Latest updates
- The Employer has now officially ratified the agreement AMAPCEO members at Ontario Arts Council voted overwhelmingly to accept earlier this month. We will keep you updated on next steps, including timelines for retroactive payments and updating our factsheets, in the weeks ahead.
- Read the highlights of the agreement.
Last updated: December 17, 2024
Take action
Send a message to the OAC Employer that you support your bargaining team and their work to negotiate a fair deal.
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Since we joined AMAPCEO, we have worked hard to achieve fair working conditions, including critical job security provisions, and a constructive dispute resolution process that protects our workplace rights as professional public servants.
This time around, we will be confronted with an important, and potentially challenging, round of bargaining with the employer.
Our goal is to make fair and reasonable gains for all of us, fight any unfair concessions, and work creatively to help shape the workplace of the future.
The only way we can do this is by standing together and demonstrating our collective strength. It’s the only way we can protect the terms and conditions of employment that we have worked so hard to establish, and the only way we can in turn, protect the important services that we provide to our communities.
Meet the current member of your OAC Bargaining Team:
Barbara Gilbert
My name is Barbara Gilbert and I am excited to join OAC's bargaining team. I remember working at OAC before it unionized, and I see a huge difference in the way things work now, thanks to the strength we have as unionized employees. It is that strength that I want to defend and protect.
I am well suited for this role because in my day-to-day job I facilitate groups of artist peer assessors to reach consensus on how to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money. (In my spare time I herd cats because that's relaxing by comparison.)
I love working at OAC, and my deep appreciation for my passionate and dedicated colleagues, who also love their jobs, is what motivates me to step forward at this time. I believe my calm determination will be an asset to the bargaining team.
I am OAC's Acting Media Arts Officer. My home position is Associate Francophone Arts Officer. Previously, I was the Artistic and Executive Director of Le Labo, Toronto’s Francophone media arts centre, where I created Le Labo's flagship mentorship program. I also worked at OAC from 2012 to 2014 as Francophone Coordinator for the Artists in Residence (Education) program.
I have held a variety of roles in support of the visual arts, including Project Manager for the Ontario Museum Association, Secretariat Coordinator at the Ontario Association of Art Galleries, and Youth Programs Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I have also taught professional practice courses at OCADU.
In addition to my employment experience, I have built a broad network of colleagues and connections through my volunteer work on the boards of Artist-Run Centres & Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO), Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC Ontario) and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography.
Colin Mattison
Colin Mattison is an Operations Assistant with OAC over five years of experience. He is also an active AMAPCEO member, serving as a Workplace Representative and Labour Relations Committee representative.
“I volunteered for the bargaining team because I believe you have to be part of the solution.”
Mattison is returning to the bargaining table for the second time, and he is looking forward to applying his prior experience to this round of negotiations.
Frequently asked questions
What is collective bargaining?
Collective bargaining occurs when a group of people in a workplace band together to increase their negotiating power. There is a greater likelihood of success together than there is apart, so it is also about demonstrating our collective will and resolve.
These negotiations between employees and management lead to a legally binding collective agreement that details many of the terms and conditions of our employment, including wages, working conditions, job security, and more.
This collective agreement also ensures the employer consults with us and that we work collaboratively to seek solutions on matters that affect us. It means our workplaces are governed with transparency and fairness.
When does bargaining start?
Our current collective agreement expired on March 31, 2022.
The existing terms and conditions of the current collective agreement remain frozen in place until a new collective agreement comes into effect. The new agreement may have retroactive measures.
How will I get updates during bargaining?
Make sure your contact information with AMAPCEO is up-to-date, and that you are subscribed to receive our emails. Visit our Subscribe page if you haven’t opted-in to receive our emails.
Signed members also receive exclusive updates and event invitations. If you haven’t become a signed member of AMAPCEO, you can do so at no additional cost at amapceo.ca/membership.
We will also continually update this webpage with updates as they become available. And the union’s leadership will meet with members either virtually or in-person, as public health regulations permit, to update members on progress.
How were our bargaining goals set?
Every AMAPCEO member was able to take part in a survey asking us where we desire improvements to the current collective agreement.
The survey results were provided to the bargaining team, staff, and union leadership to draft the broad bargaining priorities.
These results, further informed by research, additional consultation, and legal advice, will be used to generate more specific bargaining plans. The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for reviewing and approving this mandate.
Why is it important to support my colleagues and union during bargaining?
We have worked hard to achieve the current terms and conditions of our employment. Supporting your colleagues, the bargaining team, and our union, helps demonstrate our collective strength and our resolve to securing a fair contract. We are stronger together.
Union leadership and local AMAPCEO activists may also ask you to take specific actions to demonstrate your solidarity. This could include displaying a flag on your desk, using a union background during a video call, or attending an event.
These actions serve as proof of member cohesion and support for AMAPCEO. This can speed up the bargaining process and result in improved collective agreements for all members.
Does collective bargaining lead to a strike?
The priority in our negotiations has always been to achieve a fair collective agreement without any unnecessary use of job action. AMAPCEO has always fought for alternatives to labour disruptions in the event of a bargaining impasse and has never had to go on strike.
However, if the employer creates issues during negotiations, a labour disruption remains an important tool in the union’s toolbox. Labour disruption is a broad term encompassing a spectrum of possibilities—small, such as a local lunch-time rally or a refusal to work overtime, to large, such as a province-wide walkout or strike.
Union-initiated labour disruptions are governed by a legal process that unfolds over several weeks. A union cannot call a strike without first having its members vote in favour of such an action. A positive vote does not guarantee that a job action will take place. It is a clear message to the employer side that AMAPCEO members are serious about achieving certain demands in bargaining.
Are we affected by Bill 124?
Bill 124 no longer applies to AMAPCEO members at Ontario Arts Council (OAC).
Bill 124 was Ontario's unconstitutional wage-restraint legislation, which limited public sector workers’ compensation increases to a maximum of one per cent a year for three years—including for unionized workers as their contracts expire.
AMAPCEO and labour allies fought against the legislation, and won a constitutional challenge against the Bill in November 2022. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice found Bill 124 unconstitutional and struck it down.
The government appealed the ruling, which the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld in February 2024. With that second loss, the government finally relented and announced it would repeal the legislation.
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