What happened to Ontario Bill 124?

Ontario's government says it will withdraw Bill 124, a law that would have limited salary increases for public sector workers for three years, after a provincial court upheld a decision that found it unconstitutional.

See how we got here:

What is Bill 124?

The Safeguarding a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act received royal assent on November 7, 2019. The purpose of the bill was to cap public sector wages to help address the deficit.

Officials argued that the law should be “exclusive and time-limited.”

Who did it affect?

Bill 124 affected all public sector workers such as teachers, nurses and other civil servants.

When did he go to court?

The legislation was heavily criticized, especially by trade unions representing public sector employees.

Ten petitioners sued, alleging the bill violated a section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects meaningful collective bargaining. The province argued that the Charter does not guarantee “unlimited annual salary increases for public sector employees.”

What happened?

In November 2022, Judge Markus Koenen issued an 80-page ruling stating that the bill violates the 124 petitioners' right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“The statute protects not only the right to organize, but also the right to a meaningful process that allows unions to bring workers' concerns to the table and have them discussed in good faith,” Koenen wrote.

The government said it would appeal the decision, arguing that the “financial impact of the law's increased compensation substantially interferes with defendant's rights to a meaningful collective bargaining process.”

What happened to the appeal?

On Monday, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the workers, finding that the collective bargaining rights of public sector employees had been violated.

“Because of the law, organized public sector workers, many of whom are women, racialized and/or low-income, have lost the ability to negotiate for better compensation or even better working conditions without monetary value,” it said. writes in the court decision.

The court said that even when governments seek to increase compensation on a particular issue, they cannot override the collective bargaining process.

However, the court found this action unconstitutional only for unionized workers.

What's next?

Ford's government said Monday night it would not file another lawsuit. The government has said it will take steps to repeal Bill 124 in the coming weeks. He also said he would introduce provisions to exempt non-union and non-union workers from Bill 124 before it is repealed to “address worker inequality.”

While the case is pending in court, the government has been slow to pay these workers, including nurses and teachers, compensation for lost wages.

How much does it cost?

Premier Doug Ford told reporters the government had “spent billions” on Bill 124. While the Progressive Conservatives did not put a dollar figure on the legislation, a report by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario estimates the cost between 2022 and 2028 would be about $13.7 million. billion

“FAO's current expenditure forecast now assumes that all union and non-union public sector workers affected by Bill 124 will receive wage increases to adjust for the impact of the legislation,” the report said.

“In addition, the province has recorded a $2.5 billion contingent liability in Ontario's public accounts for 2022-23 to recognize the potential impact of retroactive payments.”

In 2022, the FAO estimated that the government would have to pay about $8 billion if the lawsuit were successful.