Ontario’s air ambulance service must pay its paramedics retroactively, in what’s called a pay cap law bill 124 was killed, an arbitrator has ruled.
A law limiting pay rises for wider public sector workers to three years was struck down as unconstitutional in November, but the government is appealing it.
Uniform, which represents paramedics orangestated that through 2021 their contract, which was subject to Bill 124, had a re-opener clause stating that they would receive an additional one percent for each of the three years if the law was repealed or deactivated. Pay retrospectively.
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Members of the organization, which work in both air and ground ambulances, went to an arbitrator to enforce that clause, and in a ruling this week, he directed the employer to make the payment within 30 days.
Orge said he intends to comply with the decision.
“Orange’s priority has always been to secure a fair and competitive agreement with paramedics, while having a sound reservoir of provincial funding,” the organization said in a statement.
Orge had argued before the arbitrator that the appeal should make its way through the courts before any decision on payment could be made, as it would not be good for labor relations if the government would have to take back the money should it win the case.
But the arbitrator disagreed, saying that the workers should not wait for the final decision of the courts for payment.
“(The contract) states that if a certain event occurs _ Bill 124 is scuttled _ then certain payments will follow,” William Kaplan wrote in a ruling this week.
“It is fairly true that the constitutional decision is subject to appeal, but importantly no stay has been sought. Furthermore, should the lower court’s decision be overturned, there is no bar to the employer from recovering this overpayment.” Will not be able to
The decision could have implications beyond paramedics, as Bill 124 affected the province’s more than 700,000 employees, including nurses, teachers and public servants.
Ontario’s fiscal accountability officer wrote in a report in September that Bill 124 was set to save the province $9.7 billion on public sector salaries and wages, although a successful appeal could all but wipe that out.
The FAO wrote that if overturned and repealed, it could cost the province $8.4 billion over five years, including a potential $2.1 billion in retroactive payments.
Lana Payne, the national president of UNIFOR, said in a statement that she congratulated the paramedics for “fighting back”.
“These are the victories that fuel us and prove that we should never give up,” she wrote.
A spokesman for Attorney General Doug Downey said that because the matter is still before the court, it would be inappropriate to comment.
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