it was a powder keg already and the disciplinary action taken today just intensified that.”
“The building and the operational requirements are not up to snuff. Whether it’s just an officer concerned with their own safety or how the offenders are being moved around or doors being left open,” added McChesney.
He says correctional officers only recently received all of the operating procedures, a set of rules he says workers are governed by.
“Without those in place and a complete understanding of those, it’s very hard to do your job and feel that you’re safe doing your job.”
Smith says the union supports the job action taken, and says staff members will be remain outside the facility “as long as it takes” to address their safety concerns.
“Or at least get a process in place where we know those issues are going to be addressed,” Smith added.
The province says a contingency plan involving police resources and managers is in place, and there is no plan to move any of the inmates from inside the remand centre at this time. However, late Friday night a source from the government told Global News it planned to serve its injunction as soon as possible. The source also says the Deputy Premier phoned Smith to request a face-to-face meeting, but his call has was not returned as of 10:45 Friday night.
With files from Vassy Kapelos and The Canadian Press.
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