The national Contract Management Committee (CMC), of which UBCM is a member, has been advised that the RCMP’s second Collective Agreement could be finalized by the end of this year. Bargaining between the National Police Federation (NPF), representing RCMP members, and the Treasury Board of Canada are in the advanced stages, with only monetary items left to be negotiated. When finalized, the agreement will have financial implications for local governments.
CMC members recently received a briefing from the Treasury Board of Canada’s Executive Director of Compensation and Collective Bargaining, who advised that comprehensive offers have been exchanged between NPF and the Treasury Board. The NPF rejected the federal government’s latest monetary offer (i.e., member salaries). Other issues, including the preservation of management rights, have been agreed upon by both parties. The second Collective Agreement is anticipated to cover three years, retroactive to April 1, 2023.
Given that the second Collective Agreement remains to be finalized, the financial impact on all contract partners, including local governments, has yet to be determined. The RCMP included a non-contractual estimate in Multi-Year Financial Plans for planning purposes, and this figure has been acknowledged by CMC. Negotiated salary increases or those imposed through third-party arbitration could result in increases below or above the planning rate.
Currently, many police agencies across Canada have collective agreements that are set to expire in 2024/2025. Thus, there are limited examples to help set a potential financial impact range for the RCMP’s second Collective Agreement. Should contract partners (including local governments) wish to build contingencies that are higher than those included in the Multi-Year Financial Plans into their financial planning processes to mitigate potential fluctuations in negotiated rates or the possibility of arbitration, they are encouraged to do so.
The RCMP’s first Collective Agreement included a significant retroactive cost to contract partners (covering 2017-2021) that the federal government was unwilling to absorb. It is unlikely that the second Collective Agreement will include a similar financial increase, given that the first Agreement aimed to bring the RCMP salaries in line with other comparator police agencies in Canada.
The NPF and Treasury Board have held five negotiation sessions so far; the most recent was three weeks ago. As negotiations continue, the federal government has committed to providing timely updates to CMC through ad-hoc meetings, which will be summarized in The Compass.