The AMAPCEO union and the Ontario government have agreed to a four-year contract that freezes salary increases in the first two years, with 1.4 per cent hikes in each of the following years.

AMAPCEO president Gary Gannage, who harshly criticized the Liberals for what he called "punitive" clawback requests earlier this year, said late Tuesday there was a shift in attitudes after the June 12 election, where the Liberals and Kathleen Wynne were returned with a majority in the Ontario legislature..

"In the pre-election period... the employer (the government) opened with initial proposals that had significant areas of cuts, concessions and clawbacks. We said in the past our goal was to assure our rights were retained and to maintain job security and health benefits," Gannage told QP Briefing on Tuesday, after information on the tentative agreement had been sent to AMAPCEO members.

The agreement would expire on March 31, 2018. Gannage compares the 1.4 per cent increases in 2016 and 2017 to the increases the Ontario Nurses Association saw from arbitration rulings earlier this year.

The Liberals have repeatedly insisted that there is no new money for compensation increases, and are likely to claim a partial victory given the two years of freezes in the first half of the agreement.

"I think both parties can say they achieved some of the results they were looking for," Gannage said.

AMAPCEO - the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario - represents about 12,000 managers in the Ontario public service.

The union and the government also agreed on a joint committee to investigate the levels of compensation for AMAPCEO members compared to similar positions in the private sector. AMAPCEO says that while the Ontario Public Service pays at or above private sector market rates in lower-level positions, the pay for higher-level managers in the OPS is substantially lower than they could command on the open market.

Gannage said the union also managed to address some of the clawbacks the government demanded in 2012.

The agreement's details were sent out to AMAPCEO membership late Tuesday, and will be released publicly on Wednesday. Gannage says they'll be able to "judge whether the bargaining team succeeded." The agreement is still subject to ratification by the union and government.

The Liberals declined to comment on the agreement on Tuesday, saying the government would wait for union ratification. On Sunday, President of the Treasury Board Deb Matthews thanked AMAPCEO "for working with us at the bargaining table to reach this tentative agreement."

"This agreement shows that when partners commit to work together to negotiate, the result can be both fair and responsible for our employees and Ontario families alike," Matthews said.

Gannage said the election, and the shifts in the Liberal cabinet, complicated negotiations this year.

"This has been one of the more challenging rounds of bargaining from so many different levels," Gannage told QP Briefing Tuesday afternoon. "The government was elected with a majority, and we all know what that means... but you also had different people responsible. You had Deb Matthews, who's a formidable minister"

The appointment of Reg Pearson as Associate Deputy Minister to Matthews was also an important move in negotiations. Pearson was moved from the Ministry of Labour to the position of ADM in Matthews' Treasury Board in July.

Negotiations between the government and AMAPCEO had reached unprecedented levels of acrimony earlier this year, with AMAPCEO voting overwhelmingly for an unprecedent strike vote, and the government seeking a no-board report that could have been the first step to a job action.

One of AMAPCEO's primary objections was being forced to take what they say are unfair concessions in compensation after already agreeing to a two-year wage freeze in their 2012 agreement with the government.

With AMAPCEO behind them, the Liberals can now look forward to negotiations with teachers and other large public sector unions later this year.

Gannage: AMAPCEO negotiations ‘saw a shift’ after Liberal win

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