Dozens of corrections staff at Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Victoria rallied today outside the Wilkinson Road facility to draw public attention to the serious issues they’ve been trying to remedy since January in negotiations with the B.C. Government.

These issues include prison overcrowding, which is making the job of corrections officers more dangerous than ever. Officers routinely face violent situations, including assaults. B.C. jails are housing twice as many inmates than originally intended.

The BCGEU members in corrections also want their salaries brought in line with officers in other parts of the country. Government negotiators have rejected this proposals so far.

The government has also rejected a proposal to use deputy sheriffs in traffic safety and enforcement, which the BCGEU estimates would generate $180-million dollars a year in reduced expenditures and additional revenue.

"This is the type of thing we need to step up pressure on a government that doesn't respect what you do, doesn't understand the dangers involved in it, and doesn't understand what COs have to put up with day in and day out," BCGEU President Darryl Walker told the rally. "We are going to continue to keep up the pressure on this government. What we're asking for is fair and reasonable."

Members of the Victoria Labour Council also attended the rally, as did other supporters and the media.  BCGEU officials were interviewed by CTV, CHEK, OMNI-CITY, The Times Colonist newspaper, News 1130, CBC Radio News and CFAX.