An arbitrator has awarded wage increases totaling 14 per cent over four years to workers at a Pickering retirement home, resolving a dispute that left the collective agreement expired for nearly three years.
The arbitration board awarded general wage increases of four per cent in each of the first two years and three per cent in each of the final two years of a new collective agreement covering approximately 27 employees at Amenida Pickering, operated by Primacorp.
The ruling, issued October 6, 2025, applies retroactively to January 1, 2023, when the previous collective agreement expired. The new agreement runs through December 31, 2026.
The arbitration proceeded under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act, with wage rates and retroactivity being the only two outstanding issues between Service Employees International Union, Local 1 Canada and the employer. The parties had reached agreement on all other matters during collective bargaining.
Bargaining unit composition
The bargaining unit includes nine full-time employees, 14 part-time employees, and four casual employees working in the following classifications: cook, cook assistant, dietary aide, guest attendant, and personal support worker.
The employer operates a retirement home in Pickering that offers independent, supportive, and assisted living services to residents.
The union issued notice to bargain a renewal collective agreement on October 3, 2022. The parties engaged in collective bargaining sessions in July 2024 and again in July and August 2025. A no board report was issued on September 24, 2024.
Statutory considerations
In reaching the award, the arbitrator applied criteria set out in the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act, including 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, the economic situation in Ontario and in the municipality where the facility is located, a comparison of terms and conditions of employment between the employees and other comparable employees in the public and private sectors, and the employer’s ability to attract and retain qualified employees.
The arbitrator also considered principles routinely applied in interest arbitration, including replication, comparability, demonstrated need, and total compensation.
Retroactivity provisions
The award directs the employer to pay retroactivity amounts by separate cheque to current members within three full pay periods of the date of the award.
Persons who worked during the period from January 1, 2023 onward but who are no longer employed will also be entitled to payment of retroactivity.
The employer is directed to send a registered letter within three pay periods from the date of the award to the last known address of each former member advising them of their right to retroactivity. Former members will have 30 calendar days from the date of mailing to claim payment. Members who fail to claim their payments within the 30-calendar day period will be deemed to forfeit any claim.
The award notes that timelines for retroactivity are effective upon the resumption of regular mail delivery services, indicating the ruling was issued during a period of postal service disruption.
Jurisdiction dispute
The employer objected to the application of the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act to this bargaining unit but agreed, on a without prejudice and precedent basis, that it would not pursue that objection in this proceeding.
The award states that the decision does not preclude the employer from advancing that objection in subsequent rounds of collective bargaining.
Partial dissents
Both the union nominee and employer nominee filed partial dissents to the award, though the ruling does not detail the specific grounds of their disagreement with the chair’s decision.
The arbitrator’s award incorporates all items agreed upon by the parties during collective bargaining, any unamended and undeleted items from the expired collective agreement, and the wage and retroactivity determinations.
All proposals not granted in the award were rejected.
All items awarded are effective the date of the award unless otherwise indicated.
The arbitrator remained seized with respect to interpretation and implementation, to correct any inadvertent errors or omissions, and until a collective agreement is signed.
Extended negotiation timeline
The case reflects a lengthy period between the expiry of the previous collective agreement and resolution of the dispute. The agreement expired December 31, 2022, with the union issuing notice to bargain in October 2022, but substantive bargaining did not occur until July 2024, nearly 19 months later.
The parties engaged in additional bargaining sessions in July and August 2025 before referring the outstanding wage and retroactivity issues to arbitration, with a hearing held by video conference on October 6, 2025.
The four-year wage pattern awarded by the arbitrator results in cumulative increases of 14.6 per cent when compounded over the term of the agreement. The front-loaded structure provides larger increases in the first two years at four per cent annually, followed by three per cent increases in years three and four.
The retroactive payments will cover nearly three years of wages from January 1, 2023 to the date of the award in October 2025, representing a substantial financial obligation for the employer to fulfill within the three-pay-period deadline.
For more information, see Service Employees International Union, Local 1 Canada v Primacorp o/a Amenida Pickering, 2025 CanLII 101833 (ON LA).
