The VSOA Defence union will challenge the planned pension reform for military personnel using every possible legal means, it announced on Tuesday.
Military personnel are disproportionately affected by the reform, according to VSOA Defence. Furthermore, the union criticises the lack of a clear legal framework for the deployment of military personnel on the streets.
Military personnel represent less than 0.5% of the workforce in Belgium, yet the Ministry of Defence is being asked to bear 18% of the total burden of the pension reform.
"This imbalance is not an accounting detail: it is a flagrant injustice. An ultra-minority, which is already subject to exceptional working conditions, is being saddled with a massive budgetary burden that should have been fairly distributed across all Belgian workers," the union stated.
As soon as the legislative texts are published, VSOA Defence will take the matter to the Constitutional Court.
The union also states that there is no clear legal framework for the deployment of military personnel on the streets.
VSOA Defence added: "The code intended to regulate the deployment of military personnel in a civilian environment has, to date, neither been approved by parliament nor submitted to staff representatives. If an incident occurs, who bears the legal responsibility?"
The remuneration for deployed military personnel amounts to an average of €4.95 net per hour.
VSOA Defence points out that a security force comprising 1,600 full-time equivalents had been established within the Ministry of Defence to carry out this type of mission in a civilian environment. "This capability was not utilised to its full potential."
"With such a small army as ours, we cannot do everything. I cannot simultaneously prepare for a high-intensity conflict, carry out external missions and patrol the streets. One gets the impression that the army has become the easy way out, the variable," said Major General Jean-Pol Baugnée.
Last week, the deployment of military personnel on the streets began. Defence Minister Theo Francken (N-VA) acknowledged in the Chamber that the Ministry of Defence is already under considerable pressure and regretted that the codex was lagging behind.
