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Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said it was “about time” for such legislation. Though it never went to arbitration, the city’s recent deal with Toronto police — which included a nearly 12% wage hike over four years — was influenced by the threat of a higher arbitrated settlement, Mr. Holyday noted.

“We were between a rock and a hard place. You had no room to do anything. If you went to the arbitrator, you were going to lose even bigger,” he said.

Mr. Wilson’s bill would require arbitrators to take into account a number of criteria, including unemployment rates, personal income levels, comparable private-sector wages, the fiscal situation of the employer and, “if applicable,” the mandate of elected officials. That would make Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s anti-gravy platform a relevant point of consideration.

Arbitrators would have to provide written reasons “clearly demonstrating” they properly considered the criteria, states the bill, which also calls for the establishment of an Ability to Pay division within the Ministry of Finance to collect and publish arbitration data.

Mr. Wilson said he has received hundreds of supportive calls from municipal mayors and councillors since introducing the bill this month.

“We’re just trying to get a handle on an issue that’s been getting worse and worse and worse,” he said, citing as an example the recent TTC arbitrated settlement, which awarded workers a 6% pay hike over three years. “You can’t keep giving awards that are three times the growth in the economy.”