from Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News

Some 30 guards at a provincial jail in Toronto recently staged a walkout aimed at drawing attention to years of occupational health and safety complaints.

Guards at the Toronto Jail, commonly known as the Don Jail, refused work on January 16, citing workplace safety stipulations under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. The guards were ordered back around 2 pm that day because their charges didn’t satisfy refuse-to-work criteria under Section 43.3 of the act, says Matt Blajer, a spokesman with the Ministry of Labour. The section, in part, says that a worker may refuse worker if he or she has reason to believe that the physical condition of the workplace is one in which the worker is “likely to endanger himself or herself.”

Black correctional officers at the jail and other jails in the city have been targeted by anonymous hate mail campaigns since at least late 2004, prompting investigations by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) and the Toronto Police Service’s hate crimes unit. The latest batch of letters at the Toronto Jail arrived in employee mail slots around Christmas, says Don Ford, a spokesman for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents the targeted workers. To date, no charges have been laid.

“We’re doing everything we can,” says Stuart McGetrick, a spokesman with the MCSCS. “We’re encouraging staff to come forward with any information they have on this.”

The letters in question have been subjected to rigorous forensic investigation, McGetrick says. “These are anonymous letters that are coming in,” he says. “We won’t tolerate racism in our workplaces. Everybody deserves to have a workplace that is free from discrimination and harassment.”

McGetrick says the ministry began its latest investigation into racist letters in March 2007, but would not comment on any details of the investigation — for instance, if video surveillance of staff-only areas has been employed — for fear of compromising the efforts of investigators.

The hate letters have contained racist symbols and language, and guards have stated they found the letters in areas where fellow employees only — not prisoners — have access. McGetrick confirms that the guards’ co-workers are primary suspects in the case.

Letters have also been sent to the homes of black guards, threatening violence against them in their private and work lives, Ford says. At least one letter stated that prisoners would be paid to physically assault guards.

Two guards currently on leaves of absence

“This is a pretty hideous situation,” Ford says, adding that two guards are currently on leaves of absence and two more have been transferred to other prisons.

During the walkout, OPSEU presented management at the Toronto Jail with a list of recommendations to improve the physical security of jail employees, Ford says. However, because the prison is expected to close in the next few years, Ford says, the union is skeptical about the likelihood of upgrades to the facility.

The work refusal is the latest in a string of actions meant to combat racism at the Toronto Jail. In April 2006, five guards from the prison launched grievances through OPSEU, arguing the jail wasn’t taking adequate steps to prevent racism; the guards had been targeted by letters since January 2006. Correctional staff from other prisons — the Toronto East Detention Centre and Mimico Correctional Centre — also complained at the time of receiving hate mail.

One of those grievances was resolved in June 2007, when the Ontario Public Service Grievance Board awarded Cassandra Charlton $20,000 for work-related discrimination. Charlton, who is of African descent, was an operations manager at the Toronto Jail when she received a hate letter at home in October 2005. The letter contained death threats, racist language and Charlton, who had worked at the prison since November 2003, was unable to continue working (COHSN July 16, 2007). The other four grievances are still being processed, Ford adds.

National statistics on racism in the workplace paint a disheartening picture. Statistics Canada, in its 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, found that 56 per cent of respondents, or 880,000 people, subjected to racial discrimination had experienced it in the workplace or while seeking employment.

“It impacts the office as a whole when you have a demoralized worker who is not appreciated, who is treated differently from other employees,” says Dr Ayman Al-Yassini, executive director of the Toronto-based Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

If racism isn’t eliminated, then “the workplace becomes a nightmare,” Dr Al-Yassini contends.

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