February 04, 2009
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Rollback riles RCMP
Kitimat Northern Sentinel
Nathan Cullen says he’s getting letters from Northwestern RCMP officers upset that the federal government has rolled back a promised wage increase.
The Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP said he’s received about a dozen such letters since the federal government announced last December it was trashing a commitment to provide a three-year wage increase package of 3.5 per cent, 2 per cent and 2 per cent.
Instead, the federal government said it was rolling the increase back to 1.5 per cent a year for each of the three years.
“Here we have a Conservative government that’s willing to lie to the RCMP officers of this country,” said Cullen last week. “How do you trust a government like that.”
While the letters may come from rank and file RCMP officers, Cullen said he’s also hearing a level of concern about the pay issue from the force’s senior commanders in the Northwest.
Those comments come from regular conference calls Cullen says he has with the commanders of the more than one dozen RCMP detachments scattered throughout his riding.
A Terrace RCMP officer who is one of two who represents the force’s 880 members on labour relations matters in northern BC isn’t surprised Cullen’s receiving letters.
They stem from a campaign underway to publicize the wage rollback issue and to gain support for restoring the increases, says Sergeant Bill Casault, a staff relations representative.
RCMP members are not unionized in the traditional sense and they do not take part in collective bargaining, but they do have officers appointed as representatives for other issues.
“In June 2008 our pay committee had an agreement, a handshake agreement, with Treasury Board – that’s who pays the bills – but on Dec. 11, 2008 they rolled it back,” he said.
“A few members might say it’s only $56 a pay cheque – and that’s before taxes – but it’s a matter of principle,” Casault added.
RCMP members have since challenged the rollback by asking for a judicial review, a process in which a judge is asked to review the lawfulness of a decision made or action taken by a public body.
He said the rollback would place RCMP officers 34th in terms of police pay across the country – and that’s despite a previous promise to keep their wages near the top within Canada.
As it is, two per cent of the promised 3.5 per cent in the first year was meant as a pay equity hike, he said.
That means it will be harder to recruit members, harder to keep officers, and reduce the incentive for senior officers to stay, Casault added.
A first year RCMP constable earns $46,000 a year, and that rises to the $70, 000 range within three years.
New officers in municipal detachments can make as much as $10,000 more a year than new RCMP officers.
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