RCMP category of employee project
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Questions and Answers

What is the RCMP’s Category of Employees project?

The RCMP is currently the only organization within the Federal Public Service to have three categories of employees: 1) regular members; 2) public service employees (PSEs); and 3) civilian members (CMs). The only other organization in the federal government that’s similarly organized is the Department of National Defence, but it only has two categories of employees, one for regular members of the Armed Forces and the other for public service employees.

The RCMP has been struggling for years with the inefficiencies and duplication of policies and programs that come with having three categories of employees. To help them solve these problems, they hired Deloitte & Touche, a private consulting firm.

What is Option 3?
Option 3 is what the outside consultant Deloitte & Touche is recommending to the RCMP senior management as a solution. This option calls for lumping the 3,500 employees in the PSE group with the 1,600 employees in the CM group, creating a new category of civilian employees under the RCMP Act. There would be a new labour relations and staff relations regime, with union representation being determined by the RCMP Act.

The other options proposed by the consultants are:

Option 1: CM folded into the PSE category under the Public Service Employment Act and the Public Service Staff Relations Act;

Option 2: PSE folded into the CM category under the RCMP Act and representation by the RCMP’s in-house representation system;

Option 4: RCMP with Separate Employer Status and the CM and PSE categories combined under the Public Service Staff Relations Act.

The reasons the consultants gave in their report for dismissing Options 1 and 4 and preferring Option 3 are seriously flawed. The PSAC and USGE also suspect the RCMP Senior Executive Committee has unofficially accepted the consultant’s recommendation.

How will Option 3 affect our members in the RCMP?
If the RCMP approves Option 3, employees in the PSE category will lose their benefits guaranteed in their collective agreement, their ability to move to positions in other federal public service departments and their union representation and protection. They will also lose the right to determine the union that will represent them. Clearly, this is not the choice the PSAC and USGE would like to see the RCMP make, and we will fight it every step of the way. As one of our members put it, “Option 3 is union busting, plain and simple.”

What would be a better option for reorganizing RCMP employees?
Options 1 and 4 would not only preserve the rights of civilian employees in the RCMP to collective bargaining, but they also fit the key criteria identified by consultants: minimal legislative changes and fit with public policy.

What has PSAC and USGE been doing about COE?
The PSAC and USGE are not against changes in the categories of RCMP employees for as long as they do not adversely affect our members. This is why USGE participated in the consultations earlier in the project’s process. However, when it became increasingly obvious that RCMP senior management was leaning towards accepting the outside consultant’s recommendation of Option 3, USGE left the consultation table.

The PSAC and USGE have now launched a campaign against Option 3. Actions have included lobbying Commissioner Zaccardelli and the Solicitor General, presentations of detailed briefs to the RCMP senior management and informing our members about the campaign through the PSAC and USGE Web sites and newsletters.

What can I do about COE?
You can get involved in the campaign by talking to your co-workers about the RCMP’s COE project and how Option 3 would affect them; letting Commissioner Zaccardelli and the Solicitor General know about your concerns; help set up a local COE fight-back committee to discuss ways of fighting this assault on your rights; and faxing your Member of Parliament about this issue, since they will likely have to debate it in the house due to legislation changes required should Option 3 be approved.
You can also keep abreast of developments in the PSAC/USGE campaign by checking this Web site or picking up the bulletins and newsletters that cover this issue.