Join the Fight!
By Angie Speers, Local 684, InSolidarity Committee Member
Did you know that up to 40,000 OPSEU/SEFPO members are still suffering from Ford’s unconstitutional Bill 124?
I’m sure you all remember 2019 when Doug Ford recklessly flexed his union-busting agenda and enforced Bill 124 placing a 1 per cent wage cap on public sector workers for a term of three years.
Shortly after, Bill 124 was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court as it violated our Section 2(d) Constitutional right to free and fair collective bargaining. This Bill was then repealed in February 2024, but many of our Broader Public Service (BPS) members are still without an adequate remedy.
Members who bargain together in large groups — such as OPS, LBED, and HPD — have received compensation for Bill 124. BPS units are smaller and bargain individually with their employer, this disjoints the worker power because they lack one central table.
So, what are we going to do about it? What we do best, stand together and fight back!
You can help right now by sending a message to Doug Ford!
But it’s going to take more than just emails to win this fight. Here’s the background:
Thousands of members still out in the cold
The workers who haven’t yet been paid back for Bill 124 are primarily in these BPS sectors:
- Developmental Services (Sector 2) – roughly 13,200 OPSEU/SEFPO members
- Children’s Aid (Sector 4) – roughly 2,500 members
- Community Agencies (Sector 5) – roughly 4,200 members
- BPS Corrections (Sector 7) – roughly 1,000 members
- Universities (Sector 9) – roughly 7,500 members
- Child Treatment (Sector 15) – roughly 3,900 members
- Community Health Care Professionals (Sector 17) – roughly 4,700 members
- Mental Health and Addictions (Sector 18) – roughly 11,400 members
All of the Locals in these sectors bargain their collective agreements independently which can be both positive and negative. These units have autonomy over their demands and can negotiate for things that will have a meaningful impact for their membership.
However, the downside is that being systematically divided without a central table, the units are smaller, which diminishes their power, proving that there truly is strength in numbers.
The OPSEU/SEFPO members that have received a Bill 124 remedy all bargain centrally, which means that thousands and thousands of members are represented at the table, while some BPS units represent less than 20 members.
See the struggle?
When a local, consisting of 20 members, sits down to negotiate do you think it would have the same impact on the government as a sector representing 8000+ members? Highly unlikely.
Evening the odds with coordinated bargaining
The Worth Fighting For campaign has been developed to give BPS locals the structure and power that they don’t normally have, through coordinated bargaining.
This round of bargaining will be different from previous rounds because ultimately this demand is to the government directly, whereas past negotiations for these units only involve demands to the employer.
While Doug Ford has made living difficult for the members of these units due to unfair wages, he has also been withholding much needed funds from our public service agencies for years. This chronic underfunding has led to inadequate staffing levels, unsafe working conditions, and closures of much needed services.
Not only do the members deserve to be paid fairly, but the agencies desperately need the funding to make that happen. Additionally, our communities deserve to have the services available to them when needed, instead of having to go on years-long waitlists.
Our main demand in the Worth Fighting For campaign is a 6.5 per cent retroactive wage increase covering increases members should have received during the Bill 124 years. These three years of increases will be funded by government through a base-funding increase earmarked for wages and without the risk of layoffs:
- 2019 – 2 per cent
- 2020 – 2 per cent
- 2021 – 2.5 per cent
We’ll continue bargaining directly with our employers for increases and other improvements for 2022-2026.
What is the plan to win?
The Worth Fighting For Campaign Working Group, campaigns staff, and member mobilizers have been working together for months to have our members made whole.
The campaign is rolling out in phases. Each phase focusses on the locals with similar expiry dates, meaning that they will be entering bargaining around the same time. From there, each step is coordinated with the other locals in the campaign, effectively creating an ad-hoc central table that has long been denied. All of the locals are still bargaining their own agreements – but they are linking arms and taking steps together to increase their power.
Phase 1 (for locals with expiry dates on or before March 31, 2025) has roughly 45 Locals, representing approximately 7,000 members. These units have all filed their notice to bargain and for conciliation at the same time. They have members signing petitions and completing other structure tests to measure their engagement levels. Once the current structure test reaches 70 per cent involvement, the locals will take further steps to move them towards legal strike action.
While increased funding is the goal, not a strike, withholding our labour is our greatest power as workers. We no longer have to roll over and take the scraps being offered because now, instead of being a local of 20 in a rural northern community, we are part of thousands and thousands of workers across Ontario who are also ready to withhold their labour.
As we escalate, potentially up to the point of a labour disruption, the Ford government will be forced to negotiate with us.
While Phase 1 is organizing their membership to potentially take this step, OPSEU/SEFPO has announced – with the support of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – our intention to take legal action to get a fair and equitable remedy. Additionally, over 70 notices to bargain for Phase 2 (expiry on March 31, 2026) units have been filed.
Every move that has been made was strategically planned to continually add layers of pressure until this government finally makes this right. These members deserve this just as much as our Union siblings in other sectors who have already received their remedy.
How can you help your union siblings? Stand with them and show support!
If you are a member working in a sector that’s still waiting for Bill 124 payback, please reach out to your bargaining team and let them know you are ready to fight and not back down. Help spread the word about this injustice to our members and their communities. Attend rallies and community events.
If you are not in an impacted sector, you can still help! Please show up at our rallies, help spread the information, write to you MPP and let them know how wrong it is that these members were not included when $6 billion was paid to workers in other sectors for a remedy — tell them its shameful to decide that the hard-working members in these sectors deserve less!
Most importantly, if it comes down to it, support us by standing shoulder to shoulder with us on our picket lines.
Together we can accomplish big things! Together we can insist on positive change! Together we are UNION STRONG!
Stand with us and fight back – we’re Worth Fighting For!