Wednesday, December 18, 2019
With Bill 124, the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019, the government set public sector wage increases at a maximum of one per cent a year for three years—including for unionized workers as their contracts expire. Except for Health Quality Ontario, whose contract expires next year, AMAPCEO members would not be affected until 2022 at the earliest.
As we wrote in June when the bill was introduced, the legislation steamrolls the constitutionally-protected rights of hundreds of thousands of public servants in Ontario. I believe that your rights—and indeed, the rights of all workers across the province—are paramount and must be defended.
That’s why AMAPCEO is working with nine other public and private sector unions to launch a coordinated Charter challenge to Bill 124. At the same time, our friends at the Ontario Federation of Labour are launching a campaign to demand the government repeal this unconstitutional legislation.
Goldblatt Partners, Canada’s leading lawyers in labour and employment law, will be serving as counsel for the union coalition. The firm has worked with AMAPCEO since our earliest days, and we will be well-served by their team, which includes partner Steven Barrett.
You may recall that the previous government’s Bill 115 interfered with collective bargaining in the education sector—a move the courts rules violated workers’ Charter rights. Facing legal challenges, a coordinated resistance campaign, and public opposition, the bill was repealed.
Working together, we will defend our right to bargain collectively—the best way for all parties to achieve fair contracts.
We will keep you updated as the challenge and campaign proceed. There’ll be ways you can get involved—please stay tuned.
Wishing you all the best for a new year, and please remember—we are stronger together.
Dave Bulmer
President & CEO