Allison Jones, The Canadian Press Posted Friday, May 27, 2022 11:48 AM EDT Last Updated on Friday, May 27, 2022 5:10 PM EDT
TORONTO – Contract negotiations with more than a million wider public sector workers in Ontario may look different after the election, with three major parties pledging to end wage moderation and Progressive Conservatives promise to negotiate “rightly so.”
The NDP, the Liberals and the Greens are committed to repealing legislation that limits public sector wage increases for workers such as teachers and nurses.
Progressive Conservatives introduced legislation in 2019 to limit the increase in compensation in public sector contracts to one percent annually. The provisions would be in place for three years, and Conservatives said in 2019 it was a time-limited approach to help eliminate the deficit.
With some major contracts, such as with teachers, at the end of the year on Friday, Conservative progressive leader Doug Ford was asked if he would pledge not to introduce any new wage restraint legislation.
“As these contracts expire … I can tell you right now that we are sitting down, negotiating fairly and supporting my frontline workers.”
But labor law expert Sara Slinn said that due to the timing of the three-year term for each contract, some public sector workers will still be subject to wage restrictions in the coming years, while others no.
“For a significant number of public sector bargaining units, Bill 124 is a lively and ongoing issue,” said Slinn, an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.
“And it is very problematic, because for the collective agreements that are being negotiated right now, or that have just been concluded, etc., it is in a context where there is a very important inflation without any immediate end in sight. . So, bottom line is that this is a very significant and effective cut in compensation. “
The legislation, known as Bill 124, landed amid already tense negotiations with teachers, further complicating negotiations. Nurses have also complained that the legislation puts them under effective cuts while being hailed as pandemic heroes.
Progressive Conservatives have offered nurses a $ 5,000 “withholding” bonus, but nurses say it is not a replacement for a pay raise and will not help with withholding.
“Bill 124 prevents nurses from freely negotiating a fair and respectful collective agreement and has pushed large numbers of exhausted and traumatized nurses and Ontario health professionals away,” said Cathryn Hoy, president of the ‘Association of Nurses of Ontario in a statement Friday.
“Law 124 has worsened an already critical nursing shortage and its ‘retention bonus’ is not the significant action needed to start addressing this shortcoming on a permanent basis.”
NPD leader Andrea Horwath said the controversial legislation known as Bill 124 was disrespectful.
“It cannot be claimed that the last two years have not meant wage cuts for these workers, but with inflation as high as it has obviously been, these people have made cuts,” he said on Friday.
“What I’m going to do is negotiate with respect and good faith, and they haven’t seen it in this province in a long time.”
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner has also said he would repeal the legislation.
Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca said repealing the law would be his top legislative priority if he is prime minister.
“Doug Ford chose to bring it forward before the pandemic, which basically removes the rights of front-line health workers and education workers, including nurses and PSWs, deprives them of the right to bargain in a free, fair and open. “He said.
“We will restore that right.”
When the Progressive Conservative government introduced the legislation, it said it was spending about $ 72 billion a year on public sector compensation.
Del Duca said his liberal plan includes about $ 16 billion over four years in contingency funding, which would be enough to absorb the compensation increases that would come from freely negotiating with the public sector.
There is also an ongoing constitutional challenge to Bill 124, although Slinn said wage restraint legislation is “a very difficult thing” to challenge from a constitutional standpoint.
“If this is successful, it will be extremely expensive for the government,” he said.
Teachers’ unions won a lawsuit a few years ago against the Liberal government. Legislation known as Bill 115 froze some of his wages and limited his ability to strike, and the judge ruled that the government “substantially interfered with significant collective bargaining.”
Ontario was left with more than $ 100 million in union resources.
Slinn said an important difference between accounts 115 and 124 is that the current one has a limited time.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 27, 2022.