Ontario Appeal Court rules Ford government’s Bill 124 is unconstitutional

Ontario will move to repeal a controversial law that limited raises for public service after the province’s top court has ruled it was unconstitutional on Monday.

The Ford government says it will move to repeal the bill in its entirety rather than appealing the decision from the court.

While labour groups and unions were celebrating the ruling, they now join opposition leaders in asking the Ford government to do the right thing and listen to workers.

The Court of Appeal found in favour of the workers, which includes teachers and nurses, in a 2-1 decision.

The Progressive Conservatives enacted the law, known as Bill 124, in 2019 as a way to help the government eliminate a deficit.

READ MORE: Ontario projecting $4.5B deficit this year in third-quarter finances

It capped salary increases for public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years.

Many union leaders say it drove healthcare and education workers away.

“For education, for example, we were already out not being in pace with inflation so our wages were already about 15 per cent behind where it should be.” explains Karen Brown, President of the Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario.

“People have left to go to other jobs,” says Karen Littlewood, President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. “To go to the private sector, there are so many absences in schools right now that are being filled with unqualified individuals.”

The law sparked widespread outrage among labour groups and opposition parties, with its effects on the health sector a particular focus, as critics say it’s partly responsible for driving nurses out of the profession or into private nursing agencies, where the pay is substantially higher for the same work.

READ MORE: Ontario teachers awarded additional pay to compensate for wage restraint law

Labour groups and unions representing hundreds of thousands of public sector employees challenged the law, and the Ontario Superior Court in late 2022 found it infringed on collective bargaining rights, striking it down as unconstitutional.

“We are now calling on ford to do the right thing, to actually work for workers so that workers who have been harmed by this bill can now see remedy to their paycheques.” said Ontario Federation of Labour President, Laura Walton.

Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, also spoke on the ruling.

“Most of these people we’re talking about is mostly women, often black and racialized workers,” he said.

“These workers must see the same kind of remedy that has been able to be established for some healthcare workers, some teachers. That their be actually remedy in wages retroactively applied for everyone who was impacted.”

This report was created with files from The Canadian Press 

READ MORE: Ontario public servants awarded additional pay in wake of Bill 124 ruling