Corrections officers at Sarnia jail have rejected the province's latest contract offer by 75 per cent, higher than the 67 per cent average across the province.
OPSEU Local 128 President Dave Esser says money and safety issues related to under-staffing are major concerns.
"I think there's a lot of issues and a lot of things that happened in the past week or so. We've had two riots, and just about the time we were going to vote, managers got a five per cent raise," says Esser. "All that combined to get a 'no' vote on this."
Esser says the union is considering its options now, including issuing a no board report, 17 days after which workers would be in a legal strike position.
The 5,500 employees in provincial jails, correctional facilities, youth centres and probation and parole offices saw their last contract expire December 31 of last year.
