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“The OCA decision denying the right of RCMP officers to join a union and engage in meaningful collective bargaining is simply a repeat of the bad Fraser decision.”
Ottawa (06 June 2012) – The National President of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is calling a ruling from Ontario’s top court which bans RCMP officers from forming a union. “a major step backwards for labour rights in Canada.”
“This is a dreadful decision that is out of step with reality,” said NUPGE National President, James Clancy. “Why deny RCMP officers a basic human right which is available to the majority of police officers across the country.”
On June 1, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) overturned a lower Court's decision which ruled the Charter rights of RCMP officers were violated by regulations forbidding a union. In 2009, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian MacDonnell struck down the section of the RCMP Act that prevented Mounties from forming a union. MacDonnell gave the government and the RCMP 18 months to implement collective bargaining rights for the RCMP.
The OCA decision relied heavily on a April 2011 Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Fraser decision which denied collective bargaining rights to Ontario's 80,000 agricultural workers, perhaps the most vulnerable and exploited groups of workers in the country.
“We knew the 2011 Fraser decision was going to be a backward step for labour rights in Canada with its very narrow and unworkable interpretation of the right to collective bargaining, said Clancy. “And sure enough, the OCA decision denying the right of RCMP officers to join a union and engage in meaningful collective bargaining is simply a repeat of the bad Fraser decision.”
Most of the OCA ruling was devoted to restating the SCC Fraser decision. It noted the SCC's restrictive conclusion that "collective bargaining under section 2(d) protects only the right to make collective representations and to have those collective representations considered in good faith."
Using the SCC ruling that collective bargaining is a "derivative right", the OCA concluded "it is not effectively impossible for RCMP members to meaningful exercise their fundamental freedom under s.2(d) and act collectively to achieve workplace goals through the existence of the Staff Relations Representative (SSR) Program."
The OCA arrived at this conclusion knowing that the SSR Program is not independent of management and does not have the power to negotiate a collective agreement or regulate working conditions.
More information:
Ontario Court of Appeal June 1, 2012 decision – Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE