(Update) Ontario public servant unions rally against return-to-office mandates by province

Hundreds of public servants rallied outside Queen's Park on Thursday to protest the province's return-to-office mandate, in the latest outcry from Canadian workers opposed to the waning of pandemic-era hybrid work arrangements across multiple sectors.

The province announced its decision in August to move away from remote and hybrid work, requiring employees to work in-office five days a week by Jan. 5, 2026.

It was a move that reflected "the current workforce landscape in the province," Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney said at the time.

Some private-sector companies, such as Canada's four major banks, had already announced they would require employees to be in the office more often starting this fall. And since Ontario's announcement, municipalities such as Brampton and Ottawa have followed suit.

Workers descended upon Ontario Police Memorial Park, adjacent to Queen's Park over the lunch hour Thursday, waving flags that read "remote work works!" and chanting that phrase in unison. 

"The world has changed," said Dave Bulmer, president of AMAPCEO, in his speech to demonstrators Thursday. His union represents over 14,000 public service employees across a range of administrative and professional roles.

"If the goal really is to protect Ontario, then it would seem the most logical thing the premier and the secretary could do would be to place their trust in public servants who have never let them down."

Government employees turned to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, with hybrid models introduced in the following years. More than half of them are already required to be in office full-time.

AMAPCEO and other public-sector unions have forcefully opposed the government's move to phase out remote work, arguing it offers benefits such as improved work/life balance and higher productivity. 

A petition launched by AMAPCEO has garnered 13,000 signatures in support of a policy reversal.

But Premier Doug Ford has said he believes in-person work is better for productivity and downtown businesses are suffering from a loss of foot traffic. 

Liz Tuomi, a spokesperson for Mulroney, said Thursday the union's response was disappointing and "distracts from the work underway to return to a five day in-office standard." 

For many public service workers, hybrid work has become the norm for them, Bulmer told reporters at the rally, adding that a return-to-office mandate will be costly for workers who need to commute more and others on the road.

"The reality is that my members don't live downtown. Nobody can afford to live downtown, so they're going to have to now congest all those highways," Bulmer said.

He added that he thinks the public servant workforce will see a recruitment and retention issue moving forward if hybrid work is no longer offered.

"The trade-off's always been job security and pensions. If they don't have the work/life balance, they may decide to go somewhere else," Bulmer said.

Another concern among unions is a lack of office space members will be met with when returning in office full time.

"Of my 16,000 members, we believe there are seats for just over 13,000," said Bulmer.

Tuomi said the province is reviewing all government office space "to identify if there are any space limitations," and added that many workspaces are not at full capacity under the current hybrid model.

Amanda Usher, a bargaining chair for another union that represents Ontario government workers, said in an interview that the province’s announcement brought about a lot of "anger and fear."

She said many members of the OPSEU union chose their jobs with the public service because of the hybrid arrangement's allure. 

"And now this government is disrespecting not just the workers, but the process that has been agreed to for many, many years," she said. 

The president of PEGO, which represents over 600 professional engineers and land surveyors, said the decision is "completely unnecessary." 

Nihar Bhatt said he hopes that the government reverses its decision.

"We work on long-term projects on major — what the prime minister calls 'nation-building projects.' This kind of stuff is a distraction," he said. 

"We bent backwards for the government. We've been flexible," Bhatt said, referring to his union’s quick response to adopt stay-at-home mandates at the beginning of the pandemic. 

"What we did was we gave flexibility and we got rigidity in return."

Smaller rallies were also organized across the province in Guelph, Kingston, Oshawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines and Sudbury on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.