{"id":202203,"date":"2020-01-07T16:37:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T16:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/new-rcmp-union-hopes-to-start-salary-bargaining-by-mid-march.html"},"modified":"2020-01-07T16:37:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T16:37:04","slug":"new-rcmp-union-hopes-to-start-salary-bargaining-by-mid-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/new-rcmp-union-hopes-to-start-salary-bargaining-by-mid-march.html","title":{"rendered":"New RCMP union hopes to start salary bargaining by mid-March"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The head of the new union for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says he hopes to be at the bargaining table in just a few weeks, kicking off a process that could see policing costs rise in much of the country.<\/p>\n

National Police Federation President\u00a0Brian Sauv\u00e9\u00a0said RCMP members repeatedly have told the union \u2014 which, after a years-long fight, received certification back in July\u00a0\u2014 that pay, resource levels and benefits\u00a0are their top concerns.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

This week, the federation will confirm its elected board and then appoint a bargaining committee, he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll continue with a little bit of research and hopefully we’ll be in the full throes of collective bargaining by mid-March 2020 and go from there,” said\u00a0Sauv\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Since this is the first time the RCMP has had a union, it’s not clear how long the bargaining process might take. But with\u00a0more than\u00a020,000\u00a0police officers serving with the RCMP, any kind of pay boost likely would come with added costs for all levels of government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond its federal policing obligations, the RCMP is the local police service in\u00a0150\u00a0communities across the country. The RCMP’s contract policing is set up through agreements, in place until 2032, negotiated between the three levels of government.<\/p>\n

The provinces and territories pay the bulk of the cost of their policing contracts\u00a0\u2014 about 70 per cent \u2014 while the federal government covers the rest.\u00a0Municipal RCMP contracts are based on a number of different cost-sharing scenarios\u00a0based\u00a0on\u00a0a community’s size and the date it first signed a policing agreement with the RCMP.<\/p>\n

According to the RCMP’s latest figures, last updated in 2016, a constable makes between $53,000 and $86,110, while a staff sergeant\u00a0can make between $109,000 and just over $112,000.<\/p>\n

The contract model has come under pressure in recent years.<\/p>\n

The city of Surrey, B.C., home of the\u00a0country’s largest RCMP detachment,\u00a0is in the process of\u00a0severing ties with the RCMP and moving\u00a0to an municipal police force by 2021<\/a>,\u00a0despite the likelihood of incurring extra costs. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum\u00a0campaigned on the pitch, arguing an independent force would provide more specialized and accountable services for Surrey.<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney\u00a0also has mused<\/a> about ending his province’s contract with the Mounties.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"
National Police Federation President Brian Sauv\u00e9, second from the right, says he hopes to start collective bargaining by mid-March 2020. (Fred Chartrand\/Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

Sauv\u00e9\u00a0said many RCMP members across the country feel overworked,\u00a0and that fatigue is undermining\u00a0their morale and mental health.<\/p>\n

“I think the biggest thing we could do to solve the problem is maybe hire more cops,” he said. “That’s a hard problem but an easy solution.”<\/p>\n

The anticipated\u00a0bargaining session was included in the new mandate letter for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, whose portfolio includes the RCMP. The minister was instructed to “support the president of the Treasury Board in building a relationship and bargaining in good faith with the newly formed RCMP union.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the\u00a0Treasury Board Secretariat said the government is committed to negotiating with the union “in good faith.”<\/p>\n

“Out of respect for the collective bargaining process, we will not comment on negotiations,” the statement continued.<\/p>\n

The road to the bargaining table started in early 2015, when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a law<\/a>\u00a0that specifically prevented\u00a0Mounties from unionizing. The court ruled the law\u00a0violated RCMP officers’ charter right\u00a0to freedom of association.<\/p>\n

RCMP\u00a0officers had\u00a0been barred from forming a union since the 1960s, when other federal public servants gained the right to collective bargaining. It\u00a0was one of the only police forces in Canada with that restriction.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Article source: https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/rcmp-union-bargaining-march-1.5416128?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of the new union for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says he hopes to be at the bargaining table in just a few weeks, kicking off a process that could see policing costs rise in much of the country. National Police Federation President\u00a0Brian Sauv\u00e9\u00a0said RCMP members repeatedly have told the union \u2014 which, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-202203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}