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  3. Record low survey scores point to poisonous Victoria Youth Corrections work site - BCGEU

Record low survey scores point to poisonous Victoria Youth Corrections work site - BCGEU

Published on August 20, 2009

To all Correctional and Sheriff Services Component members
August 20, 2009

After many requests, BCGEU has finally obtained the results for the workplace environmental survey (WES) scores which confirms that staff morale is a serious problem at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre (VYCC).

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 forty staff from VYCC. Staff 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 our labour-management committee (the Ministry Article 29 joint committee) met to discuss the concerns raised by our 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 where he spoke to staff about developing solutions to fix this broken work site. Walker says he was astounded by how bad the environment was at the centre.

In April, VYCC staff voluntarily took part in the WES survey . The Public Service Agency 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, in order to move forward in a positive direction.

Two years ago Adult Custody shuffled top level management positions at four of the nine 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 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.