After a night of riots, floods and labour strife, trouble continues at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre.

Health and safety concerns have prompted yet another work refusal with management refusing to conduct searches.

Several weapons were discovered by other inmates in the female area Sunday morning.

They were parts of lights that were trashed Saturday night.

The union believes that management didn't adequately search these inmates before allowing them into other parts of the jail thereby allowing potential sharing of shivs and shanks.

"You need to see what's in there, if there's anything harmful, not only to staff but also to inmates," says Dominic Bragaglia of OPSEU Local 108.

Management refused to search any units

While the union was engaged in negotiations with senior levels of management to establish a resolution to these search and security concerns, management went into a unit and ordered staff to return to their duties without without searches being complete.

That resulted in yet another work refusal.

Correctional officers were forced to hand over their keys and spend the remainder of their shifts in the lobby.

The union says management was negotiating in bad faith.

"This was directed. This must have been a plan. You don't do stuff like this on a whim or on the fly. I don't know why they even bothered to engage us," says Bragaglia.

The situation has been volatile since Wednesday when five officers were fired for their actions surrounding Adam Kargus' jailhouse murder.

Since then there have a been a series of work refusals over safety concerns.

Saturday night about 30 off duty officers showed up outside the jail to support their colleagues.

Many were not allowed to leave the institution until several hours after their shifts had ended.

Managers have been called in from across the province to staff the jail.

While this isn't a formal lock-out, some fear that is where the situation is going.

"We are going to file labour charges. I have no choice. Because for days now, we have been trying to engage them and finally they do, and this is what happens. They just disregard it," says Bragaglia.

The Minister has agreed to meet with OPSEU Local 108 on Tuesday.