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Submission to the Ontario Government’s Consultation on Public Sector Compensation

Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Submission to the Ontario Government’s Consultation on Public Sector Compensation
May 23, 2019

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) represents some 60,000 public service professionals across the country, the majority of which are employed by the federal government. Institute membership also includes some 670 Health and Information Technology specialists employed in the Ontario provincial public sector.  

The Institute is writing in response to the request of the Ontario Government for written feedback regarding the government’s stated desire to “manage Ontario public sector compensation growth” and its contemplated use of “legislated caps on allowable compensation increases that can be negotiated in collective bargaining or imposed in binding arbitration."

In brief, it is the Institute’s position that any form of legislated caps, or other legislated interference in free collective bargaining, constitutes an unjustifiable infringement on the s. 2(d) rights of the Institute’s members. Free and fair collective bargaining is not only a process that is constitutionally protected but it is also a process that works, and that has allowed the parties to jointly determine sustainable levels of compensation for decades.

In addition to some 240 Information Technology professionals at the University of Ottawa, the Institute represents over 400 professional workers in the Ontario health sector in a number of bargaining units at different employers. Specifically, it represents the following groups:

  • Ontario Medical Physicists employed by the Regional Cancer Centres Employers Association (MP)
  • Mechanical and Electronic Technologists employed by Sunnybrook Hospital (SUN-MET)
  • Radiation Therapists employed by Sunnybrook Hospital (SUN-RT)
  • Radiation Therapists  employed by the Juravinski Cancer Centre (JCC-RT)
  • Radiation Therapist employed by Thunder Bay Regional Hospital (TBH-RT)
  • Radiation Therapists employed by Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH-RT)

These workers provide vital health services in the areas of diagnosis, treatment and research and innovation.

At the outset, it is important to note that the average annual wage increase for these workers in recent years has been 1.4%. This is well below the average annual rate of inflation and the average wage settlements in the private sector during the same time period. In other words, the current process of free and fair collective bargaining is already fully meeting the government’s stated goal of achieving “modest, reasonable and sustainable” wage settlements and there is no need nor justification for the government to interfere in this constitutionally protected process.

For some of these groups, their collective agreements have recently expired and they are in the process of bargaining. For others, their agreements will be expiring in the coming months and bargaining will begin shortly. As a result, any legislated interference in the bargaining process, through legislated caps on wages or by any other means, would have an immediate and negative impact on the Institute’s members’ rights to engage in free and fair collective bargaining.

The Institute is very troubled by the suggestion in the Ontario’s government’s public statements and in the questions that it has posed to unions as part of this “consultation” process that public sector compensation is somehow a problem that needs to be managed. This could not be further than the truth. As noted, the negotiated wages of the Institute’s own members have not kept up with inflation or private sector increases in recent years.

On this point, the Institute reiterates a number of points previously made to the government by its union colleagues in the health sector. Problematically, Ontario’s per capita revenue is lower than any other province in the country. In effect, legislated caps on public sector wages are equivalent to taxing public sector workers through mandatory unduly low wages in order to fund tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

Similarly, Ontario spends the least on public services per capita in comparison to other provinces at a time when Ontario’s population is both growing and aging, increasing the demand for public services. This approach is counter-intuitive and will only lead to a crisis in the provision of health services in the future.

With respect to the specific questions posed by the government as part of this process, the Institute’s responses are set out below:

Are there any aspects of the collective agreement(s) in your organization(s) that affect the ability to manage overall compensation costs?

No, there are no aspects of the Institute’s collective agreements that negatively affect the ability to manage overall compensation costs. As noted, the Institute’s collective agreements have consistently resulted in wage settlements that have been more than “modest, reasonable and sustainable.” Free and fair collective bargaining between the parties has allowed them to jointly agree to sustainable levels of compensation.

Are there any tools to manage compensation costs that you believe the government should consider?

With respect to other tools for managing compensation, the Institute is of the view that the existing constitutionally protected process of collective bargaining is both responsive to changing conditions and effective at “managing compensation costs.”

Given the effectiveness of the bargaining process, there is no need for the government to consider other tools used in other jurisdictions, such as “gain-sharing”.

What are your thoughts on the government imposing legislated caps on allowable compensation increases that can be negotiated in collective bargaining or imposed in binding arbitration?

In the Institute’s view, any form of legislated interference in free collective bargaining, including imposing legislated caps on wage increases, constitutes an unjustifiable infringement on our members’ s. 2(d) rights. Interfering in the constitutionally protected right to free collective bargaining will have unintended negative consequences for labour relations for years to come.

As well, given the recent history of negotiated wage increases for the Institute’s members in the Ontario health sector, which have not even kept pace with inflation, legislated wage caps are both unnecessary and unjustified.

Are there any tools applied in other jurisdictions which you think would work in Ontario? If so, what is the proposal and how would it work?

As stated, collective bargaining is already effective at achieving sustainable levels of compensation. As a result, there is no need to look at tools from other jurisdictions to manage compensation.  As well, given that Ontario’s per capita revenue is lower than any other province, the experiences of other jurisdictions is not directly applicable.

In conclusion, the Institute urges the government to not interfere in free and fair collective bargaining through legislation. To do so would not only constitute an unjustifiable infringement of s. 2(d) and but it would also undermine the process of bargaining, which has proven successful to date at allowing the parties to jointly determine sustainable levels of compensation.

Finally, the Institute submits that its written participation in the process in no way takes the place of it right to free and fair collective bargaining as guaranteed by section 2(d) of the Charter.

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CONTACT:

Pierre Villon
President’s Office
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
(613) 228-6310 ext 4928