A recent letter from the president of the Treasury Board to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) helps to clarify many of the outstanding issues related to the deeming of Civilian Members (CMs) in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) into the federal public service.
RCMP civilian members will be deemed into the Public Service Employment Act on April 26, 2018.
PSAC and the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE) believe that employees should not suffer a negative impact because of this process, and that their existing terms and conditions of employment should be “grandparented” where reductions would otherwise occur.
“Without an agreement to “grandparent” these employees, we are concerned that some may lose rights and benefits that they currently have,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President in a letter to Treasury Board President Scott Brison. “This is unacceptable and does not show these valued employees the respect that they deserve.”
PSAC raised several concerns, which were addressed by Minister Brison:
- No employee should be worse off under a new collective agreement.
Deemed employees will maintain their existing retirement age and join the employer’s insurance and benefit plans without any lapse of service. Employees will also have full opportunities for career mobility and advancement in the broader public sector. The Government of Canada has no plans to undertake unilateral changes to terms and conditions. PSAC is working with the employer on a process to negotiate the treatment of differences found in CMs’ terms and conditions. - All RCMP civilian members should receive the pay package afforded to regular RCMP members.
TB: The rates of pay for civilian members are pay matched to the rates of pay of similar groups within the public service. “The majority of CMs will receive pay increases once the collective agreements for these groups are signed,” stated Minister Brison in his letter. The collective agreements of the PA, TC, SV, and EB groups have since been signed, on June 14, 2017. - CMs from the Police Operations Support (PO) group should also benefit from the same protection.
TB: The terms and conditions for the PO group, which is currently unrepresented, will follow those outlined in the Technical Services (TC) group’s collective agreement.
“Once collective agreements are ratified, salary adjustments for pay-matched CMs can begin,” stated Minister Brison. [Since Minister Brison’s response, the tentative agreements have been ratified; we currently await processing of retroactive payments.]
The Treasury Board has not yet issued a decision on whether and how rates of pay will be adjusted for PO members.
The Treasury Board is awaiting the consent of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Board to implement pay increases in the LES and PO groups that would match the increases of the TC group.
For more information about the deeming process, please see our Q&A for RCMP Civilian Members.