OPP bargaining starts amid Bill 124 limbo union seeking salary increases

Members of the Ontario Provincial Police are starting negotiations for a new contract, looking for wage increases as their union says they've fallen behind many municipal counterparts.

O-P-P Association president John Cerasuolo says members currently rank 29th in the province for salary compensation when compared to other police services and that's unacceptable.

But there is a potentially complicating factor.

The O-P-P-A's last collective agreement ended on December 31st, 2022 and the next contract was supposed to be captured by Ontario's controversial wage restraint law enacted in 2019.

Known as Bill 124, the law limited wage increases to one per cent a year for three years for broader public sector workers.

It was struck down in late 2022 as unconstitutional but the government appealed, and that ruling could come any day.

So the O-P-P-A is bargaining in a limbo period of sorts, since the provisions of Bill 124 don't currently apply -- but they could apply if the Appeal Court reverses the earlier decision and upholds the law.