THE FREEZING EFFECT OF PUBLIC-SECTOR BARGAINING - THE CASE OF ONTARIOCROWN EMPLOYEES

This article examines the impact of a narrow scope of negotiable issue s on employees, unions, and the bargaining process in the Ontario gove rnment sector. The third-party negotiability procedure was found to ha ve a ''freezing effect'' on collective bargaining in two ways. First, by enshrining management's rights in the statute, the law effectively fossilized labor relations, preventing dynamic change from occurring. Second, the process itself froze negotiations through delays and emplo yer challenges to employee priority issues. The article concludes with an outline of the 1993 reform of this restrictive labor relations sys tem highlighted by the introduction of the right to strike and the rem oval of limitations on the scope of negotiable issues.