Bill 124 Information Update
On November 29, 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (commonly known as Bill 124) was unconstitutional because it violated section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and could not be saved by section 1. CUPE participated with other unions in the legal challenge as part of the Ontario Federation of Labour coalition and this is an important win. The decision is here.
The court has not yet ruled on what remedy will flow from its finding that Bill 124 was unconstitutional, so we will need to wait to comment further on how this decision might impact collective agreements negotiated under Bill 124 like the expired 2019-22 CUPE-OSBCU Education Worker agreements. In addition, it is important to note that the government has announced that it intends to appeal the decision.
The current tentative agreement for renewal central terms that CUPE-OSBCU members are voting on for the 2022-2026 period was negotiated after the end of Bill 124 restrictions for the Education Sector—it was the expired 2019-22 collective agreements that were affected. Therefore, this decision has no immediate impact on the current ratification vote underway.
We will follow up when we have further information to share on this topic.
