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'Mismanagement at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre has created a poisonous work environment.'
Vancouver (24 Aug. 2009) - The British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) has finally obtained the results of a workplace environmental survey (WES) at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre (VYCC), confirming that staff morale is a serious problem.
The low WES score of 39 supports what the union has been saying for months: mismanagement at the VYCC has created a poisonous work environment, chronically low staff morale and other problems that must be urgently addressed.
In March, Dean Purdy, chair of the union's corrections and sheriff services component, held an emergency meeting attended by more than 40 staff from VYCC. The employees voiced their concerns about issues that continue to plague their workplace. They were also updated on what the union was doing to deal with these issues.
As one of the steps to address the many problems at the work site, a subcommittee of the labour-management committee met to discuss the concerns raised by BCGEU members. Subsequently, the committee has met a couple of times and Purdy has relayed members' concerns to top ministry officials.
BCGEU president Darryl Walker has also toured the VYCC and spoken with staff about solutions to fix the problems. He was astounded by how bad the environment at the centre has become.
In April, VYCC staff voluntarily took part in the WES survey. The Public Service Agency (PSA) says WES results are a means to effect change and to show the most senior government officials what changes need to be made at particular work sites.
Two years ago adult custody officials shuffled top level management positions at four of nine B.C. correctional centres.
"We were advised this was primarily based on the WES scores and the new direction senior management was moving towards in the corrections branch," the union says.
"The VYCC's 39 score compares badly to the other two provincial youth centres. Burnaby (BYCC) scored 54, and Prince George (PGYCC) received 64. The overall score for the public service is 68. Executive level management at VYCC scored 22."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE