Keep working ,great job!

I read recently that the mps in Saskatchewan got a 3% cost of living increase. That must have been a typo if everyone is “doing their part during these tough economic times” It is a joke if you ask me… If anyone deserves this $ it is the officers that are in the trenches everyday dealing with the nasty nasty people out there. And a government doesn’t show support by promising one thing then going back on it word. They should take a look at the core values of the RCMP and try to emulate that!!

Well this is the standard letter that Vic Toews is sending out to everyone. I too received the exact same one. Obviously Mr. Toews has not been in touch with RCMP members, read this site or is even listening to what the other 11,000 people are saying about what he is doing. He is in a dream world if he thinks, “we can count on their understanding and support as we weather the difficult economic situation facing Canada.” Their is an understanding that the Treasurey Board has taken advantage of a situation and broken trust.

Thank-you for your comments embarassed:

I can only conclude that you are management, and from what I read into your posting you are more concerned with our members telling the truth by enlightening the public to what our job is really like, and not with the welfare of our members. I do not find that at all surprising. I agree that some of the replies are heated, but this is due to the passion of the members involved and the fact that the government and our management is not interested in our dilemma. Should this not be a wake up call ? It would be nice to see management support us grunts for a change instead of pointing out our faults and trying to be diplomatic to the right people to ensure that they get that next promotion. Thank-you

hey embarrassed, please put in a transfer for the lower mainland before spouting off your mouth about wages and affordability, i would be willing to bet you don’t live here now.

February 13, 2009

Jason XXXX

Dear Mr. XXXX,

Thank you for your letter dated January 16, 2009 regarding wages for RCMP members.

Let me begin by being very clear on one point: the government is not rolling back these wages.?

The RCMP received a wage increase of 3.3% in 2008, and will receive an

additional increase of 1.5% in 2009 and 1.5% in 2010. These are more

modest increases than initially agreed upon. However, the government has negotiated similar wage increases with its unionized employees to reflect the difficult financial situation facing Canada. Everyone is being asked to do their share to help manage government expenditures in the public interest.? I think you would agree that a responsible approach to public sector compensation is critical during a time of economic uncertainty. ?Given the need for restraint in these difficult times, I firmly believe it is both reasonable and responsible for the government to apply the same wage increase guidelines to federal employees. We feel this is a fair, balanced and reasonable approach.?

In closing, I would note that our government has a clear record of support for the RCMP. We have, for example, provided funding for 1000 additional officers, and for the expansion of the Force’s National Training Academy. We have established weekly allowances for RCMP cadets during the period of their training. And we have doubled service pay to help the force keep its experienced officers, providing an additional one per cent of salary after every five years of service.

Our government appreciates and supports the hard-working, dedicated men and women of the RCMP. And we believe we can count on their understanding and support as we weather the difficult economic situation facing Canada.? Again, thank you for writing.

Yours sincerely,

Vic Toews, P.C., Q.C., M.P.

I send a letter to my MP Mr. D. Kramps, and have had no response as of January 09, however I will keep this in mind when a request for monies is made to support the party.

Enough is enough guys and gals… do you seriously think you are going to get Canadian sympathy when 120′000 + of those canadians just lost their jobs in Jan.? They didn’t have their payraise scaled back.. they lost their jobs. Just as many will lose their jobs in Feb. Members of my family have lost there job as well, when they thought they had security.

So far as civ’s posting their comments on this site and members telling them not to… you can’t have it both ways! Touting a public opinion poll all over Canada and then telling them not to express themselves on a PUBLICLY accessable website. The very fact that you would tell these people to shut up and insult them when it’s that very same freedom of speech your sworn to protect & uphold, while all the while staying unbiased towards the public gradually becomes erased when you yourself respond to them in such a fashion.

Imagine if your kids acted like this if you took away there allowance.

Yes I am a member. and long before I was a member I had to work 3 jobs to pay the rent and bills and still went without food for days at a time because of the cost of living in the bigger city. Now that I make a comfortable salary for a job that I love (remember.. it’s the job we fell in love with.. not the paycheque).. I live within my means. It’s not the governments fault that members don’t live within their means.

You give a $75′000 salary to all those people who just lost their jobs and trust me… they will live easily within that salary.

I don’t disagree that the Treasury department went about this wholly in the wrong way.

Must be nice to hide behind a false name and insult the public though eh? Would you do that to their face…? All you’ve done is ruin it for investigators out on the road because that civ. just got slammed by an RCMP officer… don’t think they won’t remember that when we go looking for their help.

The real reason the RCMP must cut back is to allow the MP’s and MLA’s to be able to afford to give themselves their expected automatic raise. Saskatchewan just accepted a 3.3% wage hike. Alberta declined what would have been a 4.9 % wage hike but only because they voted themselves a massive pay hike in April of last year “MLAs of all political stripes received two sets of wage increases last year. In April2008, they got an annual bump of 4.5 per cent, based on the province’s average weekly earnings.

Then in May, a Tory-dominated committee approved extra payment for committee meetings, which briefly resulted in the Opposition leader and Speaker Ken Kowalski making more than Stelmach.

Days later, in a closed-door meeting, the premier and his 23 ministers granted themselves hefty hikes, raising a minister’s pay by nearly $42,000 to $184,000. Stelmach’s $54,000 jump made him the highest-paid provincial leader in Canada, at $213,450. One-third of MLAs’ salaries is tax free.”

Considering the inflation rate was pegged at approx. 2.5% that’s quite an extravagent raise!

Also if the RCMP have to accept a less than 2.5% increase to compensate for the inflation rate it is in effect a roll-back as they will not maintain their current purchasing power. That’s not fair for any group with no right to collective bargaining.

Essential services are just that ESSENTIAL! and it is fair that if the Canadian public demands those services uninterrupted that the people providing those services be fairly compensated at the bare minimum of the rate of inflation. That compensation should be automatic just as our government officials pay is automatic.

The information I quoted is from the newspaper and the inflation rate is from the bank of Canada and Stats Canada.

Just my two cents worth.

This is clearly a situation where the government has taken salary dollars away from RCMP members because it was easy for them to do so. Us RCMP members have no defence to this sort legal theft. I wouldn;t be surprised if once the government and it.s treasury board realised that they easily got away with this, other than the odd e-mail to local MPs and a petition, that they might do it all over agin. Let.s face it. An incentive to hire new cadets was required and paying cadets while in depot was their idea of a solution. This folks is the reason for the rollback. What scares me is that there will be more requirements like the cadet pay in the future. I think I know where the funds will be comming from, from an easy defenceless place called the RCMP. We are now ranked 34th in the police universe when we should be at the average of the top three. Do you really think we;ll see top three again, not me. Do you really think a five person comitee will convince anyone to return to a suitable pay package that was dependant on a promise. We;ve all seen what happens when we depend on a promise. I hate to admit it folks but we need to find other alternatives. Perhaps it is time for a union.

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!

Mr Fowkes did you have something to say? Perhaps you just want to insult us for expressing our opinions? Go ahead and express yours, many members of the RCMP and other Canadian police forces have died in service keeping you safe so you can offer your opinion. Go ahead offer it. I know you obviously pay my salary, you probably know how to do my job better than me. I bet you have all kinds of stories about how you were given a ticket you did not deserve or were locked up for being intoxicated. Were you the kid in class that pointed out the bleeding obvious? Of course this is a site for members and families and friends to express outrage over the underhanded unethical violation of a signed agreement 14 days before Christmas. If you have evidence or an opinion that this was not as previously stated then sing out. Enlighten us , educate us but please leave the insults to the drunks and thugs we deal with on a daily basis.