FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         APRIL 28, 2000

OTTAWA — With the release today of the CX Joint Study, federal Correctional Officers (CX) from across Canada will read printed in a report what they have known all along: they are doing a difficult, professional job that is similar in many ways to the work done by general duty constables in the RCMP. In addition, their jobs comprise unique and added challenges related to sustained daily contact with offenders in the prison environment.

For years Correctional Officers have been undervalued and undercompensated. This report provides the basis for their long-standing demand to narrow the wage gap that exists with RCMP officers., one that shares similarities with that of general duty constables in the RCMP. Consequently, correctional officers will repeat their demand that the wage and benefits gap that exists with RCMP officers should be narrowed significantly.

According to Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) National President, Daryl Bean: "There is a huge, unjustified gap in compensation between the federal Correctional Officers and the RCMP general duty constables. This report provides solid research to back the urgent need for a substantialsignificant pay increase for Correctional Officers."

"The negotiating team for the Correctional Officers will use this report as a roadmap for bargaining," adds Bean. "Senior officials from the Treasury Board Secretariat endorsed this report, and the Treasury Board now has a and they now have a duty to work with our members to find the best ways to ensure that Correctional Officers will receive wages that recognize the the difficult, but indispensable work they are performing in order to protect Canadian society."

The CX Joint Study was first recommended in the Majority Conciliation Board report during the last round of bargaining. At the initiative of the PSAC, the Senate secured a commitment from Treasury Board to include this study as part of the imposed terms and conditions of employment which were prescribed in the back-to-work It was included and strongly supported by the PSAC during the Senate deliberations on Bill C-76, the legislation that ended the four-day legal strike by Correctional Officers in March 1999. the federal government used to impose terms and conditions of employment on the CXs in March 1999. The study compared the wages, duties and working conditions of federal Correctional Officers with uniformed RCMP and Correctional Officers from five provincial jurisdictions.

"Over the years," continues Bean, "the Correctional Officers job has evolved significantly into a profession. In addition to changing the way in which traditional security tasks are undertaken, changes to legislation and correctional policy have added case management and reintegration responsibilities to their duties. These significant changes in duties have coincided with years of wage restraint legislation and wage and increment freezes as well as imposed terms and conditions of employment."The correctional officers job comprises unique and added challenges that are attached to working daily with offenders in the prison environment."

The report recognizes that the working conditions of federal Correctional Officers are more difficult than those of the RCMP. Over the course of their career, Correctional Officers will almost certainly witness at least one serious violent incident while on the job. Research shows that the level of post-traumatic stress disorder among federal Correctional Officers is significantly higher than in the general population and approaches levels found in Vietnam war veterans.Statistics indicate that there were 775 serious violent incidents in federal institutions between 1980 and 1999. Of these, there were 32 major assaults on staff, 51 murders of offenders, 136 suicides and 474 major assaults on offenders.

"While the working environment has degraded and their job has evolved," emphasizes BeanNycole Turmel, PSAC National Executive Vice-President, "Correctional Officers have seen the wage gap with their RCMP counterparts increasing. Treasury Board now has all the research it needs to prove that this gap is unfair and should be corrected."

In 1984, a general duty constable with the RCMP was paid 17.4 percent more than a CX-1 and 9.2 percent more than a CX-2. As of December 31, 1999, the gaps had reached 28.5 percent for CX-1s and 19.1 percent for CX-2s. Further increases approved recently for RCMP officers will widen this gap even more.

Negotiations between the PSAC and Treasury Board are scheduled to should begin in June. The imposed terms and conditions of employment of the 5000 CX Correctional Officers expired March 31, 1999.

- 30 -

For information: Daryl Bean, PSAC national president, (613) 560-4330

25-280400