‘Disgusting and criminal,’ union responds after staff at Milton jail forced off job

“The only party at fault here is the employer.”

That is the word from the union representing more than 100 staff members at the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton that have been pushed out of work.

A Section 22 order from Halton Public Health has forced the 108 workers to stay away from the jail — many have been placed on unpaid leave. The order was issued as a result of an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at the facility.

OPSEU Local 234, the union representing the staff, is arguing that all workers should still be compensated since they have been in full cooperation with directives from the employer.

“The employer would like us to turn on each other over vaccination,” says union 1st Vice President Stuart Wilson. “The facts are simple. We have all complied with policy no matter what opinion or choice each individual has made on vaccination. The employer has chosen to take action that appears punitive against some of our members.”

“Vaccination is not the concern at hand.”

RELATED: Over 100 staff at Milton jail ‘unjustly’ placed on leave despite adhering to COVID measures

A statement from the union released on Saturday, clarifies that Ontario Public Service (OPS) does not have a vaccine mandate in place and employees at the jail were instead given two options. Workers could either provide proof of vaccination or become part of a rapid antigen testing program.

Other agencies like the Toronto Police Service and TTC put vaccine mandates in place and provided a deadline date, by which workers had to be fully vaccinated or place on unpaid leave.

“That has not happened in the OPS,” reads the statement from the union. “If the employer’s goal was to have all the staff in provincial facilities vaccinated, they should have stated that from the very beginning. They gave staff no warning or opportunity to get vaccinated with an actual deadline in place.”

The statement from the union also notes some workers have qualified for ‘COVID paid leave,’ but others have been forced into unpaid leave. The union says that decision — which they call “disgusting and criminal” — was made by the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

The order from public health does not state that staff who cannot work should be unpaid.

“The current effort by the employer to divide the members of Local 234 during an outbreak is unfortunately just the use of old tactics in a new era of bargaining without the right to strike,” says Wilson. “This should serve as an eye opener for all members the next time they read a communication that addresses how we are moving towards an innovative, people centred future

The public health order also affects 16 staff members from the Ontario Correctional Institute (OCI) that are currently housed at the Maplehurst jail.

In a statement to CityNews verifying the Section 22 order, a spokesperson for Halton Region says public health officials are growing increasingly concerned with the situation at Maplehurst in Milton.

The outbreak at the facility was first confirmed on Nov. 4, with Halton Public Health advising the jail on how best to manage COVID-19.

On Aug. 17, the provincial government announced that it would be making COVID-19 vaccination policies mandatory for specific high-risk settings — these include hospitals, schools and post-secondary institutions but not jails or correctional facilities.

Last week, Toronto Public Health reported an outbreak at another jail — the provincially-run Toronto East Detention Centre — following a confirmed case of the Omicron variant.

With files from Lucas Casaletto