It would work to d that if these officers felt they would be supported in that action but they won’t be. The tradition of give give give while the gov’t takes takes takes is a long standing one. The suggestion to take your wage and divide it by the ACTUAL time spent working is a good one. An eye opener for sure… They should post that!! Take the ACTUAL wage and compare it to the one that would be received if ALL the time was claimed. It would be interesting….

I don’t agree with what your doing here. This is not a professional approach. You are upsetting the public that has given the force considerable support in the past. You have also provided a window into some of the rank and file attitudes that do not reflect favourably on the image of our national force of which I have been a proud member. All of the concerns should have been kept in house and the raise concerns addressed by submitting all, and I mean all, of your overtime. Should it not be paid out or even approved by your supervisor, keep an accurate account backed by files etc., and take the matter up with your rep. Legal action can be taken to recover all. Hire a good law firm. The fact that you have joined the RCMP does not mean you have given up any rights that any other citizen enjoys which means the right to take civil action. Treasury Board only listens to dollars - nothing else. Presenting them with the actual cost of policing will get their attention but with allowing whomever to gain access to what should be a closed rank issue does not enhance your position or image or give you leverage on the issue of your concern.

My condolences to former collegues having to endure this latest round of setbacks from the Treasury Board. I went through several of the noted bumps on the road during my 25+yrs with the force. I loved the people I worked with, but not the people I worked for. Nothing appears to have changed, and I only wished I had followed some advice that I received on more than one occassion dealing with this type of pay issue. As long as members continue to freely give their time to the government, then nothing will change. The only thing that Treasury Board and management understands or pays attention to is $$$$. As hard as it is, Don’t work overtime for free, don’t come in on your days off and work. Call your NCO and get permission at 3a.m, and he should put in a callout OT claim for answering that call. If your NCO has the gonads to do this and also has the fortitude to stand up to his superior on your behalf, then there will be change. If your NCO is only concerned about his budget over your welfare, then he doesnt deserve your respect. Too many supervisors have blinders on, focus on their futures and dont stand up for the men and women that they are responsible for. As long as the job is being done, TB and Ottawa don’t care, as long as it is within the budget. Take your salary, divide it by the total number of hours you work including “VOT”, then see what your real rate of pay is. Should your family be putting up with the stress, the hardships and the worry, for in some cases $10 per hour. Until you stand up for yourselves, stand up to the bootlicking NCO who wont approve your OT because it makes his bottom line look bad, you will be where you are today, being walked on for minimum wage and a red serge, woopee!
Keep safe out there, bring back the pride.

i’ve heard through the grapevine that csis is getting a one time only extra week vacation.. basically in lieu of the crappy raise… if it looks like we will not get the benjamins perhaps we should evaluate this option

I will gladly send anyone who thinks we are “overpaid” a copy of the letter I received the other week from the Saskatchewan Provincial Government informing me that my family qualifies for low income status in the province. We cannot afford to buy a house and have been forced to rent substandard housing because it was the only place available in our small town.

I don’t think the federal government realizes that young people like myself aren’t going to put up with being treated unfairly just for the sake of being a Mountie. I am extremely proud of the uniform I wear, I take great pride in being a part of such a long standing heroic tradition. However, in the end it is still just a job. Maybe in the past people were willing to put up with governmental BS just to be a Mountie but I can assure you that people from my generation are not. I can easily go work for almost any municipal police agency in Canada and believe me some days that starts looking like a really good idea. The government needs to realize that members in the past may have tolerated mistreatment but many of the young members of the force will not. We have no problems leaving a sinking ship for another police agency which will welcome one of Canada’s finest to their ranks with open arms. Quality police officers are a high demand, extremely rare commodity and us young members know that. Like any other company in the world, if you want to attract and retain the best employees you need to treat them well.

Nothing unprecedented in this welshing on a contract. Previous governments have frozen civil service pay and even rolled back contracted pay increases not that many years ago. Reneging on contract was eventually settled in favour of employees after many years by the supreme court. Get the RCMP Act to conform with the Bill of Rights, get a union.

I am in a contract division. We work 12/12/10/10 and then 12/12/12/12 on a rotating basis of 2 days, 2 nights and get paid 80 hours every two weeks. They take the extra hours for lunch and breaks which no one takes on a regular basis due to call volume. On average I would say everyone works atleast 5 hours OT every week which no one claims. If you do claim OT be ready to wait a random amount of time 1-6 months in my experience, to get it. Yes us members have great jobs which we love but as Drill might say to the Treasury Dept, “get it together.”

Gotta love the news today with the politicians giving themselves a 3% cost of living raise!!! Absolutely unbelieveable!!!

Hello to all,
I have to agree with the post from Doug Robinson, as it is high time we took a hard look at the Staff Relations Representative system we’ve had imposed on us since 1974. Despite the best efforts of the members who’ve worked within this system, it’s painfully obvious that it isn’t working. Just look at the too-numerous to count examples that have occured in the past twenty years. If you all read the email from this past week recapping the meeting between our SRRs in Ottawa and the Commissioner, it was a blatant statement that Elliot works for the government, not for us. The current labour relations tool, the SRR program, is untenable and unviable as it puts us completely at the mercy of Treasury Board and government with no recourse for us but appeals to the public like this website. What are we waiting for….another wage freeze like in the 90’s?
Vince

hey!

I’m doing a essay paper on isolated and rural postings in the RCMP. Can anyone suggest where I can find out information on this. I have ordered “The red Wall.”

Thanks!

The petition is doing great but will fall on deaf ears, perhaps if we were a bunch of has been actors we could get a CBC series or television special with taxpayers money!

Hi Larry,

I can’t claim the honour of being a member, although I was 12 years an officer in the CF and then married into a RCMP family.

Work is being done to try and correct the inequities inflicted upon spouses, especially those who go on overseas postings. MP Peter Stoffer currently has Bill C-218 (increase Superannuation survivor benefits). MP Bill Casey has Private Member’s Motion M-270 (support to overseas spouses). Senator Sharon Carstairs has Bill S-207 (ending EI discrimination against spouses) - I’ve worked with the latter two to ensure that the wordings are also inclusive to RCMP and OGD spouses, and we’re trying to get MP Stoffer’s Bills amended to also recognize any government spouse who has been on a foreign posting.

If you look at the Senate Hansard, you’ll see that S-207 was being fought tooth-and-nail by the older Conservative senators during the January 29 debate, although judging by the applause received, apparently no one bothered to tell all the new Conservative senators that they were supposed to be opposing her Bill:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/004db_2009-01-29-E.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2#42

The two MPs also have other Bills/Motions related solely to RCMP and military members, but nonetheless enhance the welfare of spouses. You can go on the parliamentary website to see these.

I encourage everyone to write to these parliamentarians - the positive feedback really goes a long way toward maintaining their support for our issues. I can’t promise if any of these Bills/Motions will pass, though.