Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says he plans to follow the province’s lead and require city employees to return to in-office work full-time next year.
The provincial government announced Thursday that public servants will be required to be in the office four days a week beginning Oct. 20, and ramp up to five days a week by Jan. 5.
Brown said on a Newstalk 1010 radio show on Friday morning that the decision to follow suit in Brampton was made Thursday evening. He said the province’s decision was “long overdue” and that in-office work is better for productivity.
“This is a legacy of an accommodation,” Brown said. “It was brought in during COVID. As much as there are some benefits, you don’t get the same level of productivity. The challenge was no one wanted to be the first mover on bringing this policy back out of fear that you might lose staff.
“The fact that the province is doing this is great,” Brown continued. “It will set the tone. I think it will have a cascading effect with other public servants.”
Members of Ontario’s public service have flooded social media with hundreds of posts sharing their unhappiness with the new mandate.
“There are a lot of municipal public servants who have already been back to work, in person, full time,” the Brampton mayor said. “Firefighters, police officers, transit workers. For the remaining staff that are not, I think it will be a bit of an adjustment, but I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Public service union AMAPCEO is encouraging workers to sign a petition it published on Friday morning asking the provincial government to reconsider the decision.
With files from Lucas Casaletto of CityNews