Ontario's public elementary and high school teachers who had their wages capped under Bill 124 are now entitled to a 4.25-per-cent increase in retroactive pay overall after an arbitrator awarded them an additional 2.75 per cent increase.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Ontario’s English public-school teachers and education workers will receive roughly a 4-per-cent increase in retroactive pay as part of an arbitrator’s ruling.
The decision, released on Friday, will affect members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF).
The unions argued that the government’s controversial wage-restraint law, introduced in 2019 and known as Bill 124, was unfair because it infringed on collective bargaining rights by capping wages at 1 per cent a year over three years. The government argued that Bill 124 was necessary to help shrink its deficits.
In Friday’s decision, arbitrator William Kaplan awarded teachers and education workers 2.75 per cent for the last year of the three-year contract. This was on top of the 0.75-per-cent increases negotiated as a remedy in each of the first two years. That amounts to a 4.25-per-cent increase in retroactive pay.
Teachers and education workers would receive a compounded 7.41-per-cent wage increase for the three years, which included the 1-per-cent annual increase allowed under Bill 124, according to the unions.
ETFO president Karen Brown said in a statement that while her union welcomed the decision, “it does not replace the loss of our members’ bargaining rights. This arbitration award is a clear acknowledgment of the egregious, unlawful suppression of wages that deliberately undermined our members’ rights and livelihoods.”
Similarly, Karen Littlewood, president of the OSSTF, said in an interview Friday that money was “stolen” from teachers, the majority of whom are women. “It should never have come to this,” she said.
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce did not immediately respond to the decision.
Education support workers who are members of the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, an affiliate of CUPE, negotiated with the government to receive the same arbitration outcome as ETFO and OSSTF, and will receive retroactive pay.
An appeal court ruling on the constitutionality of Bill 124 is expected to be released on Monday. In November, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court found that Bill 124 infringed on collective-bargaining rights. The government appealed that ruling.
Several unions, including ETFO and OSSTF, opted to have an arbitrator determine wage increases outside of the court decision. Ms. Littlewood said the appeal court ruling Monday will not affect her members.
More recently, ETFO ratified a new four-year deal with the government and school boards. However, compensation increases for educators would be decided by a third-party arbitrator, according to the agreement.
OSSTF members approved a proposal that any unresolved items at the bargaining table would be sent to an arbitrator. Ms. Littlewood said that mediation will begin later this month. An arbitrator would decide on items such as wages.
Caroline Alphonso