9 September 2009

Johannesburg — THE soldiers' violent protest outside the Union Buildings two weeks ago raises doubts about the military's grievance procedure.

Last year, Parliament's defence committee heard that the military had more than 4000 unresolved grievances, some having dragged on for three years without a conclusion.

The recent protest has given the impression of a defence force overwhelmed by problems, forcing frustrated soldiers to join trade unions.

But unionisation and military tradition make for strange bedfellows in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

Defence analyst Lindy Heinecken says early concerns in the SANDF were that unionisation -- a controversial trend also found in some European countries -- would politicise soldiers, divide troops and undermine operational effectiveness. But a weak grievance procedure and outstanding issues of transformation have resulted in unionisation gaining strength.

Parliament heard last year that the Military Bargaining Council (MBC) and the Military Arbitration Board were not functional. MPs were told the grievance procedure was out of date and did not keep up with changes in the command structure.

However, the military maintains that the grievance procedure is fully operational. Last Friday, the chief of the army, Lt-Gen Solly Shoke, conceded there were delays. But, he said, cases remained open when soldiers were unhappy with the outcome.

While there were five military unions in SA last year, only 20% of soldiers belonged to a union.

Shoke sought to emphasise that discipline comes before negotiations. "I don't mediate. I am a commander and I will take a command decision," he said of the chances of about 1300 soldiers involved in last month's protest keeping their jobs.

While d efence legislation prevented soldiers from joining unions, the constitution provided the legal basis for challenging this .

But resistance to unionisation has lingered after the initial "shock" of a 1998 Constitutional Court ruling that soldiers could join trade unions, says Heinecken, professor of sociology at the University of Stellenbosch.

She says unions do not create grievances. "It is the inability of the military leadership to deal effectively with the grievances which led to unionisation in the first place."

Where armed forces are obliged to deal with discontent, Heinecken says the first response is to create internal channels to address collective grievances, often in an attempt to pre-empt trade unionism.

"The fact that a union might sell itself as the only one that can truly represent the interests of members is in total conflict with the military tradition that an officer's first duty is to take care of his men."

The police and prison services -- also essential services -- have allowed staff to join trade unions. The intelligence services have not.

Having won the right to operate, the South African National Defence Union (Sandu) has had to fight a numbers game. The military has argued that the union , organiser of the recent protest, does not meet the 15000-member threshold required to sit on the MBC.

But Sandu claims to have 17500 members. Sandu is in the MBC after obtaining a court order in June compelling the Department of Defence to negotiate with it. Chief negotiator, Jeff Dubazana, says recent negotiations broke down when military negotiators revealed they had no mandate over salary issues. "Starting from the 7th of July, we were sitting with them in the MBC," he says .

The military now blames the union for walking out of negotiations in favour of an "unnecessary" protest. At the same time, it says an audit is under way to establish whether it actually has enough members to meet the required threshold for sitting in the MBC.

Dubazana attributes the contradictory positions to the military's "habit" of avoiding negotiations.

Meanwhile, in true military fashion, Shoke's main concern is discipline. "Mutinous behaviour in other countries is punishable by death; in other countries you face a firing squad," he says.

It is the inability of the military leadership to deal effectively with the grievances which led to unionisation in the first place.

Be the first to Write a Com

allafrica