Here is more information regarding how unions representing a wide range of Ontario’s public sector workers – from teachers to nurses to hospital janitors – fear that legislation to freeze or limit their wages is on the way.
The Ford government is meeting with the unions for what it describes as “consultation sessions” on reining in public sector pay. One of the proposals floated by the province: capping future wage increases through legislation.
An interesting point in this CBC news article is that it’s far from clear that negotiated pay hikes with public sector unions are to blame for Ontario’s deficit. As the government’s own statistics reveal, the average wage settlements in the public sector have actually been lower than those in the private sector for five years running as illustrated in the Annual Average Wage Increases in Ontario Collective Bargaining table in the article.
Here is a link to the full CBC news article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-union-negotiation-wage-cap-legislation-1.5126776
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Pat Kennedy, President
OPSEU Local 415