An Ontario court has struck down a law that limited wages for public sector workers.
A decision released Tuesday from the Superior Court of Justice says the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, more commonly known as Bill 124, "is not a reasonable limit on a right that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society under s.1 of the charter."
Justice Markus Koehnen says the law infringes on the applicants' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, in a manner he calls "substantial interference." You can find the full decision at the bottom of this story.
As part of the decision, Koehnen says Ontario has not explained why it was necessary to infringe on constitutional rights to impose wage constraints while at the same time providing tax cuts or licence plate sticker refunds more than 10 times larger than the savings from the wage-restraint measure.
Koehnen adds he is "mindful" of an appeal court ruling that "judges ought not to see themselves as finance ministers."
Still, he says he is bound by decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada that guarantee a constitutional right to collective bargaining.
Groups representing several hundred thousand public sector employees challenged the constitutionality of Bill 124, a law passed in 2019 that limits wage increases at one per cent per year for Ontario Public Service employees as well as broader public sector workers.
The province argued the law did not infringe constitutional rights.
Unions representing government workers, teachers, nurses and university faculty members argued the law had taken away meaningful collective bargaining, thereby violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The provisions of the bill were to be in effect for three years as new contracts were negotiated, and the Tories had said it was a time-limited approach to help eliminate the deficit.
The case was heard for two weeks in September.
Court heard the law affects more than 700,000 workers in the province. It does not apply to municipalities, First Nations and Indigenous communities, and for-profit companies.
Ontario wasn't under financial strain, judge says
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), one of the applicants in the case, tweeted that it's pleased with the decision.
"This ruling validates the rights of workers to free and fair bargaining," the OSSTF tweeted.
Health-care workers have long called for Bill 124 to be repealed. They've also said it has contributed to the health-care crises in Ontario, which has seen nurses and personal support workers recently leave the profession in droves.
The province had argued it was under severe financial strain when it implemented the new law.
But the judge disagreed.
"On my view of the evidence, Ontario was not facing a situation in 2019 that justified an infringement of charter rights," Koehnen said.
"In addition, unlike other cases that have upheld wage restraint legislation, Bill 124 sets the wage cap at a rate below that which employees were obtaining in free collective bargaining negotiations."
