AMAPCEO, formerly known as the Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario, is a Canadian trade union representing mid-level public servants in Ontario. It was founded in 1992, recognized as a union by the provincial government in 1995, and negotiated its first collective agreement in 1996. , AMAPCEO represents over 14,000 professional and supervisory public servants who either work directly for the Government of Ontario in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) or in seven bargaining units outside the OPS in the Broader Public Sector (BPS). It is the second largest public sector union in Ontario after the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which generally represents more blue-collar workers.
Overview
AMAPCEO-represented employees in the OPS work in every government ministry and in a number of agencies, boards and commissions in over 130 cities and towns across Ontario, and in twelve cities outside Canada. About eighty per cent of AMAPCEO members work in the provincial capital city of Toronto. Members include: policy analysts, financial analysts, auditors, economists, mediators, arbitrators, educators, information technology professionals, scientists, chaplains, veterinarians, program supervisors, clinical co-ordinators, psychiatric patient advocates, media relations and communications officers, epidemiologists, arts granting officers and many others. The union also represents senior economic officers in the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, who are based in Canadian high commissions, embassies and consulates abroad.
, AMAPCEO represents over 14,000 professional and supervisory public servants.
The seven BPS bargaining units consist of the:
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, an independent agency created to improve consumer and pension plan beneficiary protections; Office of the Ontario Child Advocate, originally established as an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and now the Children and Youth Unit in the Office of the Ombudsman (also an independent office of the Legislature); Public Health Ontario, an independent provincial Crown agency; Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care (formerly the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre), which was the final psychiatric hospital divested from direct provincial government control; Evidence Development and Standards Department at Health Quality Ontario, now part of the broader agency known as Ontario Health), responsible for promoting and measuring quality assurance in the health-care sector; Ontario Arts Council, an independent agency that promotes and funds artists and arts organizations; and, Office of the French Language Services Commissioner, originally established as an independent office of the Legislative Assembly, but now part of the Office of the Ombudsman
AMAPCEO also had a BPS unit representing the Ontario Racing Commission until its 2016 merger with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
History
Until February 1994, when the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act was amended, the mid-level professionals in the Ontario public service now represented by AMAPCEO did not have collective bargaining rights and could not legally form a union. The larger Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) had lobbied the Ontario government for decades to extend collective bargaining to this group. In 1992, what would become AMAPCEO started as a grassroots organization representing the mid-level professionals of the Ontario public service. In 1993, AMAPCEO negotiated a Social Contract sectoral framework agreement with the provincial government on behalf of 12,000 non-unionized civil servants.
OPSEU attempted to win certification as the bargaining agent for the majority of the approximately 7000 employees with newly-granted collective bargaining rights. However, its insistence that existing OPSEU members would have seniority over all potential new members was unpopular. The potential new members also identified as professionals and not blue-collar workers. OPSEU's organizing drive failed and AMAPCEO decided to operate as a separate union. In January 1995, AMAPCEO was certified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board as the bargaining agent for its 4,600 members. The union was voluntary recognized by Premier Bob Rae's government as an official bargaining agent shortly afterwards.