Additional information on the Ford government’s budget

Dear members,

This bulletin is a complement to our previous bulletin on the Ford government’s first budget. The Treasury Board has been engaged in a consultation with public sector employers and bargaining agents about achieving “reasonable public sector compensation growth.”

The government shared the following questions to frame the consultation:

1. Elements of collective agreements could help or hinder our overall ability to achieve sustainable levels of compensation growth; and collective agreement provisions that work well in one sector may have unintended consequences in another. Are there aspects of the collective agreement(s) in your organization(s) that affect the ability to manage overall compensation costs?

1. Potential opportunities to manage compensation growth could take different forms, for example, growth-sharing, as identified in the September 2018 line-by-line review of government spending. Are there any tools to manage compensation costs that you believe the government should consider?

1. While no decision have been made yet, the government is considering legislated caps on allowable compensation increases that can be negotiated in collective bargaining or imposed in binding arbitration. We wish to engage with you in good faith consultations on this option and invite your feedback. What are your thoughts on this approach?

1. Many different approaches to managing compensation growth and overseeing collective bargaining are in place in other jurisdictions, including other Canadian provinces. Are there any tools applied in other jurisdictions which you think would work in Ontario? If so, what is the proposal and how would it work? (Treasury Board Secretariat, April 4, 2019)

The APUO is very concerned about the bias contained in these questions and on the possible interference of the government in our collective bargaining process. Please find here the APUO’s written submission to the Treasury Board. Please see here the OCUFA’s full submission. 

We will continue to monitor the government’s actions on this matter, and we will keep you updated on any potential developments that may arise in the coming weeks.