In 2019, the Ontario government implemented Bill 124, a law designed to cap salary increases for broader public sector workers at one percent per year for three years in an effort to eliminate the budget deficit. The legislation met with substantial opposition from unions representing over 800,000 workers, including nurses and teachers, who contended that it violated their constitutional rights. The Ontario Superior Court ruled the law unconstitutional in 2022, compelling the province to repeal the legislation and allocate $6.7 billion in retroactive pay increases to affected workers. Additionally, the legal battle incurred over $4.3 million in legal fees for Ontario taxpayers.
In 2019, the Ontario government passed the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, also known as Bill 124, which limited public sector workers’ compensation increases to a maximum of one per cent a year for three years—including for unionized workers as their contracts expired.
This legislation steamrolled the constitutionally protected rights of three-quarters of a million public servants in Ontario, including most AMAPCEO members.
AMAPCEO was a founding member in a coalition of more than forty Ontario unions that won a constitutional challenge against the bill in November 2022. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice found Bill 124 unconstitutional and struck it down.
The government appealed the ruling, which the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld in February 2024. With that second loss, the government finally relented and announced it would repeal the legislation.
The Ontario Public Service (including Supply Ontario, before it became a standalone unit) and the Ontario Health - Quality Unit were the only AMAPCEO bargaining units to reach a collective agreement during Bill 124’s wage-restraint period. The union negotiated a re-opener clause in both contracts.
For the Ontario Public Service, AMAPCEO secured an arbitrated remedy of 6.5%, above the 3% that the union negotiated while still under the restraints of Bill 124.
AMAPCEO is re-engaging the Ontario Health – Quality Unit and Supply Ontario employers to seek remedies for Bill 124.
The repeal of Bill 124 means that the law will no longer apply to other previously affected AMAPCEO bargaining units.
Not only was the legislation unconstitutional, it weakened Ontario’s already thread-bare public services.
Bill 124 was most visibly disastrous on Ontario’s health care system, where it worsened pressures on the province’s nurses and hospitals after decades of cuts and underfunding compounded by the crisis of the pandemic.
The law also disrespected public servants’ contributions to the province.
Each of Ontario’s public sector workers bring their all, every day, and especially during the pandemic. AMAPCEO members have risen to the occasion, using creativity, experience, and dedication to respond to the emergency in ingenious new ways and keep public services operational—all while balancing their own family responsibilities and the whiplash stop-start of remote work and learning.
The positions affected by Bill 124 were predominately held by women. The same is true for AMAPCEO members, of which nearly two-thirds are women. Meanwhile, some male-dominated public service fields were unaffected by the legislation and saw wage increases as high as 11.1 per cent over five years.
