Interim Report - Report No 69, 1963

Case No 309 (Greece) - Complaint date: 02-SEP-62 - Closed

1. 110. By a letter dated 2 September 1962 the Associations of Bus Drivers and Conductors of Piraeus addressed to the I.L.O a joint complaint alleging infringement of trade union rights in Greece. The complainants provided additional information in support of their complaint by letter dated 19 October 1962. The World Federation of Trade Unions also made a complaint, alleging the same facts, by letter dated 24 October 1962. The three abovementioned communications were communicated to the Greek Government, which made its observations upon them by letter dated 12 November 1962.
2. 111. Greece has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 112. The complainants' allegations may be summarised as follows. Under section 17 of Legislative Decree No. 3990/1959 the engagement and termination of bus drivers and conductors are in the hands of " enlistment committees ", whose findings are not subject to appeal or any other judicial recourse. Recruitment and maintenance in the service are dependent on issue of a " certificate of social convictions " to the employee if he signs a declaration of loyalty drawn up in virtue of Act A.N. 516/1948, section 4 (3).
2. 113. The complainants also allege that by means of these provisions and procedure the employers and the Government are acting jointly to decapitate the bus drivers' and conductors' unions. In support of their argument they allege that on 1 September 1962 the management of the (Piraeus) " Common Bus Receipts Fund" (these" funds" are corporations for the pooling of receipts in urban road transport; the bus proprietors and employees belong to them) obtained from the enlistment committee-on grounds of " anti-national activity " under Act A.N. 516/1948-the dismissal of 47 conductors (mostly officers or stewards of the Piraeus Bus Conductors' Union); 28 of these persons are named by the complainants.
3. 114. The complainants allege further that these dismissals followed four stoppages of two hours each arranged by the Piraeus Bus Conductors' Union on 17 and 27 August 1962 to protest against the reduction of the wage allowance for dependent children and the failure of the management of the Receipts Fund to pay the wages due.
4. 115. The complainants accordingly call for the immediate reinstatement of the officers and members of the Piraeus Bus Conductors' Union who were dismissed, the repeal of the " anti-democratic " Act A.N. 516/1948 and abolition of the declaration of loyalty required thereunder, and, lastly, the abolition of the committees for enlistment of bus personnel.
5. 116. In its reply dated 12 November 1962 the Greek Government recalls that, in connection with another case before the Committee, the Government explained the reasons for adoption of Legislative Decree No. 3990/1959 and the procedure, operation and composition of the enlistment committees. It now refers to the said explanations and has nothing to add to them.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 117. The Committee has indeed considered a previous complaint, made by the same Greek trade union organisations as figure in the present case, dealing with similar events and raising the same questions of principle: only the names of the persons dismissed are different.
2. 118. In the said previous case the Committee, after examining the allegations and the Government's observations thereon, considered that the wording of Legislative Decree No. 3990/1959 and the explanations furnished by the Government seemed to indicate that the recruiting system in force offered adequate safeguards for recruitment under satisfactory conditions; it considered also that the criteria on which the enlistment committees based their decisions did not appear to be open to criticism, and-as regards the composition of these committees-that workers and employers were treated on a footing of complete equality, the representative of both sides being designated by the authorities.
3. 119. On this last point, however, the Committee recommended the Governing Body to draw the Government's attention to the importance, when the authorities appoint employers' or workers' members of the enlistment committees of the Common Bus Receipts Funds in question, of choosing persons who are representative of the employers or the workers and accepted as such by the respective sides, and, therefore, of ensuring that such members are appointed after consultation with the employers and workers concerned or their organisations.
4. 120. In the present case, as the respective positions are unchanged, the Committee recommends that the Government's attention be drawn once more to this point.
5. 121. As regards the 47 persons alleged to have been dismissed, the Committee notes that, out of the 28 whose names are specified by the complainants, at least 19 are trade union officers, their functions as such being also specified.
6. 122. In a number of earlier cases the Committee has emphasised that one of the fundamental principles of freedom of association is that workers should enjoy adequate protection against all acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment such as dismissal, transfer or other prejudicial measures-and that this protection is particularly desirable in the case of trade union officials, because in order to be able to perform their trade union duties in full independence they must have the guarantee that they will not be prejudiced on account of the mandate which they hold from their trade unions; it has pointed out that one way of ensuring such protection is to provide that these officials may not be dismissed, either during their period of office or for a certain time thereafter-except, of course, for serious misconduct; and it has considered also that the guarantee of such protection in the case of trade union officials is also necessary in order to ensure that effect is given to the fundamental principle that workers' organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom.
7. 123. Having regard to the importance which should be attached to the above principles, and noting that in its reply the Government does not make any observation on the specific dismissals mentioned by the complainants, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to indicate whether the persons specified in the complaint have indeed been dismissed and, if so, to state the precise reasons why such action was taken against them.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 124. With regard to the case as a whole the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the Government's attention once more to the importance, when the authorities appoint employers' or workers' members of the enlistment committees of the Common Bus Receipts Funds, of choosing persons who are representative of the employers or workers and accepted as such by the respective sides, and therefore of ensuring that such members are appointed after consultation with the employers and workers concerned or their organisations;
   • (b) to request the Government to indicate whether the persons whom the complaints specify by name, alleging that several of them are trade union officers, have indeed been dismissed and, if so, to state the precise reasons why such action was taken against them;
   • (c) to take note of the present interim report, on the understanding that the Committee will report further when it is in possession of the additional information to which reference is made in subparagraph (b) above.
     • Geneva, 25 February 1963. (Signed) Roberto AGO, Chairman.