Correctional workers are being encouraged to turn down a recent contract offer from the province, as ratification voting starts Tuesday.
OPSEU Local 135 President Randy Simpraga says he and other union executives feel the three-year agreement is full of empty promises.
"The last go-around in bargaining we were told, 'We'll take our zeroes and next time we'll get something.' Well, here's next time," Simpraga explains. "Enough's enough. There is a crisis within corrections. Assaults have quadrupled since a few years ago."
The union leader says Ontario refuses to deem corrections an essential service, which is a sticking point for OPSEU.
He hopes the union's bargaining team will reach out to a conciliator after votes are tallied Tuesday and Wednesday, and get back to the table with the province. However, either side could call a no board report after results are final, which would activate a strike 17 days later.
OPSEU Local 135 represents 260 members in Windsor-Essex.
The union's been without a contract since December 31, 2014.
