Article content
OTTAWA — RCMP members will be getting an eight per cent salary increase after an arbitration ruling that will ultimately leave provinces and municipalities across the country forced to cover the cost.
The Mounties’ contract expired last March and their union, the National Police Federation, has been negotiating with the federal government on a new deal. That agreement has not yet been reached but, according to a recently released arbitration ruling, wage increases that were a sticking point were brought to an arbitrator by both sides for a resolution.
Article content
The arbitrator ruled that Mounties should receive a four per cent increase for 2023 and another four per cent increase in 2024.
RCMP officers were previously prevented from unionizing, but won the right to bargain collectively through a court challenge in 2015 and the National Police Federation (NPF) became the police force’s first union in 2019.
The first contract the NPF signed covered six years, giving Mounties a 1.75 per cent increase in each of those years, and it caused concern for municipalities and provinces who found themselves having to cover large retroactive payments.
Tanya Thorn, mayor of Okotoks Alta., said the increase will be felt by municipalities like hers who contract with the RCMP for policing.
“Increases and items that change our bottom line, our budget, are always concerning, particularly when we’re not in control of those changes,” she said. “I think that’s been the core sticking point with the RCMP contract.”
Recommended from Editorial
Article content
The RCMP is the local police force outside of major cities in every province except Ontario and Quebec. The federal government covers 30 per cent of the cost for those contracts with municipalities and provinces covering the rest.
“We’re one of the core people that are paying for that increase, but we’re not at the table negotiating it,” pointed out Thorn, who is also a director with the Alberta Municipalities association.
Negotiations for any federal wage contract go through the Treasuary Board, Martin Potvin a spokesperson for that department said the government has to pay to hold onto the best talent.
“The RCMP operates in a policing environment where its members have skills easily transferable to other police agencies. To retain this skilled and in-demand workforce, RCMP compensation must remain competitive,” he said.
“The arbitral award includes general economic increases and a one-time allowance related to performance of regular duties which, combined with improvements previously agreed to by the parties during the course of negotiations, will form part of the new collective agreement.”
Article content
The NPF declined to comment on the not yet completed agreement.
Thorn said municipalities were told to prepare for an increase of about 3.5 per cent a year. She said the government does consult, but municipalities still don’t have a direct voice at the table. The higher cost will be felt, but she said she understands it is part of a larger trend for policing.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s an RCMP contract, a city police contract, a provincial police contract, we’re seeing policing costs across the country escalate, so this isn’t, in my opinion, an anomaly.”
She said the real challenge for municipalities is that they’re not allowed to run deficits so they have to either raise taxes or cut services when new costs come up.
“Budgets, in general, are a challenge for municipalities in that they’re getting tighter and tighter and there’s more costs that we don’t control coming to our budgets,” she said. “Municipalities are the only level of government that has to have a balanced budget, so it becomes a challenge.”
National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com
Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Share this article in your social network
