OPS Unified Members Win Big at Wage Reopener Table!

We’re delighted to inform you of the successful mediation and arbitration between your OPS Unified Bargaining Team and the employer this past weekend!The Award issued by Arbitrator Gerry Lee includes the largest increases (9.5% across the board spread over three years) that OPS Unified has seen since 2012.

“This is a direct result of OPS Unified members refusing to back down. Your perseverance is what moved the needle in our favour. The last offer the employer made was a mere 0.75% wage increase – this marks a significant increase from there. Thanks to you and your unwavering solidarity, we were able to win the largest increases in nearly 12 years! These historic gains will help reverse the harmful impacts of the Ford government’s unconstitutional wage restraint legislation, Bill-124, that were felt by all OPS Unified members and position us well for the next round of bargaining.”

– OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick

Many of you wore black in solidarity, showed up to rallies to support your Bargaining Team and thousands of you sent a message to your political representatives to ramp up the pressure. You also recruited hundreds of leaders and together we are talking to more OPS Unified members than ever before.We’re going to build on this win and take this energy to the next round of bargaining until we get what we deserve.The Award issued by Arbitrator Gerry Lee includes the following:Wage increasesInclusive of the 1% already agreed upon in the signed 2022 Collective Agreement, there were Across the Board increases of:Year 1 – 2022:  3% Year 2 – 2023:  3.5% Year 3 – 2024:  3%Special CasesThe arbitrator also identified several job classes with significant hiring and retention issues related to wage disparity and awarded immediate Special Wage Adjustments to those classes as listed in Appendix A of the Award.In addition to the Award, the agreement includes a new dispute resolution process to address the outstanding special cases that had been submitted to the original Bargaining Team that did not receive Special Wage Adjustments as part of the Award.Formalizing this new framework to process these special cases is a massive win as it creates a new mechanism for us to fight for the gains that OPS Unified members in many job classes have been fighting for.Once we have more information regarding implementation of the Award and the new dispute resolution process, we will communicate it with OPS Unified members right away.

Overview of the Wage Reopener process

This final round of mediation occurred over the weekend of January 19, 2024. Your OPS Unified Bargaining Team and the employer met in Toronto with Arbitrator Gerry Lee in attempt to mediate the Wage Reopener negotiations as per the Wage Reopener Letter.We met with the employer on two previous occasions but were either offered nothing at all, or wage increases that did not meet the needs of workers.When we were unsuccessful and unable to reach an agreement, the parties agreed to an arbitrated process. The OPS Unified Bargaining Unit does not have the legislated right to arbitration under the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act (CECBA). Therefore, the team had to bargain an agreement with the employer to allow arbitration.These negotiated increases are awarded to remedy the impacts of Bill 124.  As a result, OPS Unified members will not receive a further financial remedy if one is ultimately ordered in the Charter Challenge that OPSEU/SEFPO filed in March 2020.

This is just the beginning!

The historic gains we have seen in this Wage Reopener process position us well for the next round of bargaining.Now is the time to prepare! To kick it off, elections for you to select your next Bargaining Team are happening in February! We’ll be in touch with more details soon.We can’t take our foot off the pedal just yet, but for right now, we hope you’re able to take a moment and celebrate this massive win, and all of the work you put in to make it happen.This government may think that their majority means they hold all the power. But this win is proof that when we build worker power and solidarity, we can handle whatever they throw at us.The Bargaining Team represents all 30,000 OPS Unified members, and we thank all of you for standing strong. Your commitment and solidarity made this possible.