CUPE 3902, among other unions representing workers at U of T, is pursuing damages in court against the Ontario government to secure retroactive pay increases following the repeal of Bill 124.

Bill 124, which capped public sector employee wage increases at one per cent annually starting in June 2019, was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Court of Appeal and repealed in February 2024. Since then, the Ontario government has renegotiated union contracts and paid over six billion dollars in retroactive wage increases to affected workers. However, most of these payments have gone to unions with reopener clauses in their contracts — clauses that allow parties to renegotiate specific terms due to a change in circumstance. 

None of U of T’s contracts with unions contain reopener clauses — hence why these unions have taken the Ontario government to court. 

The Varsity examined the Ontario government’s response and the unions’ efforts to negotiate compensation in the wake of Bill 124’s repeal.

Ontario government’s retroactive pay increases

By fall 2024, the Ontario government had largely distributed settlement packages to unions with reopener clauses in their contracts, such as the Ontario Nurses Association, AMAPCEO, Ontario’s union for government professionals, and Canadian general trade union Unifor. 

However, the process of providing retroactive pay for unions without reopener clauses has proven more difficult. In these instances, unions have been encouraged by the government to request renegotiations with their employers, who then need to seek approval from Ontario’s Treasury Board — which is responsible for reviewing all government spending and approving labour contracts — before any back pay agreement can be reached.

In an interview with Global News over the summer, CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn stated that many workers have found this renegotiation process confusing and frustrating. Hahn further claimed that some employers have told CUPE members that they simply don’t have the money to renegotiate.

U of T’s labour contracts

A report to the Business Board about the university’s recent collective agreements noted that the absence of reopener clauses means it has “minimal responsibility” for the financial damages caused by Bill 124. As a result, the university has resisted “significant union pressure” to provide retroactive pay to cover losses workers sustained during the three-year Bill 124 moderation period. 

Jennifer Harmer, a PhD candidate at the Centre of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, believes that the university is “taking a wait and see approach” to whether the Ontario government will ultimately mandate the university to pay retroactive wage increases before taking any further action. 

In an email to The Varsity, Harmer explained that all public universities in the province are funded and directed through government legislation through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. Additionally, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development supervises labour relations between unions and universities, in particular. 

“This could influence the university employers[’] ability to negotiate with unions,” she wrote. 

For example, the government may constrain the ability of publicly funded universities to generate revenue and place heavy pressure on them to cut costs. “Unfortunately, the cost of labour is a frequent target,” Harmer wrote.

The Business Board report noted that the absence of reopener clauses in their union contracts, coupled with high inflation, meant that “the University spent significantly less on labour costs relative to inflation for the 6 years that include the Bill 124 moderation period, as compared to previous years, since at least 2005.”

Since union contracts with the university don’t include reopener clauses, unions have now been forced to seek alternative ways to recover lost wages — in this case, through the courts. 

In an email to The Varsity, CUPE 3902 President Eriks Bredovskis wrote that CUPE 3902 — which represents U of T’s sessional lecturers, postdoctoral researchers, and teaching assistants — has been pursuing remedies through the court system alongside its “sibling CUPE Locals and other public sector unions.”

“Our union leaders are leading the charge in the courts, and, to the best of our knowledge, we are waiting for dates for the hearing,” Bredovskis wrote.

When asked how the university is responding to legal action being pursued by unions, a U of T spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that “questions regarding legal action by unions in relation to the Ontario government are for those unions to address.”

Harmer noted that Bill 124 has “really constrained [U of T] management’s ability to negotiate with workers” and finds it “unfortunate that [the bill has] created so much confusion and backtracking in the collective bargaining process.”

When asked whether the university administration has set aside funds in the case a court orders them to provide retroactive pay increases, the university’s spokesperson declined to comment.