OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 16, 2015) - The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) applauds today's decision by the Supreme Court of Canada empowering members of the RCMP to unionize but regrets the Court's decision upholding a previous Federal Court of Appeal ruling that found the federal government was within its rights to roll back RCMP salaries in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
PIPSC was an intervener in the Meredith v. Canada case, arguing that Charter provisions governing freedom of association should be recognized as fundamental to the protection of collective bargaining and that salaries and other rights should not be diminished or substantially interfered with, as the government's Expenditure Restraint Act (ERA) of 2008 did.
"This is unmistakably a major victory for the labour movement against a federal government determined to hurt unions and undermine collective bargaining," said PIPSC President Debi Daviau. "While we of course would have preferred to see overturned the Federal Court of Appeal ruling that allowed the government to roll back wages, it's clear the Supreme Court has upheld the fundamental democratic principle of the right to collective bargaining."
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 55,000 professionals across Canada's public sector.
