Bill 124 was designed to injure the ability of unions to represent their members. It was also designed to prevent workers from achieving decent wages and working conditions. Now it is gone, thrown out by the courts of Ontario and mercifully laid to rest by the Legislature. But the damage is still to be repaired. The challenge now is to win back what could have been ours were it not for this legislation. Currently, we are in negotiations with Nellie's and with Red Door, two of our bargaining units badly injured by Bill 124. We are centering our compensation demands around the damage done by Bill 124. At WoodGreen Community Services, we concluded an agreement one year ago which began the process of repairing the losses. But we have much further to go. In order to repair the damage, the government of Ontario will have to come up with money to chase past losses. Social service agencies are only funded for the future, not the past.
March 15, 2024
Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy Minister of Finance Minister.fin@ontario.ca
Hon. Caroline Mulroney President of the Treasury Board minister.tbs@ontario.ca
Dear Ministers,
As you know, Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act has been ruled by the Ontario Court of Appeal as unconstitutional. AB a result, your government has made the decision not to appeal the ruling and has repealed the legislation.
WoodGreen Community Services and Worker United Canada Council (WUCC) Local 154 call on the government to invest in the sectors severely impacted by Bill 124. The Bill limited multi-service community agency’s ability to recruit and retain workers due to three years of wage constraints.
WoodGreen and WUCC Local 154 entered into negotiations in the summer of 2020 under the constraints which limited increases to compensation and benefits to no more than 1% for each of the following three years. These constraints limited WoodGreen's ability to address priority changes to the terms of the Collective Agreement and restricted the Union from advancing their members' position that higher wage rates were necessary to address the widening gap between themselves and workers performing similar work.
The Ontario government has been addressing the impacts of Bill 124 with their workers, and those within the hospital and education sectors. This is a good first step to address the impacts that Bill 124 has had with unionized workforces that were adversely affected with this legislation. However, the Ontario government must also act to address the impacts that Bill 124 has had on our recruitment and retention challenges.
We are encouraged that the province has repealed the legislation and now has the opportunity to truly help sustain and expand community and social sectors.
WoodGreen and WUCC Local 154 call on the Ontario government to provide multi-service community agencies with unionized staff retroactive payments in form of base funding, that can be dedicated to address wage constraints that were in place for the past three years.
Sincerely,
Randall Freeborn
Senior Vice President of People &
Strategic Initiatives
WoodGreen Community Services
Allyson Cullen
Workers United Canada Council WoodGreen Community Services
Local 154 President
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