E tū has entered into negotiations with First Security on a collective employment contract for PECCS guards. E tū and the Living Wage Aotearoa movement want all security guards to receive at least the living wage. PECCS is a District 25 bargaining unit representing approximately 140 employees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. We work for the council`s continuing education service and offer various programs such as literacy and basic skills (LBS), adaptive learning, workplace programs, English as a second language (ESL), language teaching for newcomers to Canada (LINC) and child care associated with some of these programs and employment resource centres. As well as the facilitators of the early ON Child and Family Centre program. Prison guards employed by First Security receive a living wage of $20.20 per hour as the base rate. Certification as a PECCS bargaining unit was organized in 2004 under the Industrial Relations Act. Security guards from the prison escort and judicial guard services lobbied for a significant increase in wages through their union, said Len Richards, organizer of the E tū security industry. “They are currently paid well below the higher rates of pay of directly employed prison officers who do the same work in other parts of the country.
First Security employees previously had a start-up rate of just over $17. The new figure corresponds to a salary increase of more than 15%. We work in 14 locations across the city, including public schools, community centers and family homes, employment resource centers, and administrative buildings. Our programs are funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ontario Works, Success by Six, the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. First Security is to be commended for its decision to pay the living wage to the Security Guards of the Court Escort and Custody Services (PECCS). Prison escorts will receive a living wage of $20.20 per hour after smart negotiations by their union. . First Security has just renegotiated its contract with Auckland and Northern Correctional Services. One of the objectives of the renegotiations was to increase the pay of the guards. The guards joined E tū after a meeting with the union at First Security headquarters last year. “At the meeting, the guards expressed their dissatisfaction with their wage rates, which start at just over $17 an hour. Security First prison guards now receive the living wage – $20.20.
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