Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW) Bill 124 Update

Click here to download this notice in PDF formatThe Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW) intends to file a “me too” grievance with the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA) and through them the Crown. The basis of the “me too” grievance is that the parties agreed to language in the Memorandum of Settlement which agreed that percentage salary increases given to other education worker tables would be given to workers represented by OCEW.This grievance process will run parallel to the Bill 124 constitutional challenge that multiple OCEW signatories have underway currently.In December 2023, the Ministry of Education came to the OCEW table, offering a “Me-Too” agreement such that our members will get what is being given to the CUPE educational workers as follows:

• i) September 1, 2019: 0.75%
• ii) September 1, 2020: 0.75%
• iii) Same as final decision as per the OSSTF arbitration

The Government made it clear that the unions that are part of OCEW would have to sign away their rights to seek remedies under the constitutional challenge to Bill 124.OCEW has decided to turn down the Ministry’s proposal and instead file the “me-too” grievance. Individual unions affiliated with OCEW remain free to pursue a Bill 124 remedy with the Government should they wish to do so.The Ontario Council of Educational Workers is a bargaining council made up of six unions – COPE Ontario, Essex and Kent Counties Skilled Trades Council, Labourers’ International Union of North America, Maintenance and Construction Skilled Trades Council, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, and Unifor, representing over 9,000 workers in 26 bargaining units at Public and Catholic School Boards across Ontario.