AMAPCEO expresses frustration as OPS Employer admits to further delays

This week, the Ontario Public Service (OPS) Employer admitted that it would be unable to meet its previously stated target deadlines for implementing retroactive payment of employees’ 2022-2025 across-the-board increases.

While AMAPCEO members should by now have received their new pay rate, retroactive payment of increases from April 1, 2022 and April 1, 2023 are still outstanding for many members. The Employer has announced a new target deadline of the end of February 2025.

Enough is enough.

Earlier this year, AMAPCEO members in the OPS participated in the largest mobilization in our history—our “No More Pay Delays” campaign, in which AMAPCEO signed a petitions, shared their impact stories, and wore AMAPCEO navy and carried campaign signs.

The OPS Employer was quick to respond to this mobilization, committing to greater transparency, individual payment calculation reports, and an accelerated payment timeline.

While the Employer has abided by those first two commitments—and while we know the implementation timeline would have been even more delayed had we not shown we were willing to take action—we are disappointed that the third commitment has been compromised.

AMAPCEO has reached out to the Employer to express our frustration and disappointment with this further delay, and to urge them to do whatever it takes to process payment as soon as possible.

We have tremendous respect for our colleagues, the hardworking public servants processing pay—it is complex, time-consuming work, and it is work on which all of us rely.

The issue here is clearly of a lack of capacity—an issue that could have been avoided had the government heeded our advice to invest in public services and end the hiring freeze. 

Regardless, a contract is a contract. Rest assured that your union will once again put pressure on the Employer to pay you what you are owed.

AMAPCEO is also continuing to pursue our union-wide Association Dispute against the Employer over their decision to delay implementation of the negotiated 1% across-the-board salary increases (effective April 1, 2024), a violation of our AMAPCEO–OPS Collective Agreement. We will share more information on this legal challenge as we have news to share.