Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledges there is a “bump” in his plan for all civil servants to return to the office five days per week, as the government searches for new workspaces to accommodate the move.
Monday is officially the first day when government employees are required to report to work all week, yet the province still hasn’t sorted out workspaces for everybody.
“I think we have room for the majority of people,” Ford said during an appearance at Queen’s Park on Monday. “We’ll get through this. There’s a little bump, we’ve been working on this for the last little while.”
The government has, for months, refused to disclose how many spaces it needs for civil servants, how much it could cost and where they might be.
Ford on Monday promised his office would make the total cost public. That figure has not yet been released.
The end of remote work options for civil servants was announced in the summer, when the government ordered all Ontario Public Service employees back to the office, beginning on Jan. 5.
Get daily National news
The mandate sparked protests and complaints from unionized workers, who rallied at Queen’s Park, arguing they were more efficient with the option to work at home, which became the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AMAPCEO and other public-sector unions forcefully opposed the government’s move to phase out remote work, saying it offers benefits such as improved work-life balance and higher productivity.
A petition launched by AMAPCEO garnered 13,000 signatures in support of a policy reversal.
On Monday, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members at Ontario Health atHome organized a provincewide day of action to protest the return-to-office mandate, saying workers would take their lunch breaks on the street to demand a return to the hybrid model.
“Available office spaces have shrunk since 2019, which has resulted in an uneven application of the return to office mandate in the various regions across the province,” a news release from CUPE said.
While the government is pressing ahead with its mandate, the LCBO — a Crown agency — has been forced to delay its own return to work, telling staff it doesn’t have the space to accommodate them.
“It’s great to get everyone back to work, like every other normal citizen. You go out there and you work five days a week,” Ford said Monday.
Asked why he could work from home while the legislature is not sitting, but civil servants could not, Ford said, “This job is 24-7, 365.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.