Solidarity wants court to compel SAPS to consult union on affirmative action plan 

The trade union Solidarity announced today that it is approaching the Labour Court to compel the South African Police Service (SAPS) to consult the union on its new affirmative action plan. Solidarity argues that the two police unions POPCRU and SAPU do not protect the rights of minority groups within the SAPS.

Solidarity's announcement comes two days after the Constitutional Court ruling that condoned racial discrimination against Renate Barnard. The union said that it will now approach the Labour Court to compel the SAPS to negotiate with the union on the employment equity plan of the police. Solidarity has previously sent a written request to Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega, asking to be part of the negotiations on the plan. However, to date Phiyega has not responded to this request.

"This new court case is one in a series of actions by Solidarity to fight back after the controversial Constitutional Court ruling against Barnard. We are not going to sit back and meekly accept the racial discrimination against our members," Solidarity Chief Executive Dirk Hermann said. 

According to Hermann, Solidarity now wants to tackle the source of the unfair implementation of affirmative action, namely irrational affirmative action plans. In the Constitutional Court ruling the judges indicated that Solidarity should have attacked the SAPS plan and that is what Solidarity is going to do now.

"Solidarity will intensify its actions against companies and organisations that abuse affirmative action in order to discriminate unfairly against minorities. We asked to negotiate with the police on their plan as we are already conducting 20 cases of unfair discrimination against them on behalf of our members. We believe it is better to consult pro-actively than to litigate reactively," Hermann said.

"It is clear to us that POPCRU and SAPU, the two recognised police unions involved with the drafting of the current affirmative action plan, are not prepared to represent the interests of policemen and women from non-designated and minority groups. Therefore, Solidarity is the only union in the police prepared to fight for the rights of minorities," Hermann said.

Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive of Solidarity, September 4 2014

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