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Non-Union Employee Representation in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Resistance and Revitalization

Employee workplace representation for members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been a contentious issue for much of the organization’s history. In recent decades the Staff Relations Representation Program or SRRP) has been subject to a series of legal challenges, including constitutional claims that it violates RCMP members’ Charter freedoms, including freedom of association. The federal government and RCMP management have consistently opposed independent employee representation or unionization. The impetus for the non-union employee representation system that the Force initially implemented, and much of its subsequent development, was the Force’s desire to remain union-free. The RCMP’s response has evolved from explicit legal prohibition on unionizing or involvement with labour organizations, to introduction of a management controlled non-union system as the exclusive form of RCMP member employee representation the SRRP, to statutory entrenchment of the SRRP. In recent decades the SRRP has been subject to a series of legal challenges, including constitutional claims that it violates RCMP members’ Charter freedoms, including freedom of association. This chapter outlines development of non-union representation in the RCMP, explaining how evolution of the SRRP has reflected grassroots RCMP member and legal pressures. This is followed by an explanation of the current RCMP non-union representation system (the Staff Relations Representation Program or SRRP) and its interaction with the RCMP’s broader labour relations system, including Pay Council, the Mounted Police Members’ Legal Fund, and the grievance and discipline systems. The chapter closes with some thoughts on the current state and future of non-union representation in the RCMP.