Ottawa - The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached with the Treasury Board Secretariat for the RCMP civilian members (CM) classified as ESS and TRL.
Close to 400 CAPE members belong to the ESS classification and about 18 are classified as TRL and stand to gain from this new agreement, which secures superior benefits and brings significant improvements to their working conditions, refining benefits in areas such as leave and working conditions.
The bargaining team had been negotiating with the employer since May 2024.
“These negotiations have been long and challenging,” said CAPE President Nathan Prier. “Some of the key issues for our members were sticking points throughout the process, but the CAPE bargaining team held strong on those priorities until they felt a fair deal was reached with the employer. We are pleased to see these tentative agreements come together after hard work on both sides of the bargaining table. I want to thank the members, staff and the bargaining team who worked so long on this.”
Members will be voting to ratify or reject the tentative agreement in the coming weeks. Webinars with more information will be scheduled prior to the vote to explain more details of the tentative agreement and give members a chance to ask questions.
Without this agreement, bargaining on CM-specific issues will be lumped into the next round of bargaining for either the EC or TR groups in 2026. This may jeopardize the superior benefits that CMs currently have. We are pleased that significant agreements were made in the areas that matter most to our ESS and TRL occupational groups and recommend its ratification.
>>General highlights of the agreement:
In alignment with the bargaining priorities provided by members, the new agreement includes the following highlights:
- Protection of the existing sick leave regime that ESS and TRL civilian members are subject to (with a joint committee struck to discuss the modernization along with CUPE, PSAC, PIPSC and NPF)
- Shifts CMs to the public service vacation accrual schedule but maintains current accrual rate until the next step is reached. It will also include a one-time allotment of 40 hours as well as access to the one-time allotment of 37.5 hours leave under the EC Collective Agreement (so an additional allotment of 77.5 hours) not subject to carryover provisions.
- The current vacation carry over cap of 400 hours exists until 2027 at which time vacation leave banks will be reduced to 262.5 hours (EC) or 225 hours (TR).
- Access to the two Personal Days under the EC (for the ESS) and TR (for the TRL) Collective Agreement in addition to two additional personal days leave for the ESS/TRL CMs for the 2024-2025 fiscal year (can not carry over past this)
- Implementation of a 37.5-hour work week, including 30 minute paid breaks.
- Creation of a CM task force between the RCMP and CAPE to study and make recommendation to improve CM working conditions, staffing policies and career development.
The agreement also protects the following existing CM benefits:
- 60 minutes weekly allowance for fitness.
- Relocation costs remaining under RCMP relocation directive (instead of NJC)
- Funeral and burial entitlements
- Relocation on retirement
