David Wright, Mae J. Nam, and Rebecca Jones are proud to have represented OPSEU/SEFPO at the Superior Court and Court of Appeal for Ontario in the Charter challenge to the Ford government’s Bill 124. which limited wage increases for approximately 800,000 workers in the broader public sector to just 1% per year for a three-year moderation period. Under Bill 124, organized public sector workers, many of whom are women, racialized and/or low-income earners, lost the ability to negotiate for better compensation and non-monetary improvements to working conditions.
In February 2024, the majority of the Court of Appeal, found that Bill 124 substantially interferes with collective bargaining rights. The Court of Appeal found that that the Act violated section 2(d) of the Charter due to the following combination of factors:
- The Act affects employee wages, a matter of central importance to collective bargaining;
- The circumstances leading up to the passage of Bill 124 and the characteristics of the Act substantially impact the ability to participate in good faith collective bargaining and consultation;
- The Act did not come after a significant or meaningful process of collective bargaining;
- No meaningful consultation over Bill 124 took place; the broad definition of compensation significantly limits the areas of potential negotiation left on the table for collective bargaining;
- The Act does not provide a meaningful avenue for negotiating or seeking potential exemptions from the 1% cap in appropriate circumstances; and
- The 1% cap on salary and compensation increases does not replicate collective agreements reached in other public sector bargaining.
The Court of Appeal also found that Bill 124 was not a reasonable limit on the rights of workers protected under s. 2(d) and therefore that the Bill could not be not “saved” under s. 1 of the Charter. As such, the Court of Appeal declared that the Act is unconstitutional insofar as it applies to unionized employees.
Read the Court of Appeal’s full decision here: https://coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/item/22091/index.do