Madam Speaker, last week, I had the pleasure of asking a question in this House on the fate of the 6,000 correctional officers who have been without a collective agreement since June 2002.
They have had 80 negotiation sessions. They are currently at the conciliation stage, but the process has been suspended because the conciliator is not available to meet with them before November.
When I asked my question, I was told that the CSN was in the process of learning how things worked. The CSN is one of the largest labour unions in Quebec. The response was quite arrogant and unfounded.
As we know, correctional officers have the right to strike but the entire work force provides essential services. They work under very special conditions and do very difficult work. They encounter verbal, physical and psychological violence and abuse on a daily basis.
Penitentiaries are also places where infectious and contagious diseases are prevalent, diseases such HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, as well as tuberculosis. Inmates, who have exchanged bodily fluids with correctional officers, cannot be tested without their consent.
And as I said, it is a very violent environment. For example, among the 2,600 inmates in maximum security, there were five murders in one year. That is a murder rate 100 times greater than average.
It is also an environment with a great deal of harassment. It lends itself to harassment from the inmates. The stress is constant; aggression is a necessary part of the work. The negative environment has an obvious impact.
Proportionately speaking, the incidence of violence is greater in prisons than in the general population.
This level of violence and this atmosphere in which anything can happen combine to add to the stress of the correctional officers. There is twice as much depression among correctional officers as in the general public, that is, 22% instead of 11%.
A survey of 2,432 Canadian correctional officers, including 710 in Quebec, showed a very clear association between the level of work-related stress and years of service. Thus, 34% of officers with 15 or more years of service thought their work was stressful, while only 14% of officers with less than two years' experience thought so.
Contrary to observations in the work force as a whole, where the more experience and skill one acquires, the less stressful the job, in the world of corrections, it is exactly the opposite. They say the last years are the most difficult.
Special working conditions require a special collective agreement. That was the original justification for the correctional officers having their own union. Their main demand is a pension plan where 25 years of service at age 50 would bring 70% of salary.
Far be it from me to do their negotiating for them. Far be it from me to imagine we can reach an agreement, but I just wanted to make members aware of the necessity to negotiate special conditions.
I would like to ask once again what positive steps the President of the Treasury Board intends to take so that the corrections officers get a properly negotiated collective agreement?