A provincial judge has determined that contracts imposed on teachers in the fall of 2012 violated the rights of education unions.

Passed in September 2012, Bill 115 allowed the Ontario Liberal government to impose contracts on approximately 126,000 teachers and education workers, freezing the wages of most, cutting benefits, and limiting their ability to strike.

Multiple unions – including the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) – launched a Charter challenge arguing the law violated their constitutional rights.

The controversial law was axed four months later.

In his 84-page decision Wednesday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Lederer ruled in favour of the unions.

"I find that considering the overall process undertaken, the actions of Ontario substantially interfered with meaningful collective bargaining," he wrote.

"It is telling that although all sectors were experiencing the same fiscal concerns, Ontario allowed for free negotiations and did not interfere with collective bargaining in any other sector."

“This is a total vindication of our pursuit of democratic rights on behalf of our members,” ETFO president Sam Hammond said of the decision in a release issued Wednesday.

“ETFO and its legal counsel acted as the lead in launching the Charter challenge in the fall of 2012 because, by imposing the terms and conditions of our members’ contract, the Ontario government abrogated teachers’ collective bargaining rights, including their right to strike.”

Paul Elliot, president of the OSSTF, said the decision “reconfirmed the importance of free, fair and meaningful collective bargaining.”

“Justice Lederer confirmed what we believed all along,” Elliot added in a statement.

“It is unfortunate that the government’s approach created such unnecessary and negative consequences for the education sector.”

A spokesperson for Education Minister Liz Sandals said that they are currently reviewing Lederer’s decision.

“We value the important work that teachers and education workers across the province do every day to support our students’ achievements and well-being,” Nicole McInerney said in a statement Wednesday night.

“Since 2012, our government has worked with teacher federations, education worker unions and school boards to introduce the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act. We are pleased under this legislation we have successfully reached nine central collective bargaining agreements.”

Lederer left the matter of determining a remedy up to the government and the unions.

- With files from The Canadian Press.