{"id":154510,"date":"2025-09-19T08:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154510\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:44:13","slug":"thousands-of-public-servants-seek-exemptions-to-ontarios-return-to-office-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154510\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of public servants seek exemptions to Ontario\u2019s return-to-office mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Protestors at the All Out For Remote Work Rally on Sept. 18, 2025. Several hundred provincial civil servants took part in the rally in front of Whitney Block, the building across from Queen\u2019s Park in Toronto.Duane Cole\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Thousands of public servants have requested exemptions to the Ontario government\u2019s upcoming order<\/a> to return to the office full-time, as unions say they are set to meet with the province\u2019s top bureaucrat later this month to plead their case for flexible work arrangements.<\/p>\n

Dave Bulmer, president of Ontario\u2019s professional employees union AMAPCEO \u2013 which has 17,000 members \u2013 said there have been about 4,500 requests for remote or hybrid work arrangements in the last three weeks. <\/p>\n

Return-to-office mandates likely to worsen Toronto traffic, experts say<\/a><\/p>\n

He said that\u2019s on top of about 5,000 people who have already been approved for alternative work arrangements, prior to the government\u2019s earlier directive on returning to the office three days a week. That means more than half of the union\u2019s workers have asked for hybrid work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a balance that can be struck here,\u201d Mr. Bulmer said. <\/p>\n

Several hundred provincial civil servants took part in a noon-hour rally on Thursday in front of Whitney Block, the building across from Queen\u2019s Park that houses offices for both Premier Doug Ford and the Secretary of the Cabinet. The crowd waved flags and chanted, \u201cRemote work works!\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Duane Cole\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents 32,000 of the province\u2019s more than 60,000 public servants, and is currently in contract talks, is also battling the move. <\/p>\n

Amanda Usher, the Ontario Public Service unified bargaining team chair with OPSEU, said the union has urged members who can work remotely to request alternate work arrangements under the existing process that is already part of OPSEU\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ford\u2019s government announced this summer that public servants who were in-office three days a week will be ordered back to the office four days a week starting Oct. 20. On Jan. 5, 2026, workers will be expected to be in the office five days a week. There are more than 60,000 employees in the Ontario public service, and the government says more than half are already required to attend the workplace full-time.<\/p>\n

The move is part of a larger cultural shift toward returning to the office, with cities such as Brampton and Ottawa also calling employees back full-time starting in January. This fall, four of Canada\u2019s Big Five banks will formally institute four days in-person<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As of September last year, federal public service workers were required to be in the office three days a week. The federal public service unions have resisted full-time in-office mandates. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The city of Ottawa risks being hollowed out by the federal government<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinion: September will bring more in-office days for many, but there is a big disconnect on the reasons to return<\/a><\/p>\n

The shift has wide-ranging consequences for workers who abandoned their commutes during the pandemic. Some moved out of urban areas to more affordable locations \u2013 or even out-of-province. <\/p>\n

Mr. Ford and others have said that returning to the office is important for workplace culture, such as mentoring, and that it will help revive downtown cores hollowed out during the pandemic shutdowns.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bulmer said he believes more people will apply for flexible work closer to the first deadline of Oct. 20. The provision for alternative work arrangements is included in the union\u2019s collective agreement, and the requests are approved by a director on a case-by-case basis, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bulmer said he and five other union heads are meeting with Secretary of Cabinet and head of the Ontario Public Service Michelle DiEmanuele on Sept. 29 to discuss the back to office directive. His union has also challenged the move under its collective agreement, saying it was done without the required two-week notice to the union.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disrespectful, to be blunt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Ontario Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney said according to the ratification with the union, the employer has discretion over in-office requirements.<\/p>\n

Spokesperson Liz Tuomi said the government communicated its return-to-office plan to the union\u2019s leadership \u201cand shared with employees once decisions were made to provide maximum notice and support a smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Mr. Bulmer noted that the union\u2019s collective agreement allows employees to ask for an exemption and only need to prove that they are able to work from home. <\/p>\n

Mr. Bulmer and other union leaders argue there is not enough space to call back every worker full-time and that it would be costly to taxpayers to acquire new office buildings. He also said renovations at the Ontario government\u2019s Macdonald Block complex, which houses thousands of public servants, are behind schedule and won\u2019t have enough space.<\/p>\n

Ms. Mulroney\u2019s office said there are \u201cmany public service workspaces across the province\u201d that are not being used at full capacity.<\/p>\n

Federal unions are also watching closely at what happens in Ontario. <\/p>\n

The return-to-office shove: Why employers chose this moment to go against worker preferences<\/a><\/p>\n

Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, which represents some 27,000 members, said his union hasn\u2019t heard from the federal government on the issue since it mandated workers back three days a week.<\/p>\n

He said the return-to-office mandate hurts productivity, and remote work frees up office buildings that could be used for much-needed housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is boiling into a conflict around the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sean O\u2019Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which represents about 60,000 federal workers, said the three-days-a-week mandate has prompted \u201cunrest\u201d among members, who value flexible work. <\/p>\n

Donna Kellway, president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys\u2019 Association which represents about 1,300 lawyers, said her members go into court five days a week when needed, adding that flexible work is particularly helpful for those caring for young children. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t broken. It was working well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Protestors at the All Out For Remote Work Rally on Sept. 18, 2025.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-154510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}