Canadian Labour Reporter

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < Guaranteed pg. 1 Photo: Chris Wattie (Reuters) Ralph Goodale, public safety min- ister. "If passed, this bill would en- sure that RCMP regular members and reservists can exercise their Charter-protected right to engage in collective bargaining by provid- ing a labour relations framework that both respects the Supreme Court's decision and reflects the operational policing environment of RCMP officers." The RCMP, employed by the federal Treasury Board and public safety ministry, initially brought the issue to an Ontario courtroom in 2006. Long time coming This latest victory was a long time coming, according to Rob Creas- ser, spokesperson for the Mount- ed Police Professional Associa- tion of Canada in Vancouver, who said the decision left him "over the moon." Though details of the legisla- tion are scant, Creasser said the next hurdle will be to decide what the bargaining agent will be, and to hammer out a collective agree- ment. His association will be vying for the bargaining agent position and needs the support of 50 per cent plus one of membership. "Collective bargaining is all new stuff to the RCMP. It's been available at other police forces in Canada for decades, and we want members to be informed about what collective bargaining actually means," he said. Because of the sheer size of the national police force, negotiating a first collective agreement will like- ly come with challenges, Creasser said. A contract would probably mirror that of the Ontario Provin- cial Police, he said, because that force works in rural communities and large urban centres. "Ours is going to be a very com- plicated document only because we do so many different things in so many different places," he said. "But you don't diminish the right that every Canadian citizen has just because it's going to be com- plicated." Third-party arbitration Under the proposed legislation, the RCMP and bargaining agent would undergo third-party bind- ing arbitration as the dispute reso- lution process for bargaining im- passes, with no right to strike. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld a case brought forth by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour concerning the right to strike, allowing almost all Cana- dians that ability, with the excep- tion of emergency, police and fire workers, among others. The RCMP would also have a single, national bargaining unit, and that agent's primary mandate would be to represent its mem- bers. Commissioned officers, management and inspector ranks would be excluded from represen- tation. Finally, the Public Service La- bour Relations Board would be the administrative tribunal for mat- ters related to RCMP member col- lective bargaining, as well as any grievances that may crop up relat- ed to the collective agreement. Though the Supreme Court gave the government one year to enact the legislation, the Liberal government has had to ask for an extension. It said the bill would be introduced no later than the end of February 2016. "Engaging in collective bar- gaining is a Charter-protected right long since exercised by all other police forces in Canada. This bill would respect that right while recognizing the particular circumstances of the RCMP as a national police force," said Scott Brison, president of the Treasury Board. Because the legislation is de- layed, Creasser said there will be a brief period in which the RCMP's staff relations association is dis- mantled and there will be an in- terim system until the bargaining unit chooses its representative. Creasser said this would look something like a call centre where members can phone in with their concerns — between Jan. 16 and until the new legislation is passed at the end of February. Room for interpretation Because the Supreme Court judges stopped just shy of outright suggesting a union, it leaves room for interpretation as to what form the bargaining agent will take — such as a staff association, an RCMP-led standalone union or even a third-party union, such as Unifor. Though the national police force has had a staff association for some time, it yielded only tepid results, said Ann Frost, an associ- ate professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in London, Ont., who specializes in organizational be- haviour. "They've had a staff associa- tion that basically could meet with management and air grievances, and management had to listen in good faith — however you define that," she explained. "There was no real power be- hind the staff association. It's great to have a voice and make your con- cerns known to management, but when the final decision still rests with management — there's not a lot of power behind that." Creaser said the staff associa- tion and temporary call-in centres miss the mark as they are still run by management. What members need is a system run by them, for them, he said. One obstacle is that his asso- ciation is having trouble reaching the membership as the RCMP has prohibited meeting on the prop- erty and not provided internal em- ployee email addresses. "We need to get that message out that we're available to fill that void," he said. "We'd like 50 per cent plus one of the membership to choose us as the collective bargaining agent moving forward. It's amazing that, in this day and age, that a member- ship of about 18,000 hasn't heard of us. We've tried social media, Facebook, Twitter, we distribute information to personal email ad- dresses. "We don't want a management system that has already been pro- hibited by the Supreme Court. This management group just doesn't get it, they just don't. It's tough." Contract negotiations will come with unique challenges Canada's new public safety minister Ralph Goodale said his government will introduce a labour relations bill for the national police force by the end of February that will comply with the Supreme Court's ruling.

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