We walked out.

Since the Employer announced a return to four days in the office, thousands of members in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) have defended remote and hybrid work, because we all know remote work works.

Thousands of members have taken action through our Remote Work Works campaign, and more than 6,500 AMAPCEO members in the OPS have requested a remote work alternative work arrangement. Next to no one has received a response.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working in good faith with the OPS Employer. AMAPCEO leadership and staff have been proactively proposing smart solutions to help speed up the review process to address the delays. We’ve been exploring every possible opportunity to get the Employer to ‘yes’ on as many of these requests as possible.

And over the last few weeks, we had reason to be optimistic.

Cut to today.

At our monthly meeting with the OPS Employer this morning, their representatives made it clear: the OPS Employer has no plan, no intention, and no motivation to review these requests.

So, we walked out.

For more than 15 years AMAPCEO members in the OPS have been able to request to work remotely one or more days a week. During the worst of the pandemic, working remotely, we successfully kept the government operational.

In the last round of bargaining, we successfully defended our right to request remote work and to have these requests considered in good faith. 

The OPS Employer is using policy—and now delay—to force through what couldn’t be wrested from us during free and fair collective bargaining.

It is unfair to have kept members waiting for so long.

It is a violation of our collective agreement.

It is audacious to claim to be overburdened by a problem of their own creation and expect us to be understanding and patient.

And it is bad faith on the part of the OPS Employer.

Today, I told the OPS Employer that we will not be returning to the AMAPCEO–Central Employee Relations Committee (ACERC) table until they’re ready to discuss these issues in good faith.

We’re exploring yet more legal options to ensure the OPS Employer follows our collective agreement, respects members’ rights, and protects flexibility in the modern workplace.

And we’ll be taking our Remote Work Works! campaign to the next level. We’ll be asking you to take action.

For now, please wear your Remote Work Works! button. Display your desk flag and tent card and keep sending your return-to-office horror stories to news@amapceo.on.ca.

More to come.

Stronger together,