At the request of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Ministry of Labour issued a "no-board report" in negotiations with the province's correctional and parole officers.
That means the workers will be in a legal strike position as of 12:01am on January 10.
Local 128 Executive Member Joel Bissonnette says the employer has deemed them as a "non-essential" service. He says this means no one will be monitoring the offenders on probation in the communities and no correctional officers will be working inside the jails if they do go on strike.
They can return to the bargaining table but he adds no talks are scheduled locally at this time.
Bissonnette says lockdowns have increased and assaults on staff have more than tripled in the past few years, with an average of 1.5 staff assaulted by inmates daily.
57 corrections workers at Sarnia Jail voted 75 per cent against the provincial government's latest contract offer. Province wide, the vote was 67 per cent against the offer.
The 5,500 employees in provincial jails, correctional facilities, youth centres and probation and parole offices saw their last contract expire on December 31, 2014.
