The government has announced that Royal Canadian Mounted Police Civilian Members will join the federal public service on May 21, 2020.
The ‘deeming’ of RCMP CMs was initially scheduled for April, 2018 but was delayed because of ongoing problems with the Phoenix pay system.
Acting RCMP Commissioner Daniel Dubeau believes the new deeming date will allow the government to stabilize Phoenix before RCMP CMs join the federal public service.
No need to risk Phoenix
PSAC and USJE see no reason to make any assumption about when Phoenix will be stabilized and continue to advocate that RCMP CMs should not be moved to Phoenix until all federal public service workers are paid accurately and on time.
“No reasonable person would add the additional strain of these members to the Phoenix pay system if it can be avoided,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “RCMP civilian members should not have to worry if they will suffer a negative impact when they join the federal public service.”
The RCMP currently manages its own internal pay system with a team of compensation advisors to distribute pay to its members. This system can and should be used to continue to pay RCMP members accurately and on time.
RCMP CMs still without union representation
RCMP CMs will also now need to wait two more years before they receive the protection of union representation and labour relations stability.
In December, PSAC filed applications under Section 58 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act to place RCMP CMs into PSAC bargaining units and offer them all the protections of their respective collective agreements.
However, RCMP CMs are still awaiting a decision from the FPSLRB.
Freeze on terms and conditions
PSAC is also engaging the federal government for RCMP civilian members’ existing benefits to be guaranteed until PSAC can negotiate those improvements into new collective agreements.
That would mean a complete freeze on the terms and conditions of employment.
CMs offer bargaining input
RCMP CMs invited from across Canada spoke to issues important to your community at the PSAC’s Treasury Board National Bargaining Conference. The conference brought together hundreds of workers from across the federal public service to discuss and prioritize issues leading into the next round of collective bargaining.
RCMP CMs will play a key role in shaping the future of Canada’s federal public service.