FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             January 18, 2001  

Ottawa - An overwhelming majority of the 5,800 Correctional Officers, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, voted in favour of the tentative agreement reached by their negotiating team on November 16, 2000.

"This tentative agreement is the best of all federal public sector agreements in ten years. Our members voted for this agreement because it provides some tangible and long-overdue recognition of the professional nature of correctional officer work." stated Nycole Turmel, PSAC National President. "While the wage and increment increases contained in the agreement are important, the PSAC negotiating team achieved significant gains and breakthroughs in other areas as well. In reaching this historic agreement, the PSAC made extensive use of the data and analysis from a joint CX comparability study with the RCMP in convincing Treasury Board to acknowledge the importance of correctional officer work and to substantially improve their working conditions."

The two year agreement provides for minimum wage and increment increases of 6% the first year and 6.5% the second year. It also provides for the preventive withdrawal of female correctional officers during pregnancy, a clothing allowance for non-uniformed officers, as well as other major improvements in working conditions. The new collective agreement will expire on May 31, 2002.

Jérôme Turcq, PSAC Regional Executive Vice-President for Québec, added that  "with a ratified collective agreement, the PSAC and correctional officers are looking to the future, and plan to build on both the CX Joint Study and the new collective agreement during a PSAC CX Conference to be held this spring."

"Faced with an employer who has never hesitated to pass special legislation, freeze wages, and undermine the safety and security of correctional officers, the PSAC and all Correctional Officers have a lot of work to do to entrench the gains made during the CX Joint Study and the bargaining process. The PSAC CX Conference will start that process, by providing a forum where Correctional Officers from every institution in the country can meet, and develop a comprehensive strategy that addresses their issues and the unique nature of their work environment," concluded Turcq.

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Spokesperson: Nycole Turmel, national president, PSAC, (613) 560-4330
Jérôme Turcq, regional executive vice-president, Quebec, (514) 876-2690

Information: Pierre Lebel, communication officer - PSAC, (613) 560-5482

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