Good News from the SRR National Executive and the SRR Pay & Benefits Committee

Following the decision of the Treasury Board in December 2008, that the promised wage package would not be delivered, your SRRs took immediate action to raise concerns with the government, MPs and the public.

With the help of the Mounted Police Members’ Legal Fund, the SRR Program launched a website entitled CallForBackup.ca. Through this website, and with your help, we spread the word that this rollback was unacceptable. Thousands of signatures from concerned members and clients were captured on a petition, and a majority of MPs received personal letters from constituents about this issue. Many of you went the extra mile and contacted your riding MPs directly, demanding action. On top of this, an application for judicial review by the Federal Court was actioned on our behalf by the Mounted Police Members’ Legal Fund.

Since December 2008, the SRR National Executive and Chair of the SRR Pay & Benefits Committee, S/Sgt. Gord Dalziel, approached and met with numerous ministers, including the Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, and the President of the Treasury Board, Vic Toews. While in Ottawa for the SRR Caucus in February 2009, all SRRs attended Question Period at the House of Commons to show solidarity and voice their opposition to the pay rollback, a first for this group.

 Unfortunately, despite all of this, legislation was passed in Parliament restricting wage increases for unionized and non-unionized employees in the federal public sector, including our members as well as members of the Canadian Forces and the Public Service.

However, the efforts of the National Executive, S/Sgt. Gord Dalziel, individual SRRs and members from across the country to raise the awareness of our concerns in relation to recruitment and retention were not totally in vain. The Expenditure Restraints Act (Bill C-10) contained a provision permitting allowances for the RCMP to help in transformation, including implementing the Brown Task Force recommendations.

The SRR Program, S/Sgt. Gord Dalziel, along with members of the Senior Executive Committee worked with the Pay Council to develop options for allowances. Regular members will receive a .5% increase in service pay for every five years of service up to and including 35 years of service. For the first time, some civilian members (the LES group - Telecoms Operators and Intercept Monitors) will receive 1.5% service pay for every five years of service up to and including 35 years of service. This new/additional service pay is pensionable and based on your annual salary.

A new policy for standby pay has also been announced. This is long overdue but we now have a policy that should be consistently applied across the country. These allowances, the Immediate Operational Readiness (IOR) and Operational Availability (OA), will assist members who are required to be immediately deployed and the many who are required to support operations. Once we receive more specifics in relation to the standby policy, we will provide our comments in a separate communique.

 Our thanks go out to the Commissioner and members of the SEC, the government, Treasury Board and many members from various political parties for their support. A special thank you to all of the members, employees, families and our collective friends who assisted us in this endeavour. The SRRs will continue to work on behalf of all members to address other issues of concern.

 Gord Dalziel, Chair
SRR Pay & Benefits Committee

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