Some Ontario education workers getting retroactive salary bumps as remedy to Bill 124, union says

Some 55,000 Ontario education workers will receive salary increases to compensate them for constrained wages under a law known as Bill 124, after the Ontario School Board Council of Unions reached a deal with the province for repayment, the union says. 

In a statement released Thursday, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) said its education workers will receive retroactive salary bumps as a result of its agreement with the province. 

"After a very long day of meetings, we are pleased to share that we have reached an agreement with the Crown and CTA regarding remedy for Bill 124," reads a statement posted Thursday on X, formerly Twitter.

"The ability of the OSBCU to reach this deal in a timely manner is directly related to the worker power that has been built over the last year and continues to build today."

OSBCU says the deal would retroactively compensate education workers with 0.75 per cent increases for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. It would also include an amount between 1.5 per cent and 3.25 per cent for 2021-2022, which will be determined by an arbitrator.

The union says wage rates in the 2022-2026 collective agreements will also be increased and wage hikes will be pensionable.

The 2019 law, Bill 124, capped salary increases for public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years. An Ontario court has declared it unconstitutional, ruling that it infringes on the workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. 

Since the ruling, arbitrators have awarded additional retroactive pay to several groups of workers, including nurses and other hospital workers, ORNGE air ambulance paramedics, and college faculty.

Most recently, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario ratified a new contract last month which included an agreement on a Bill 124 remedy.