FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          November 17, 2000

Tentative agreement reached for 5,800 Correctional Officers,
members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada

Ottawa - The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) negotiating team and Treasury Board of Canada reached a two-year tentative agreement on November 16, 2000, for the 5,800 Correctional Officers (CX). This tentative agreement provides for significant wage increases and better benefits in recognition of the work they do under some of the most difficult working conditions of any profession.

"This tentative agreement is the first step taken by the Government of Canada to recognize the professional and unique nature of the work Correctional Officers perform," said Lynn Ray, National President of the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE), a Component of the PSAC. "Our team’s success in reaching this agreement is due to our continued fight to improve the working conditions of Correctional Officers, from the moment the government imposed its terms and conditions of employment in 1999. Many of the improvements in wages and benefits obtained in the tentative agreement are the direct result of the CX Joint Study, released last April -- a study that the PSAC-USGE fought very hard to obtain."

The two-year tentative agreement provides for increment and salary increases of a minimum of 6% and 6.5% for each year of the collective agreement, as well as protective reassignment for women Correctional Officers during pregnancy, a clothing allowance for non-uniformed correctional officers and other considerable improvements.

"Negotiating this tentative agreement was a tough challenge," added Jérôme Turcq, PSAC’s Regional Executive Vice-President for Québec, "especially in the light of the CSN raid on our Correctional Officers. In opportunistically trying to persuade the Correctional Officers to change unions, the CSN has stated that negotiated settlements are restricted to 2% under federal legislation. The PSAC negotiating team has proven them wrong, and negotiated a tentative agreement that will put considerably more money in the pocket of every federal Correctional Officer."

The PSAC bargaining team unanimously recommends this tentative agreement. Details of the ratification process will be announced next week.

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Spokespersons: Lynn Ray, USGE National President, (613) 232-4821

Jérôme Turcq, PSAC Regional Excutive Vice-President, (514) 912-3020

For more information: Pierre Lebel, Communications Officer - PSAC, (613) 560-5482

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