Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Last year, an arbitrator awarded in favour of a coalition of five Ontario Public Service (OPS) employee unions, led by AMAPCEO, in a dispute over the Ontario government’s refusal to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2022. The arbitrator ordered that, going forward, September 30 be treated as a paid holiday and further, that it should have been observed as a paid holiday in 2022.
AMAPCEO maintains its members were forced to work overtime on September 30, 2022, and as a result, are owed a remedy of 7.25 hours at a rate of pay of 1.5 (overtime rate).
Unfortunately, the parties were not able to come to an agreement on the form of remedy (payment at time and a half for everyone employed on September 30, 2022) and so the matter has been returned to the same arbitrator for determination.
Due to the different collective agreements among the members of the coalition of unions, a remedy will now be determined separately for each individual union.
AMAPCEO will continue to keep members informed of this issue as it progresses.