Unionisation of the Military: Representation of the Interests of Military Personnel

Abstract

The growing trend towards partial or total abandonment of conscription for more or less broad forms of professional volunteerism in armed forces is giving renewed importance and topicality to the study of union representation of the interests of military personnel. The subject attracted widespread interest among military sociologists in the 1970s before being substantially abandoned for more than 20 years. A resumption of interest was then seen in the early 2000s, precisely as a consequence of the new makeup of the rank and file, which had become prevalently volunteers in most countries in the first years of the new century (Olivetta 2005; Bartle and Heinecken 2006; Olivetta 2006; Olivetta 2008). Originating in the Scandinavian countries in the early twentieth century, union representation of military personnel was initially considered a private matter, tolerated by the State, despite some initial conflict, in the general framework of the broad liberties ensured by those advanced democracies. Only later did military union organisations begin to be recognised by the State and regulated in a way similar to civilian occupation unions. The abandonment of conscription and the resulting transition to professional armies in the first decade of this century have strengthened the attention to this issue. This tendency has its origins in other factors, such as the institutional transformation of many states which took place in the course of the 20th century, waning prestige and political influence of the military profession, and the changed nature of the individual soldier’s work, which has become significantly more like working in an enterprise. The changed social extraction of officers meant that they were coming in ever greater numbers from those classes or social sectors where unionisation had long been entrenched. The experience gained by those countries that have long adhered to a unionisation of the military offers many cues for assessment and planning of proper unionisation of the armed forces where it is still in discussion.