Working The System
One imagines it isn't a dreadfully pleasant occupation, working as a prison guard. But it is a working occupation, one that people do seek out to pay them a decent living wage. Doubtless there are many whose characters and personalities are well suited to the job. Of course they're not jail guards, they are corrections officers, much as garbage collectors are sanitary engineers. The niceties of civil nomenclature.
Now it seems that correctional officers are taking advantage of a system that allows them to milk it in a manner that is costly to the taxpayer and to the people institutionalized as well. The province's auditor general has reported that absenteeism rates are soaring, to the extent that they're truly unreasonable. With officers calling in sick at the equivalent of 32.5 8-hour days last year. They work a 12-hour shift, but you get the idea.
Missing jail guards result in insufficient numbers on duty when they're required. The result can be lockdowns, where inmates are confined to their cells instead of being able to attend rehabilitation programs. But, we're informed, more typically they result in overtime for other guards who take their place. So isn't that a nice little arrangement, actually, when guards trade off hours in this manner...?
When it's done as a game, making the most of their opportunities, guards can work their normal hours, then a few hours of overtime. And others get paid for sick days, while working days off at higher overtime rates. A win-win for the guards, a stick in the eye for the taxpayer. When guard duty days fall on holiday week-ends a combined 89 guard-totals at three institutions may call in sick each of those days.
The cost to government for replacement workers racks up an additional $9-million plus another $11-million for overtime. Here's the nicest part, if you're a corrections officer playing the game: 150 whose salary comes to $60,000 annually, brought home over $100,000 in 2007, while another handful managed to swell their take-home pay to over $140,000. That's nice compensation for a not entirely pleasant occupation.
The 3,400 corrections officers working in 31 Ontario corrections facilities seem to do all right for themselves. But what is it about Ontario corrections workers? In comparison those from Alberta and British Columbia rack up a third of the sick days their Ontario counterparts do. Little wonder Ontario's costs for operating these institutions are the highest among the provinces.
Now it seems that correctional officers are taking advantage of a system that allows them to milk it in a manner that is costly to the taxpayer and to the people institutionalized as well. The province's auditor general has reported that absenteeism rates are soaring, to the extent that they're truly unreasonable. With officers calling in sick at the equivalent of 32.5 8-hour days last year. They work a 12-hour shift, but you get the idea.
Missing jail guards result in insufficient numbers on duty when they're required. The result can be lockdowns, where inmates are confined to their cells instead of being able to attend rehabilitation programs. But, we're informed, more typically they result in overtime for other guards who take their place. So isn't that a nice little arrangement, actually, when guards trade off hours in this manner...?
When it's done as a game, making the most of their opportunities, guards can work their normal hours, then a few hours of overtime. And others get paid for sick days, while working days off at higher overtime rates. A win-win for the guards, a stick in the eye for the taxpayer. When guard duty days fall on holiday week-ends a combined 89 guard-totals at three institutions may call in sick each of those days.
The cost to government for replacement workers racks up an additional $9-million plus another $11-million for overtime. Here's the nicest part, if you're a corrections officer playing the game: 150 whose salary comes to $60,000 annually, brought home over $100,000 in 2007, while another handful managed to swell their take-home pay to over $140,000. That's nice compensation for a not entirely pleasant occupation.
The 3,400 corrections officers working in 31 Ontario corrections facilities seem to do all right for themselves. But what is it about Ontario corrections workers? In comparison those from Alberta and British Columbia rack up a third of the sick days their Ontario counterparts do. Little wonder Ontario's costs for operating these institutions are the highest among the provinces.
posted by Pieface @ 6:12 PM
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