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National poll finds widespread support for a staff association with real bargaining power or a traditional trade union.
Ottawa (14 May 2010) - Canada's finest want a union – and a real one – not a feeble staff association without teeth that is beholden to the brass.
An internal survey of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers across the country finds sentiment running strongly in favour of a legitimate union – although Mounties are split on whether it should be an upgraded version of the Staff Relations Representative Program (SRRP) that now exists or a traditional union with full bargaining rights.
The poll, conducted for the SRRP, found support for a traditional union is stronger in central and western regions of the country.
"The survey is clear that the rank and file RCMP members want collective bargaining rights," says spokesperson Gaétan Delisle, head of a provincial RCMP members' group in Quebec.
The Mounties are the only police officers in Canada who do not have the right to collective bargaining. Any change to their status would require an amendment to the RCMP Act.
Previous efforts to push the change through Parliament have failed but all three opposition parties now appear to be supporting a private member's bill that, if passed, would extend collective bargaining rights to the Mounties. Only the Conservatives are opposed.
The poll found that 67% of all Mounties were unhappy with existing arrangements for negotiating wages and other workplace conditions. The survey also revealed that issues surrounding transfers and promotions rank higher as issues of concern to rank and file mounties than pay and benefits.
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