Savings and Restructuring Act, 1996 (Bills 26, January)
Schedule Q to Bills 26 set out a number of criteria that arbitrators are required to consider in making a decision or award, including the following:
? the employer’s ability to pay in light of its fiscal situation;
? the extent to which services may have to be reduced, in light of the decision or award, if the current funding and taxation levels are not increased.
Public Sector Transition Stability Act, 1997 (Bills 136, June)
Under Schedule A to Bills 136, an interested arbitrator is also required to take into account “best practices that ensure the delivery of quality and effective public services that are affordable for taxpayers”.
Social Contract Act, 1993 (Bills 48, July)
The Act provided for compensation reduction targets to be reached through eight sector-wide agreements covering all public sector workers in the province. Where agreements were not reached, employees earning over $30,000 per year were required to take unpaid leave days, equivalent to a 4.6 percent annual wage rollback; a three-year wage freeze was also imposed.
Submitted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the Service Employees International Union, Local 204 (SEIU) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) (November 1997).
All three of these pieces of legislation were found not to comply with the principles of freedom of association.