Rapport définitif - Rapport No. 8, 1954

Cas no 14 (Tchécoslovaquie) - Date de la plainte: 01-FÉVR.-51 - Clos

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II. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLAINTS
C. C. The Committee's conclusions
The Committee's recommendations

II. ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLAINTS

A. Complaint by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
5. In the complaint submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions to the Economic and Social Council, and transmitted by the latter at its 12th Session (February 1951) to the International Labour Organisation, it is alleged that various measures taken by the Czechoslovak Government constitute a violation of trade union rights.
6. The complainants, observing that the most essential trade union rights are the free organisation and the free functioning of trade unions, that the purpose of these unions is the protection of the workers in their right to form and join organisations of their choice for settling and improving all working conditions, and that protection is needed against the employer and also against government interference in the freedom of basic trade union activities, contend that in Czechoslovakia measures have been taken concerning trade union activities without consultation with the membership, in particular in connection with the abolition of the five-day week, the functioning of works councils, recourse to forced labour and measures to increase production.
7. With regard to the abolition of the five-day week, it is alleged that immediately after February 1948, the six-day week was reintroduced in all enterprises as against the five-day week formerly practised and that anyone who dared to call attention to the valid law was labelled " enemy of the régime ".
8. With regard to works councils, it is contended that they have ceased to be independent - i.e., self-governing-and that bodies of employees' representatives have become part of the new trade union bureaucracy. The number of Communist overseers in factories is mounting as various new commissions are continuously being set up. Functionaries of these new commissions are released from manual work, thus becoming officials of the works management instead of representing their fellow workers. Independent control of working conditions has been abolished.
9. With reference to the question of recourse to forced labour, the complainants cite the following text of an actual writ served on a Czech:
District Commission No. 13 in Brno for the Direction of Persons into Corrective Labour Camps in Pursuance of Law No. 247/48, 8 Charlotte Masaryk Streek, Brno.
No. 2149/49.
Mr. Rudolf VLK,
1 Stalin Street,
Brno.
The No. 13 District Commission of Brno for the direction of persons to corrective labour camps, established in pursuance of Article 3 of Law No. 247 of October 25, 1948, of the Civil Code, informs you, after an investigation and on the basis of Article 2, No. 1, Sections (a) and (b) of the above-mentioned law, of your assignment to a corrective camp for a period of two years because you are politically unreliable and a menace to the security of the people's democratic régime.
In pursuance of Article 4, the Commission has decided that your salary will be fixed according to the law.
We inform you that our action, according to the above-mentioned law, is not a punishment, but a means of education for work in the spirit of the Czechoslovak Constitution.
According to your behaviour, the length of your stay in the Corrective Labour Camp, as fixed by the Commission, may be reduced or prolonged.
You may appeal against this decision of the Commission to the Ministry of the Interior within 15 days.
In accordance with Article 5 of the above-mentioned law, appeal cannot delay your transfer.
(Signed) JOSEF HORAK, President of the Commission.
10. As further evidence of recourse to forced labour, the complainants quote the following paragraph from the Czech trade union daily, Práce, reporting on a speech by a Communist Member of Parliament at a meeting of the District Trade Union Committee in Kladno:
Although the numbers of workers in most of the pits in the Kladno Coal Basin has been established by the plan, we have reached only 50-60 per cent of the planned total, the remaining workers being recruited from military units, voluntary brigades and internees of the corrective labour camps.
11. The complainants state that in the Kladno Coal Basin prisoners working in the pits have been receiving 1,5 crowns (1 pound sterling equals 140 Czech crowns; 1 U.S. dollar equals 50 Czech crowns) a day, although the management of the pit pays the administration of the forced labour camps 150 crowns a day for every working prisoner. The administration retains this money on the pretext that it is needed to cover food and accommodation for the prisoners and the maintenance of their families. In fact, the families rarely get an allowance.
12. With reference to the measures resorted to by the Government in order to increase production, it is alleged that a most severe speed-up system has been introduced. The complainants reproduce the following quotation concerning measures taken in the mining industry:
In order to catch up on a serious deficiency in fulfilment of the five-year plan for coal, the Communist " trade union " decided that a 25 per cent rise in production would be achieved in the month of December last by the following means:
(1) Sunday work.
(2) Three eight-hour shifts throughout the week including Saturdays.
(3) A production plan worked out on an hourly basis for every miner.
(4) A similar plan for the transport of the coal from the moment of leaving the coal face.
(5) Each shift to carry on work right up to the moment of the next shift taking over.
(6) An increase in the number of overseers with the creation of a special corps of " agitators".
(7) Formation of another body of " agitators " charged with the task of persuading miners' wives to urge their husbands to work harder.
B. Complaint by the Workers' Group of the Governing Body of the I.L.O.
13. In their communication of 5 March 1952 to the Director-General of the International Labour Office, the Workers' group of the Governing Body presented the following additional information as a supplement to the charges presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in their complaint analysed above.
Right of Association
(a) Monopoly of the Right of Association
14. The complainants allege that, by virtue of both Constitutional and legislative provisions, a single trade union organisation has a monopoly of the right of association.
Constitutional Provisions
15. Article 25 of the Constitution of Czechoslovakia accords the monopoly of the right of association to the " Revolutionary Trade Union Movement ".
Provisions of Act No. 144/1946 concerning the Single Trade Union Organisation
16. The same monopoly is accorded to the " Revolutionary Trade Union Movement " by the special Act No. 144/1946 concerning the sole trade union organisation, which stipulate:
Article 1. (1) The working classes of the Republic of Czechoslovakia shall be organised into the single trade union organisation, constituted in the form of associations including all workers, provided they be Czechoslovak citizens, on the basis of voluntary affiliation, perfect equality and unity...
Article 2. The single trade union organisation above shall have the right:
(1) to regulate the organic structure of the trade union movement and, to this end, to set up directives regarding organisation and functioning;
(2) to create or dissolve the associations of which it is composed, their organs and ramifications and to direct their activity...
Provisions of Act No. 68/1951 Concerning Voluntary Organisations and Assemblies
17. Act No. 68/19513 concerning voluntary organisations and assemblies names the organisations which, henceforth, are alone authorised to exercise the right of association (article 5). The fate of associations which do not figure in this list is to be settled by the Ministry of the Interior (article 9).
Provisions of Penal Act No. 86/1950
18. The monopoly of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement of the trade union organisation of the workers is further protected by Penal Act No. 86/1950 which lays down several penalties for any attempt at unauthorised association and, indeed, for any opposition. In this connection, the complainants cite article 80 of this Act, which provides:
Article 80. (1) Whosoever creates any organisation calculated to undermine the independence, the Constitutional unity or the territorial integrity of the Republic, its popular democratic system or the social order, guaranteed by the Constitution, or
Whosoever joins an organisation having such an aim or participates in its activities, or
Whosoever supports an organisation having such an aim, or the members of the same, in their subversive activities, shall be punished by loss of liberty for a period of from one to five years.
(2) The guilty party shall be punished by loss of liberty for a period of from five to ten years;
(a) if he has committed the offence mentioned under (1) in a time of serious danger to the fatherland, or
(b) if there be other specially aggravating circumstances.
(3) Condemnation with deferment is excluded and, in the case specified in (2) (a), any alleviation of the penalty is likewise excluded."
19. The fact that there is a monopoly of the workers' right of association is sufficient to show that the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is not a proper trade union. Does not the right of association imply by definition the right of the workers to set up organisations of their own choice ? Without it, an organisation may well include the workers, but it does not constitute their own association; the trade unionists would be more often than not mere conscripts.
(b) Surveillance of Trade Union Activities
20. Moreover, the complainants contend, the monopoly which the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement exercises under the protection of the Ministry of the Interior, the police and the courts, is not the only restriction on trade union rights. That would be too much to expect. It is not difficult to see that in granting this monopoly to a single trade union organisation, the régime is not inspired by disinterested motives. Could there be a better system for the supervision of trade union activity ? In effect this is made clear in Act No. 68/1951:
Article 4. (1) The State shall supervise the expansion of the organisations, create favourable conditions for their activity and growth and ensure that their internal life develops in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of the people's democratic régime.
(2) This assistance shall be duly provided by the people's committees: it shall be directed, as regards the general policy of the organisations, by the Ministry of the Interior and, in other matters, by the competent central authorities, according to the aims of the different organisations.
The Single Trade Union Organisation
(a) Nature of the Tasks Allocated by Legislation to the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
21. Legislation allocates definite tasks to the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement, which are unquestionably important from the point of view of the State as employer but whose affinity with the normal activities and aims of a trade union organisation is difficult to discover, particularly since these same tasks are normally performed by factory managers. The following, for example, are the duties assigned to the trade unions by Act No. 241/1948 within the Five-Year Plan:
Article 21. ...(2) The single trade union organisation, the bodies of which it is composed and the directors of undertakings and establishments, authorities and institutions, shall by unremitting co-operation ensure that there is an increase in the output of labour, in particular by:
(a) instructing the workers in political economy;
(b) encouraging creative initiative among the workers;
(c) extending and intensifying competition in work both within and between undertakings;
(d) systematically selecting capable workers for training for the most responsible posts, particularly in management;
(e) fulfilling production standards and passing on the progressive achievements;
(f) using new methods of work;
(g) improving the organisation of work according to the principles of scientific management;
(h) improving safety systems and welfare arrangements for the workers and the sanitary equipment likewise;
(i) endeavouring to reduce absenteeism and carelessness, so much to be deprecated, on the part of the workers."
22. Act No. 144/1946 concerning the single trade union organisation does not forget to give prominence to this kind of duty. Indeed, it recognises no rights of the working classes other than those which they merit by their participation in building up the régime:
Article 1. ...(2) The single trade union organisation has, particularly, the aim of combining the working classes so as to lead them towards an active co-operation in the building up of the popular democratic State, and to ensure them the rights consequent upon this activity, and to protect their economic, social and cultural interests. The details will be laid down in decrees.
(b) Duties Defined by the Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
Fundamental Duties of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
23. On examining the duties of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement as defined in the rules adopted by the Second National Congress of December 1949, the character of this organisation as part of the State, which is also the employer, is revealed still more clearly. In short, we can see in the long list of duties set out in article 2 of the rules, the following fundamental purposes: (1) co-operation in building up the Stalinist régime; (2) representation of the workers' interests in so far as these are admitted by the régime; (3) direction of welfare, sanitary and cultural activities and the education of the workers; (4) co-operation with the Stalinist organisations of other countries; (5) publication of papers and books, management of cultural institutions and canteens; (6) distribution of allowances to members.
Functions of Shop and Local Unions
24. But the list of the duties of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement seems to be inspired throughout exclusively by the spirit of pure trade unionism in comparison with that shown in article 4 concerning organisations, adopted by the same Second National Congress, which defines the functions of shop unions. This says:
The group within the undertaking (local) has, in particular, the following duties:
To awaken the conscience of the members of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement and of all workers in the undertaking, to convert them and ensure their loyalty to the policy of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement and to the resolutions of its policy making bodies, to ensure the execution of the said resolutions, to mobilise the workers to achieve the production standards set and to increase the productivity of labour, to organise, and support in every way possible, the propagation of Socialist emulation, the idea of shock workers and innovators and the creative initiative of the workers; to instruct the workers of the undertaking in the principles of planned economy; to lead them toward an active participation in the formulation, execution and control of the economic plan and to see to it that the plans assigned to the undertaking are regularly carried out and exceeded; to spot the bottlenecks of production and help in their elimination; to teach the workers of the undertaking that the execution of the economic plans constitutes a prerequisite of the raising of their standard of living and the satisfaction of their material and cultural needs; to see that the principle of payment by results is introduced and respected throughout the undertaking and that there is equitable remuneration for higher production; and to make sure that the standards are more stringent.
To make agreements with the management of the undertaking on behalf of the workers in accordance with the directives issued by the policy-making bodies; to organise and improve the social, sanitary and cultural services in the interests of the workers and set up necessary installations to this end; to take care of the health and safety of the workers; to make the necessary arrangements for the payment of contributions to the administration of national insurance for the undertaking; to see that the best workers in the undertaking are chosen for the holiday activities organised by the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement; to co-operate in the establishment of all kinds of education and in the vocational training of young workers; to contribute, through the " Labour Schools ", to improving the skill of the workers; to publish a works magazine for the workers and co-operate closely in the activities of the Czechoslovak Youth Movement, the Sokols, and to issue directives for feminist activities.
25. Even the few reassuring phrases to be found in the aforesaid list of the duties of the organisation, relating to the safeguarding of the workers' interests, disappear completely when we come to the qualifications of the management groups. These have the duty of compelling the worker, whether a trade unionist or not, to respect the measures taken by the management. Has ever a yellow organisation declared its objectives with such frankness ? With the exception of the Soviet trade unions, of course.
(c) Centralisation of Powers in the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
26. Only managerial bodies then have the right to put forward the needs of the workers, in so far as they consider them justified or they think the satisfaction of them unavoidable. Under these conditions the fact that the organic structure of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is dominated by a rigorous centralisation is only to be expected.
Provisions of the Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union movement regarding Component Bodies
27. The following are the prerogatives of its component bodies as laid down in the regulations regarding organisation:
Article 32. ...The Regional Trade Union Council shall ensure the execution by all branches of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement active in the area, of the decisions taken by the higher general and federal bodies; it shall direct and supervise-particularly by means of regular instructions-the District Councils and lend them its support in the accomplishment of the tasks allotted to them...
Article 37. ...The district Trade Union Council shall carry out the decisions taken by the policy-making bodies of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement. It shall supervise the current affairs of the trade union groups. In agreement with the Regional Council and the regional federation committees, it shall give regular instruction to the undertaking groups and the local groups of the Movement and lend them its assistance in carrying out the tasks allotted to them...
28. As to these latter groups, which are the basic elements of this whole hierarchy, their subordination is fixed by the standard regulation of the trade union groups, likewise adopted at the Second National Congress in December 1949
Article 11. The Central Trade Union Council, or possibly some body accredited by it, has the right to stop the execution of resolutions adopted by the general assembly of the group or by another body of this group, in cases where this resolution is contrary to the decrees or organisational directives of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement or to the fundamental directives issued by the Central Trade Union Council or contained in legislative provisions.
Article 12. Only the Central Trade Union Council may make any change in the rules of an undertaking group (local) of the Movement...
Article 14. The undertaking group (local) of the Movement may be dissolved:
1. By decision of the General Assembly of the group...
2. By decision of the Central Trade Union Council...
Provisions of Act No. 68/1951 concerning Voluntary Organisations and Assemblies
29. Given this centralisation of power, it is hardly necessary to inquire whether the ruling bodies are elected or nominated. It is enough to point out that the National Congress, which should elect the Central Trade Union Council, only meets every three years. And any organisation of an opposition within the Movement during the three years between the National Congress is excluded by virtue of Act No. 68/1951 concerning voluntary organisations and assemblies, article 3, paragraph (2) of which imposes on all authorised organisations the principle of " democratic centralism " in definition of which it says: " A majority of votes is sufficient to make a decision; the minority submits to the majority; the resolutions adopted are binding on all the members ". Under these conditions, even if the bodies were elected by a perfectly democratic procedure, this would only be a matter of form. And they are not. In studying the representation of workers in an undertaking, there will be occasion to make a closer study of the sinister machinations which deprive the trade unionist of the right to elect his representatives, while going through the motions of an election. It should be added, moreover, that the so-called elected bodies are furnished with an apparatus composed of paid secretaries nominated and directed from above.
Provisions of the Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement regarding Personnel
30. By virtue of article 8 of the Constitution and Rules of the Movement, the Central Trade Union Council " decides on all problems relative to the personnel of the Movement, recruits, transfers and dismisses all its employees, and fixes their salaries and remuneration according to the established scale ". And the rules concerning organisation expressly emphasise the choice of secretaries to the conferences charged with the election of regional and district councils:
Article 31. ...It is for the Regional General Conference to approve the regional secretary proposed by the Central Trade Union Council...
Article 36. ...It is for the District Council...to approve the proposal of the Regional Trade Union Council regarding the secretary-general of the District Council...
Other Manifestations of the Centralisation of Powers
31. It is clear then that the precautions taken by the ruling officials against any stray impulses on the part of the trade unionist are both astute and numerous. As a machine for dragooning the workers it could not be bettered. Into the bargain they see that the Movement itself also includes their superiors-even the managers. Indeed it is not by chance that all the official texts regarding the single trade union organisation invariably employ the terms " labouring classes " (peuple laborieux) or " labourers " (travailleurs) and never use " workers " (ouvriers). In the popular democratic sociology the category " labouring classes " or " labourers " embraces both the labour force and the managing director. Is not this quite natural, since, under this régime, everyone works according to his capacities and everyone is remunerated according to output ? What do a few differences of form matter, such as, for example, the fact that the manager is remunerated for the output of the worker he bosses, while the worker is paid for his own output ?
32. The trade union groups within the undertaking being organised on the principle of " one undertaking-a single organisation " (article 4 of the organisation decree) the worker, in his union, finds himself watched by the same men who supervise his work. Is it astonishing, under these conditions, that the principle of voluntary membership of the single trade union cannot be taken literally ? The weekly publication addressed to the executives of this organisation informs us that certain undertakings make members of the single union m the following manner: " They call at the undertaking and the personnel office gives them the list of union members; often this or that member finds out that he is in a trade union organisation because they keep back his contributions from him."
Representation within the Undertaking
(a) Functions of Works Councils
33. By virtue of Decree No. 104/1945, the representation of the interests of the " workers " is assured by organisations, varying according to the size and nature of the undertaking. The most common among them is the works council. Its function is defined by the aforesaid decree in the following terms:
Article 2. (1) It shall be incumbent upon the management of the undertaking, which is solely responsible for the business and its success, to direct its operation. The works council cannot interfere with the operational management by giving orders on its own authority. The works council and the management shall remain in constant contact with one another with a view to permanently ensuring its favourable progress, with an absence of friction.
(2) The works council must endeavour to ensure that the management of the undertaking, as also the workers, make demands and take measures in accordance with the general economic interest and abstain from demands and measures which would be contrary thereto.
34. The wording of this Act already proves clearly that the " workers ", whose interests must be represented by the works council, are once again those defined by popular, democratic ideology. Now the interests of the real men who work in the undertakings of the country differ from this description. So the works councils are bound to oppose them. The economic and semi-official Prague weekly is certainly not wrong in commenting on the text of Decree No. 104/1945 in the following terms:
It appears from the decree that the works council upholds, first of all, the general economic welfare, and after that, the interests of the workers, in so far as they are reconcilable with the public interest Even when it carries out its duties regarding social policy, the works council must be an impartial body, which by easing relations between the workers and the management of the undertaking fulfils the function of a public body rather than representing purely the interests of the workers.
(b) Election of Members of Works Councils
35. What is the procedure to which the members of these councils owe their functions ? Are they elected by the workers ? Decree No. 104/1945 provides:
Article 7. (1) The members of the works council shall be elected by direct and secret ballot from a list of candidates drawn up by the single trade union organisation. The candidates shall be nominated to a meeting of the undertaking trade union group. The works council shall be elected, if at least four-fifths of the members of the personnel taking part in the election vote in favour of the list.
36. Obviously democracy is understood here in a very original way: since the elections are held on a single list of candidates the high percentage of favourable votes demanded for the election of this list must mitigate this shortcoming. Be it said in passing, the Czechoslovak worker, having made his first experiment with this kind of democracy in the spring of 1947, nicknamed it " percentage democracy ". What is equally striking is that as the whole of the personnel is supposed to belong to the single union, the assembly of personnel which elects the works council and the meeting of trade unionists which selects the candidates are practically identical. Now, while specifying that the personnel meeting proceeds by secret ballot and that a majority of 80 per cent is necessary to elect the works council, the law remains silent regarding the procedure which the meeting-called in this case " the meeting of the undertaking trade union group "-must adopt for choosing the candidates. That is a remarkable and hardly accidental omission. This, however, is what stands out clearly from the elaborate directives on this subject by the Presidency of the Central Trade Union Council:
A nomination committee, elected by the plenary meeting, shall meet immediately...The nomination committee shall have the duty of drawing up a draft list of candidates for the impending works council election and it shall do this in accordance with the principles of the choice of executives from the point of view of the policy of the executive. It shall submit the draft list to the plenary meeting...
The vote shall go by acclamation or by show of hand...The proposal submitted shall be passed if it receives a majority of votes, taking into account solely votes for and against...
The vote shall be by secret ballot, by voting papers, if at least half of the members present, and having a right to vote, demand it. In this case, the voting papers provided by a Revolutionary Trade Union Movement store shall be distributed to all members who have the right to vote. These shall write on the voting paper either the words " I approve " or " I do not approve " and place them in an urn provided for their reception. If the list of candidates does not thus obtain a majority of the votes cast, a new vote must be taken by acclamation. In this case the vote shall be on each candidate separately. Every elector present shall have the right to propose an alternative candidate to any of the candidates.
37. In the light of these instructions, the situation is already much less obscure. First and foremost, note should be taken of the discretion with which this text, so detailed in general, deals with the manner in which the nomination committee is appointed. And what are these principles by which this important committee shall be guided in drawing up its list of candidates ? The instructions content themselves with the somewhat vague formula relative to the " policy of the executive ". Now, to the citizen of a people's democracy, and to him alone, this phrase already holds a great significance: the card indexes of the secret police and the Communist Party, the black lists, etc.
38. It may be noted further that the purely verbal distinction between the personnel meeting and that of the undertaking union group, is no longer senseless m view of these directives. It allowed, in fact, the ballot requiring an 80 per cent majority to be preceded by a show of hands in which a simple majority was sufficient. The directive regarding recourse to acclamation, in case the expected result was not achieved by the ballot, is particularly revealing. It should be remembered that at the election of the works council only members of the personnel take part, who count for the reckoning of the necessary four-fifths; those who abstain do not count at all, not even if they are in the majority. And it is obvious that all those who are for the list of candidates approved by the " union meeting " will also attend the " personnel meeting " to support them, while those who disapprove, deprived of any possibility of voting for their own candidates, will tend rather to abstain. Here is an excellent means of transforming the simple majority extracted under acclamation, under the eyes of the police system, into an 80 per cent majority in the secret ballot.
39. What will happen if, despite this scheme, the list of candidates does not get the necessary 80 per cent.? The promulgatory Decree No. 216/1946, putting into force certain clauses of Decree No. 104/1945, provides:
Article 29. (1) If the count of the electoral returns shows that a two-fifths majority of the votes has not been attained (article 23, paragraph 3), an electoral committee must be nominated within 14 days of the count, and at the same time a deputy body, if such a body does not already exist in the undertaking. In nominating the substitute body, the competent organ of the single union shall ensure that the minority which had made its views felt in the election is duly and proportionately represented.
(2) For the repeat election of the works council, the provisions of articles 2 to 28 hold good here also.
40. Why is a substitute committee to be nominated if the election is to be repeated ? And what will be the result if at the new election the list of candidates still does not succeed ? It is vain to look for an explanation in the legislative texts. As soon as we come across the directives of the single union, however, all ambiguity and obscurity disappear:
If the candidate list submitted does not obtain the necessary 80 per cent, the committee of the undertaking union group shall call, within 14 days, an extraordinary general meeting, according to the directives above, and shall draw up a new list of candidates for the works councils bearing in mind the factors which brought about the failure of the first election. If the list of candidates still does not obtain the 80 per cent majority at the second election, the competent Regional Union Council shall nominate a substitute body for the undertaking according to the lists of candidates accepted by the extraordinary general meeting. The substitute body so nominated shall exercise the functions of the works council.
41. Thus, contrary to the provisions of Decree No. 212/1946, the substitute body, far from assuring a proportionate representation to the opposition, in fact corresponds to the second defeated list, which, in its turn, was drawn up, having in view " the factors which brought about the failure " of the first list. The trick has now succeeded; the list of candidates is prepared by a nominating committee - elected no one knows how -" according to the principle of choice of executives from the point of view of executive policy "; it is approved by the " undertaking union group meeting " by a show of bands; the list thus approved is submitted to secret ballot at the " personnel meeting "; if it does not attract 80 per cent of the votes cast, the whole procedure is gone through all over again; the new list of candidates will be prepared " having in mind the factors which brought about the failure "; if the new list fails also, then it will be purely and simply imposed on the personnel by the Regional Union Council in the form of a " substitute body ". It should be borne in mind that at the first elections of this kind, in the spring of 1947, 87 per cent of undertakings employing more than 3,000 hands emerged from them with a " substitute body ".
(c) Subordination of Works Councils to the Single Trade Union
42. The legislation concerning representation of the wage earners in the undertaking does not content itself, however, with this trick. It likewise takes precautions in regard to the body thus imposed upon the workers by handing it over to the mercy of the single union whose character has already been ascertained. This is the main aim of Act No. 42/1948 amending and amplifying certain provisions of Decree No. 104/1945
Article 1. (1)...The representative body within the undertaking shall be the primary organ and executive of the single trade union.
Article 10. ...(2) The mandate of the works council shall end:
......................................................................................................................................................
(c) by the dissolution of the works council by decision of the single trade union.
Article 15. Eligibility for membership of the works council shall be lost:
....................................................................................................................................................
(e) by the withdrawal of the mandate of the member of the works council, pronounced by the competent body of the single trade union.
43. By this total subordination of the works councils to what is called a single trade union, the last traces of representation of the workers within the undertaking are wiped out.
The Right to Strike
44. The means of pacific defence having been taken from the workers and transformed into means of oppression, it is logical that the workers should tend to resort to direct action. That is why the strike is the most brutally treated of all means of defence. Of course one would look in vain for the word " strike " among those specifying the actions liable to penalty in the popular democratic legislation. Does not this régime claim to be that of the workers ? The fact remains none the less that Penal Act No. 86/1950 contains, in the first two paragraphs of article 85, provisions which quite obviously designate the strike as an action liable to penalty -and Draconian penalty at that:
Article 85. (1) Whosever does not fulfil a duty of his occupation, of his employment or his service, infringes or seeks to avoid such an obligation, or in any other manner commits an action conducive to:
(a) preventing or impeding the implementation or the achievement of the single economic plan in a given section, or
(b) creating serious disturbance in the work of an office, other organisation or public undertaking, shall be punished by loss of liberty for a period of from five to ten years:
(2) The guilty person shall be punished by a penalty depriving him of liberty for a period of from ten to 25 years:
(a) when he commits the action mentioned under (1) while member of an association;
(b) when such action has prevented or rendered difficult the implementation or achievement of the single economic plan in a particularly important section;
(c) when the activity of the office or organisation or public undertaking has actually suffered serious disturbance; or
(d) if there is any other particularly heinous circumstance.
45. The text of article 85 is sufficiently clear for it to be obvious that it is indeed the strike which is referred to. And, so that no doubt can remain, there are several secondary indications to confirm this interpretation: first of all, sabotage proper cannot be the object of article 85 since it is dealt with in article 84 of the same Act, which, in its paragraph (1) applies to:
...whosoever destroys, damages or renders unserviceable the national property or the property of a people's co-operative with the intention of preventing or impeding:
(a) the operation or development of a national or communal undertaking or of any other public undertaking or undertaking belonging to a popular co-operative, or
(b) the operation of an important public utility undertaking...
46. Further, two previous Acts which related to offences analogous to those indicated in the said article 85, expressly specified that they did not apply to the strike. "A strike shall not be considered as an action liable to penalty under the provisions of the present Act." (Article 5 of the Act concerning the protection of the bi-annual economic plan, No. 27/1947.) On the contrary, Penal Act No. 86/ 1950, by which the two above-mentioned Acts are annulled, knows no such reserve. The reserve regarding strikes has been annulled, too. The strike, the most important weapon of the working class against exploitation and oppression, is thus definitely degraded and has become merely a type of sabotage.
47. In communicating this information, the Workers' group requested that it be placed before the Committee on Freedom of Association when the case was examined again in the light of developments since the meeting of the Committee in January 1952.
III. TEXT OF THE MAIN LEGISLATIVE AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE EXERCISE OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
48. The texts of the main legislative and statutory provisions relating to the exercise of trade union rights in Czechoslovakia and relevant to the complaints presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and by the Workers' group of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office are reproduced below.
Right of Association and the Single Trade Union Organisation
49. Provisions concerning the right of association and the single trade union Organisation are contained in the Constitution, in a number of enactments, and in rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement. Extracts from these various texts are set forth in the paragraphs below.
Provisions of the Constitution
50. Fundamental article IV and sections 24 and 25 of the Constitutional Act (No. 150) of 9 May 1948, which relate to the right of assembly and association, provide as follows:
IV. (1) The sovereign People exercise the state power through representative bodies, which are elected by the People, controlled by the People and accountable to the People.
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(3) To deal with public matters and to exercise their democratic rights the People form voluntary organisations, in particular political, trade union, co-operative, cultural, women's, youth and gymnastic associations.
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24. (1) The rights of assembly and association are guaranteed in so far as they do not endanger the popular democratic system or public peace and order.
(2) The exercise of the above rights shall be governed by laws.
25. (1) For the protection of their rights, employed persons may associate in the united trade union organisation and are entitled to defend their interests through its intermediary.
(2) The united trade union Organisation is assured of extensive participation in the control of the national economy and in decisions on all questions relating to the interests of the working population.
(3) The interests of the persons employed in individual works and offices are represented by the united trade union Organisation and its bodies.
51. These provisions are related to the point raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body in paragraph 15 of this report.
Act respecting the Single Trade Union Organisation
52. The following is the text of the Act No. 144 of 16 May 1946 respecting the united trade union Organisation:
CHAPTER I. UNITED TRADE UNION ORGANISATION
1. (1) The workpeople in the Czechoslovak Republic shall be organised in a united trade union Organisation, constituted as an association uniting all employees who are Czechoslovak citizens on a basis of voluntary membership, complete equality and mutual solidarity. The admission of members who are not Czechoslovak citizens shall be governed by regulations.
(2) The principal objects of the united trade union Organisation shall be to unite the workpeople, lead them to active participation in building up a people's democratic state, secure for them the rights to which such activity gives rise, and defend their economic, social and cultural interests. Detailed provisions shall be made by regulations.
(3) The united trade union Organisation shall continue to use the name " Revolutionary Trade Union Movement (R.O.H) " until such time as the said name is changed by regulations.
2. The united trade union organisation shall have, inter alia, the following powers and duties:
(a) to direct the organisational development of the trade union movement and issue suitable rules for its Organisation and conduct;
(b) sole right to establish and dissolve its trade unions, agencies and affiliated associations and to direct their activities;
(c) to ensure that every worker enjoys the right to work and (according to his merit and ability) to such position as will best enable him to serve the community, to fair remuneration for his work, to rest and cultural amenities, and to guide the worker so that he may be enabled to carry out his duties in the people's democracy;
(d) to secure for the workpeople a share in the management and establishment of cultural and social welfare institutions for workers, and to establish and manage such institutions;
(e) to carry out a survey of the over-all needs of the workpeople, keep such survey up to date, prepare a plan of action in accordance therewith, revise the said plan as required, and make the necessary arrangements for giving effect thereto;
(f) to establish and maintain contact with, and co-operate with, similar movements and organisations in other countries and with international institutions, in so far as concerns matters within its competence.
3. In order that the united trade union Organisation may carry out the duties listed above in its capacity as representative of the Czechoslovak workpeople, it shall in particular:
(a) submit proposals and give expert advice with regard to the drafting and issuing of provisions by the legislative and executive authorities, and with regard to the administration of the social welfare, economic, health and cultural authorities wherever the interests of the workpeople are involved;
(b) send representatives of the workers, in accordance with the provisions in force, to all public administrative bodies on which seats are reserved for the workers, until such time as elections take place in conformity with provisions made therefor.
4. It shall be the duty of public authorities, courts of law, insurance carriers, public institutions and corporations, and of the statutory bodies representing the employees in each undertaking, to assist the united trade union Organisation in tile performance of its duties and to furnish it free of charge with such information as is absolutely necessary for its activities unless precluded from so doing by the law or other important considerations.
CHAPTER II. GENERAL TRANSITIONAL AND CONCLUDING PROVISIONS
5. Until such time as the united trade union Organisation is constituted, the Central Trade Union Council in Prague and, in Slovakia, the Central Organisation of Slovak Trade Unions in Bratislava shall be deemed to be the legal predecessors of the united trade union organisation. The rights and obligations resulting from all legal acts performed by the said bodies or affecting the said bodies after 5 May 1945 shall be vested in, and be binding upon, the united trade union organisation.
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11. Commencement: This Act shall come into operation on the date of its promulgation. The Minister of Labour and Social Welfare shall be responsible for its administration, in agreement with the Minister of the Interior and other Ministers concerned.
53. The above enactment is related to the points raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body in paragraphs 16 and 22 of this report.
Act respecting Voluntary Organisations and Assemblies
54. The following is the text of the Act No. 68 of 12 July 1951 respecting voluntary organisations and assemblies:
Voluntary Organisations
1. For the purpose of exercising their democratic rights and thereby strengthening the popular democratic system and for the purpose of assisting the effort to build up socialism, the people join together in voluntary organisations, including a unified trade union organisation, a women's organisation, a youth organisation, a unified popular organisation for physical training and sports, and cultural, technical and scientific associations.
2. (1) The aims of a voluntary organisation (hereinafter covered by the single word " organisation ") and the method of achieving the said aims shall be laid down in the by-laws of the organisation, which shall also include particulars as to the name and headquarters of the organisation, its sphere of activities and its internal administration.
(2) The by-laws must be approved before the organisation can come into existence. The power of approving the by-laws shall belong to the people's committee of the region where the headquarters of the organisation is to be established; if the proposed sphere of activities of the organisation extends beyond the area of a single region, the by-laws must be approved by the Ministry of the Interior.
3. (1) Membership of the organisation shall be voluntary; subject to the by-laws of the organisation, any person who can contribute by his participation to the achievement of its aims shall be entitled to be a member of the organisation.
(2) The structural basis of the organisation shall be that of democratic centralism. For the adoption of decisions a simple majority of votes shall suffice, the minority submitting to the majority, and the decisions adopted being binding for all. The members shall elect the officials of the organisation by democratic methods.
(3) The component units of the organisation shall pursue their particular aims independently while conforming to the decisions of the higher body; federated organisations shall pursue the aims for which they are federated in accordance with the decisions of the supreme body.
4. (1) The State shall assist the organisations to develop, create favourable conditions for their activities and growth, and take care that life within them proceeds in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of the popular democratic system.
(2) The above duties shall be carried out by the people's committees under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior as regards general matters relating to the activities of the organisations, and in other respects under the direction of the appropriate central department according to the aims of the particular organisation.
5. The following are hereby declared to be organisations within the meaning of this Act: The Revolutionary Trade Union Movement, the Unified Farmers' Federations, the Czechoslovak Federation of Youth, the Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship Federation, the Czechoslovak Federation of Women, the Czechoslovak Sokol Group and the Czechoslovak Red Cross. The Ministry of the Interior may declare other organisations or societies in existence before 1 October 1951 to be organisations within the meaning of this Act.
Assemblies
6. In accordance with the interests of the working people the exercise of the right of assembly is guaranteed to Czech citizens in so far as the popular democratic system and public tranquillity and order are not thereby endangered.
7. The persons convening an assembly and the members of its presiding board shall ensure that order is maintained in the assembly; it shall be the duty of each participant to comply with their directions for the maintenance of order.
General Provisions
8. The Minister of the Interior shall have power to issue detailed regulations for carrying out this Act, in agreement with the members of the Government who are concerned.
Transitional Provisions
9. (1) Societies in existence before 1 October 1951 (hereinafter referred to as " societies ") which pursue their activities in accordance with the interests of the working people may be converted into organisations or be merged therewith; a society may also be converted into some other suitable formation or be merged therewith. The method of conversion or merging, and likewise the cessation of the remaining societies and the method of dealing with their property, shall be determined by a general statutory instrument of the Ministry of the Interior, made in agreement with the central departments concerned.
(2) A decision of the managing board or committee shall be sufficient for the dissolution of a society.
10. (1) Until their conversion, merging or cessation, the societies shall continue with their activities under their existing by-laws; no measures of finance that go beyond the limits of day-to-day administration shall be taken without the prior consent of the regional people's committee or of the officials given authority for such matters by the regional people's committee.
(2) The regional people's committees may require the societies to furnish such information as is needed for appraising the activities of the societies.
Concluding Provisions
11. All measures taken before 1 October 1951 which conform to the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to have been taken under this Act.
12. The following are hereby repealed:
(a) (Austrian) Act No. 134 of 1867 respecting the right of association and (Austrian) Act No. 135 of 1867 respecting the right of assembly, as subsequently amended;
(b) the Ordinances of the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior relating to the rights of association and assembly, including Ordinances No. 216 of 1848, No. 128 of 1868, No. 1394 of 1873, No. 773 of 1874, No. 1508 of 1875, No. 776 of 1898 and No. 7430 of 1913, as subsequently amended;
(c) Act No. 145 of 1947 respecting the organisation of farmers in the Czechoslovak Republic, in so far as its provisions conflict with those of this Act.
13. This Act shall come into force on 1 October 1951; it shall be administered by the Minister of the Interior in agreement with the members of the Government who are concerned.
55. The above enactment is related to the points raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body in paragraphs 17, 20 and 29 of this report.
Order respecting Voluntary Organisations and Assemblies
56. The following is the text of the Order of the Minister of the Interior respecting voluntary organisations and assemblies, No. 320, dated 20 September 1951:
In accordance with the provisions of sections 8 and 9 of Act No. 68/1951 respecting voluntary organisations and assemblies, the Minister of the Interior, in agreement with the ministers concerned, decrees as follows:
Voluntary Organisations
1. With a view to taking an active part in the manifold development of its social and cultural interests and thus contributing to achieving the transition from a capitalist régime to socialism through an unshakable union of the workers, farmers and intellectual workers, the working people join in voluntary organisations (hereinafter covered by the single word " organisations ").
2. (1) The aims of an organisation and the method of achieving the said aims shall be laid down in the by-laws of the organisation.
(2) The by-laws of an organisation shall include, inter alia:
Particulars as to the name and headquarters of the organisation and its sphere of activities.
Basic provisions respecting membership rules, the rights and duties of members, procedure for acquiring and losing membership of the organisation.
Provisions respecting the composition, functions and operation of the supreme body (annual general meeting, congress of delegates).
Provisions respecting the composition, functions and operation of the executive body (governing body, committee, etc.) and the operation of the supervisory bodies.
Provisions respecting the financial administration of the organisation.
Provisions respecting persons competent to act in the name of the organisation.
Provisions respecting the manner in which the organisation's decisions shall be notified to members.
Provisions respecting procedure for amending the organisation's by-laws.
Provisions respecting the settlement of disputes within the organisation.
Provisions respecting the cessation of the organisation and respecting the subsequent disposal of its property.
(3) The by-laws of organisations which include sections shall lay down conditions for the formation, conversion and cessation of local, undertaking or other sections.
3. Three certified copies of the draft by-laws shall be submitted to the people's regional committee for approval; where approval comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, five certified copies of the draft by-laws shall be submitted to the Ministry.
4. (1) The people's regional council (or the Ministry of the Interior) shall issue a certificate respecting the approval of the organisation's by-laws or the by-laws of one of its sections, bearing the name of the organisation (or section) and its headquarters. The formation of a section of an organisation may also be authorised by reference to the by-laws of the organisation concerned.
(2) The particulars as to the name and headquarters of organisations and sections, and as to the persons empowered to act in the name of the organisation (or section) shall be registered with the people's committee of the district in which the headquarters of the organisation (or section) is situated. In Prague this register shall be kept by the People's Central Committee. The people's committee competent in the matter of registration shall also be empowered to issue certificates respecting the legal status of the organisation or its section.
5. (1) When societies set up before 1 October 1951 (hereinafter referred to by the single word " societies ") are converted into organisations or merged therewith, the major task to be accomplished is to unite the constructive efforts of the working masses and to persuade members of the usefulness of active participation in the work of the organisations.
(2) Societies whose aim and structure are such as to allow them to be converted into organisations may adopt organisation by-laws and request their approval. Societies with an aim already covered by an organisation may merge with it, in agreement with the latter. A society may also merge with a people's co-operative or other institution or be converted into such an institution (for instance, religious societies may directly combine into an institution appropriate to the religious community in question, mutual benefit societies may combine into a provident fund, etc.).
(3) The people's district committee may decide on the dissolution of a society if it comes to the conclusion that the continued existence of the society does not contribute to building up socialism or would be likely to hinder it and may then make appropriate provisions for the disposal of the society's property without being bound by the provisions of the society's by-laws. When the society's property includes premises, such a decision shall contain precise information respecting such premises and their new owner.
(4) The people's district committee may also take any necessary steps to have the cessation of the society announced in the press or by any other means.
Assemblies
6. The people's democratic state broadens the working people's freedom of assembly to an extent which could never have been attained under the capitalist system. The people's committees shall nevertheless be informed of the holding of assemblies in order that they may watch over them.
7. People's festivals and demonstrations and assemblies organised by persons invested with public authority may in principle take place without prior notification.
8. Organisations may without prior notification organise assemblies held inside a premises and restricted to members and guests. If an organisation wishes to organise a public assembly in a premises it shall notify the people's district committee one week in advance and specify the programme, place and date of the assembly. The people's regional committee may grant the organisation general permission to organise public assemblies without prior notification until further notice.
9. Societies (section 5 (1)) may organise assemblies restricted to their members without prior notification.
10. In all other cases, assemblies may be organised on condition that the people's district committee is notified one week in advance of the programme, place and date of the assembly. Prior notification is not required for assemblies of worshippers in church or similar premises exclusively reserved for divine worship; the same shall apply in the case of processions, church festivals, bridal processions, funerals and other processions connected with religious observances, where they do not exceed the normal limits of such manifestations.
11. The people's regional committee may exempt certain assemblies from the need for prior notification; it may nevertheless also decide that certain assemblies which might otherwise be held without prior notification shall be notified to the people's district committee with information as to the programme, place and date of the assembly.
12. The present Order shall be without prejudice to the provisions of section 5 of Act No. 66/1950 respecting traffic on public highways, under which permission is necessary for the organisation of demonstrations on or in the neighbourhood of public highways if such demonstrations would be likely to endanger the safety or hold up the flow of road traffic.
13. This Order shall enter into force on 1 September 1951.
57. The above Order is related to the question of the fate of associations not included in the list contained in Act No. 68/1951 respecting voluntary organisations and assemblies raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body and referred to in paragraph 17 of this report.
Constitution and Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
58. The extract from the Constitution and Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement I relating to the functions of the Movement is as follows:
2. Functions of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
It is the responsibility of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement, in particular:
to perform all the functions conferred upon it by virtue of laws or regulations;
to ensure that each wage earner shall fulfil his duty to contribute to the building of a socialist society, that he shall enjoy the right to work and the periods of rest guaranteed by the Constitution and that he shall be fairly remunerated according to the quantity and quality of his output;
to participate in the activities of all the organs of the National Front and to appoint representatives to the posts reserved to the single trade union organisation in the organs of the popular administration, the courts, consultative bodies, etc.;
to take part in the preparation and application of economic plans and in ensuring that such plans are fulfilled;
to take steps to ensure increased output and, to this end, to draw the attention of the workers to political and economic problems, to develop a " rationalisation " movement, to organise the Socialist competitive spirit and the shock workers' movement, to check and raise output standards, to introduce new methods and new organisation of work in accordance with the principles of the scientific direction of work, to strengthen labour discipline and to select capable workers with a view to their promotion to posts of responsibility and management;
to ensure that the needs of the workers are satisfied when legislative and administrative measures are being drafted and in connection with the activities of the public administration in the economic, social, health and cultural fields whenever the workers' interests are affected; to represent the workers and ensure the defence of their interests, within the limits of the laws and regulations in force, in their relations with the courts, public offices, national insurance authorities, and other persons or legal bodies in respect of all questions connected with their labour relations;
to ensure the observation of all regulations made for the purpose of protecting the workers or enacted for their benefit;
to set up and administer social, health and cultural establishments for the benefit of the workers;
to ensure the ideological education of the members on the basis of scientific socialism, to promote the vocational training of the workers in order to increase output and to make provision to satisfy their cultural interests in order to ensure the greatest possible participation of the workers in the cultural life of the nation;
to ensure the protection of the health of the workers by setting up sanatoria and convalescent centres and by organising their leisure periods after working hours;
to ensure labour protection and safety and also to ensure its institution and application in accordance with the legal provisions in force;
to make arrangements for and to develop the provision of foodstuffs for the workers on a collective basis both inside and outside the undertakings;
to establish and maintain contacts and to co-operate with similar movements abroad and with progressive international organisations; to organise missions abroad in order to establish and strengthen relations with workers organisations in other countries;
to organise workers' excursions abroad, in order to strengthen the spirit of solidarity of the workers, to broaden their experience and to offer them the opportunity to utilise their leisure;
to publish and distribute trade union periodicals and occupational reviews and to supply the press and radio with information of interest with respect to all the fields in which the workers carry on their activities;
to run theatres, to organise theatrical performances, festivals, conferences and public meetings, congresses, competitions, exhibitions, inquiries, excursions, etc.;
to acquire and operate publishing houses and bookshops;
to acquire and operate hotels and retail liquor stores;
to afford both ordinary and extraordinary aid to the members.
59. The above extract from the Constitution and Rules of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is related to the points with respect to the fundamental duties of the Movement raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body and stated in paragraph 23 above.
Regulations for the Organisation of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement
60. The extracts from the Regulations for the Organisation of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement relating to groups in undertakings and local groups and to organs of such groups are as follows:
4. Groups in Undertakings and Local Groups
The groups in the undertakings are the basic organs of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement; they are set up in accordance with the principle " one undertaking-one organisation " in every independent undertaking (or office) in which at least 20 wage earners are normally employed.
If circumstances permit, a group for the undertaking may also be set up in any undertakings in which less than 20 wage earners are employed.
The purpose of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement group in the undertaking is to contribute to the accomplishment of the tasks of the Movement. Consequently, it must, in particular, ensure that each wage earner in the undertaking shall fulfil the duties for which he is responsible with regard to the building of a Socialist society, that he shall be assured of both work and leisure, that he shall receive fair remuneration for his work, having regard to its worth, that he may benefit from social security and from his right to housing, to leisure periods after working hours and to a cultural life, and to set up and operate social, health, educational and cultural institutions for the benefit of the workers.
It is the duty, in particular, of the group in the undertaking (or for the locality):
to make known and explain to all members of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement and to all the wage earners in the undertaking the policy of the Movement and the decisions of its superior organs, to convince them that these decisions are justified and to ensure that they are implemented, to mobilise the workers to carry out production tasks and to increase output, to organise and promote in every possible way the Socialist competitive movement, shock workers and " rationalisers " and to develop the creative initiative of the workers;
to explain to the workers in simple language the principles of planned economy, to help them take a direct part in the preparation, application and supervision of the carrying out of the economic plan and to ensure that the production plans (operating plans) of the undertaking are properly fulfilled and even exceeded;
to pay attention to the position in the undertaking with regard to production " bottlenecks " and to help in their elimination;
to persuade the workers in the undertaking that the carrying out of economic plans is an essential condition for the raising of their standard of living and for the satisfaction of their material and cultural needs and to make arrangements to educate them to this end;
to ensure the institution and strict application of the principle of wages according to output and a fair remuneration for output superior to the standard laid down;
to ensure the gradual raising of output standards;
to conclude with the management of the undertaking, in the name of the workers, agreements relating to the undertaking in accordance with the directives issued, in this connection, by the superior organs of the Movement;
to organise and improve social, health and cultural services for the benefit of the workers and to set up the necessary institutions for this purpose;
to ensure the protection of the health and safety of the workers;
to create the necessary conditions to enable the management of national insurance to be transferred to the undertakings;
to ensure that the best workers in the undertaking shall benefit from the " recreation " organised by the Movement; to ensure that young workers shall be afforded all necessary facilities for educational and vocational training;
to ensure the improvement of the occupational qualifications of the workers;
to publish a paper in the undertaking for the use of the workers;
to establish through the intermediary of those responsible for youth questions the closest co-operation with the Youth Federation group for the undertaking and, through the intermediary of those responsible for cultural questions, with the Sokol organisation; to direct work among women through the intermediary of those responsible for questions relating to female workers.
5. Organs of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement Group in the Undertaking (or for the Locality)
(a) Statutory assembly and meeting of members; works council; workshop council; section delegates.
(b) Statutory assembly and meeting of members; local council; delegates from undertakings.
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7. Works Council
The works council is the controlling organ of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement group in the undertaking and it has the responsibility, therefore, of settling all questions concerning the group in the undertaking. At the same time, it is the representative of the interests of the workers, in accordance with the regulations in force.
61. The above extracts from the Regulations for the Organisation of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement are related to the points with respect to the functions of shop and local unions and to component bodies of the Movement raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body and stated in paragraphs 24, 25 and 32 above.
Representation within the Undertaking
62. The relevant extracts of the Decree No. 104 of 24 October 1945 respecting works councils and undertaking councils, as amended by Act No. 42 of 20 March 1948 respecting works councils and undertaking councils a are as follows:
CHAPTER I. WORKS REPRESENTATION OF EMPLOYEES
1. (1) The representation of the interests of the employees in an establishment (hereinafter termed " works representation ") shall consist of the works council, the workers' delegate, the undertaking council or the substitute organ for works representation. The works representation shall be a primary and executive organ of the united trade union organisation.
(2) In establishments which normally employ less than three persons, the general organs of the united occupational organisation shall exercise the functions of works representation within the terms of subparagraph 1 of section 20. Detailed provisions therefor shall be laid down in a Government Order.
(3) The functions of the united occupational Organisation in respect of the protection and representation of the interests of the employees shall not be affected by this decree.
2. (1) The conduct of an establishment shall be the concern of its managing staff, which shall have the sole responsibility for the enterprise and for its success. The works representation shall not have the right to intervene in the management and operation of an establishment by issuing independent orders. The works representation and the managing staff of an establishment shall maintain constant contact for the purpose of ensuring at all times that the establishment operates smoothly and without interruption.
(2) The works representation shall strive to ensure that both the managing staff and the employees of the establishment submit demands and carry out measures in accordance with the common economic interest and refrain from such demands and measures as may be harmful thereto.
CHAPTER II. INSTITUTION AND ORGANISATION OF WORKS REPRESENTATION
First Part. Institution of Works Representation
3. (1) A works council shall be instituted for each independent establishment which normally employs at least 20 employees.
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4. In independent establishments which normally employ less than 20 persons, but at least three persons, a workers' delegate shall be appointed.
5. (1) In establishments where a works council is to be instituted or a workers' delegate appointed, the competent organ of the united occupational Organisation shall appoint a substitute organ for works representation from among the employees of the establishment until such time as the works council is instituted or the workers' delegate elected.
(2) The substitute organ for works representation shall carry out the functions of a works council, or, in appropriate cases, of a workers' delegate. The manner of instituting and organising the substitute organ for works representation shall be laid down in a Government Order.
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7. (1) The members of the works councils shall be elected by direct and secret ballot from a list of candidates proposed by the united occupational organisation. The candidates shall be nominated at a meeting of members of the works Organisation of the said Occupational Organisation. The works council shall be deemed to have been elected if not less than four-fifths of the employees taking part in the election have voted in favour of the list of candidates.
(2) The workers' delegate shall be elected by direct and secret ballot by an absolute majority of votes cast.
(3) The rules governing the right to vote, eligibility, the duty of accepting election and the voting procedure shall be fixed by a Government Order.
Second Part. Organisation of Works Representation-Works Councils
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10. (1) A works council shall cease to exist:
(a) if the number of employees in the establishment falls below 20 over a period of three months;
(b) if the establishment permanently ceases to operate.
(2) The functions of a works council shall cease:
(a) on the expiration of its term;
(b) if the number of members and substitutes of the works council together falls below one-half;
(c) if the appropriate organ of the united trade union organisation orders its dissolution; or
(d) if a general meeting has accepted the resignation of the works council.
(3) In the cases mentioned under (a), (b) and (d) of subsection (2), the members of the works council shall continue to carry out their functions until such time as a new works council is constituted or a substitute organ set up.
(4) Detailed provisions respecting the conditions and consequences of the termination of existence of a works council or the cessation of its functions shall be laid down by a Government Order.
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13. (1) The employment of a member of the works council may only be terminated by the employer, and a member of the works council may only be transferred by unilateral decision of the management of the establishment to another establishment, if the consent of the works council is first obtained.
(2) If the works council refuses its consent, the employer may request the appropriate organ of the united trade union Organisation to give its consent, in lieu of the works council, to the termination of the member's employment or to his transfer.
(3) The consent of the works council under subsections (1) or (2) shall also be required for the termination of the employment of a former member of the works council within two years of his ceasing to hold office. Their consent shall not, however, be required where the former member of the works council has been condemned by a valid judgment:
(a) for a felony, or for a misdemeanour or contravention committed for base or dishonest motives, or for a punishable act against public morals;
(b) for a misdemeanour or contravention covered by the Safety of the Republic Act of 19 March 1923 (Sb. No. 50), as amended and supplemented.
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15. Membership of the works council shall cease:
(a) when the works council ceases to exist or its term of office expires;
(b) on loss of eligibility;
(c) on termination of employment in the establishment;
(d) on resignation (if it is approved by the appropriate organ of the united trade union organisation) ; or
(e) on removal from office by the appropriate organ of the united trade union organisation.
63. The above extracts from Decree No. 104 of 1945 as amended by Act No. 42 of 1948 are related to the points with respect to works councils raised in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body and analysed in paragraphs 33-43 of this report.
The Right to Strike
64. Provisions affecting the question of the right to strike are contained in the Czechoslovak Constitution of 9 May 1948 and the Penal Acts Nos. 86 and 88 of 12 July 1950. The relevant extracts from these enactments are set forth below.
Provisions of the Constitution
65. Articles 26, 27 and 32 of the Constitution of 9 May 1948 are as follows
26. (1) All citizens possess the right to work.
(2) This right is secured, in particular, by the organisation of work directed by the State in accordance with a system of planned economy.
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27. (1) All working members of the population possess the right to just remuneration for the work done.
(2) This right is secured by the state wages policy, which is administered in agreement with the united trade union organisation and directed towards the constant raising of the standard of living of the working population.
(3) Remuneration shall be governed by the quality and quantity of the work and by the benefit which it brings to the community.
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32. It is the duty of every citizen to work according to his ability and to contribute by his work to the benefit of the community.
Provisions of Penal Act No. 86 of 1950
66. Sections 84 and 85 of Penal Act No. 86 of 12 July 1950 are as follows:
84. (1) Whosoever destroys, damages or renders unserviceable the national property or the property of a popular co-operative with the intention of preventing or impeding:
(a) the operation or development of a national or communal undertaking or of any other popular undertaking belonging to a popular co-operative, or
(b) the operation of an important public utility undertaking will be punished by loss of liberty for a period of from ten to 25 years.
(2) Whosoever joins with others with a view to committing any of the acts mentioned in subparagraph (1) will be punished in the same manner.
(3) Any person guilty of any of the foregoing acts shall be punished by loss of liberty for life or shall suffer the death penalty if:
(a) he commits any of the acts mentioned in subparagraph (1) as a member of an association;
(b) such act has prevented or impeded the putting into effect or implementation of the Single Economic Plan in a sector of particular importance;
(c) such act constitutes a serious danger to national defence;
(d) through such act, the lives of several persons have been endangered;
(e) there are other particularly aggravating circumstances.
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85. (1) Whosoever does not fulfil a duty of his occupation, of his employment or his service, infringes or seeks to avoid such an obligation, or in any other manner commits an action conducive to:
(a) preventing or impeding the implementation or the achievements of the Single Economic Plan in a given section, or
(b) creating serious disturbance in the work of an office, other organisation or public undertaking
will be punished by loss of liberty for a period of from five to ten years.
(2) The guilty person will be punished by a penalty depriving him of liberty for a period of from ten to 25 years:
(a) when he commits the action mentioned under (1) while member of an association;
(b) when such action has prevented or rendered difficult the implementation or achievement of the Single Economic Plan in a particularly important section;
(c) when the activity of the office or organisation or public undertaking has actually suffered serious disturbance; or
(d) if there are any other particularly heinous circumstances.
(3) The guilty person will be punished by loss of liberty for life or shall suffer the death penalty...
Provisions of Penal Act No. 88 of 1950
67. Sections 72 and 74 of Penal Act No. 88 of 12 July 1950 are as follows:
Protection of the Right to Work
72. Whosoever intentionally avoids working or in any other manner impedes the exercise of the right to work or whosoever, in particular, impedes, compromises or disorganises the system of work directed by the State in conformity with the Economic Plan, as, for example, by occasioning disturbance in connection with recruitment or distribution of manpower as provided for under the Plan, will be punished by the imposition of a fine not exceeding 100,000 crowns or by loss of liberty for a period not exceeding three months.
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Protection of the Right to Fair Remuneration for Work Done
74. Whosoever impedes the exercise of the right to fair remuneration for work done or whosoever, in particular, impedes, compromises or disorganises the application of the state wages policy, as, for example, by offering or promising in return for labour, remuneration different from that prescribed or corresponding to the work done, or by increasing the remuneration directly or indirectly by awarding material advantages, will be punished by the imposition of a fine not exceeding 100,000 crowns or by loss of liberty for a period not exceeding three months.
68. The above extracts from the Constitution and from Penal Acts Nos. 86 and 88 of 1950 are related to the points raised under the heading of the right to strike in the complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body and analysed in paragraphs 44-46 of this report.
IV. COMMUNICATION OF COMPLAINTS TO THE GOVERNMENT
69. The complaint presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions to the Economic and Social Council was communicated to the Czechoslovak Government for its observations by a letter dated 20 April 1951.
70. As there was no reply to this letter, the Director-General sent a letter of reminder to the Czechoslovak Government on 4 December 1951, informing the Government at the same time of the decisions taken by the Governing Body at its 117th Session (Geneva, 20-23 November 1951) with respect to the establishment of the Committee on Freedom of Association and of the amendments made to the procedure for the preliminary examination of complaints.
71. In accordance with the decision taken by the Committee at its meeting in January 1952, the Director-General on 22 January 1952 addressed a further letter of reminder to the Czechoslovak Government, requesting it to forward any observations it might care to make to the International Labour Office not later than 15 February 1952.
72. No reply having been received from the Czechoslovak Government by the date of its meeting in March 1952, and a further complaint having been lodged by the Workers' group of the Governing Body, the Committee decided to postpone its examination of the case and to communicate the new complaint to the Czechoslovak Government for its observations with a request that it should forward its observations not later than 1 May 1952. In accordance with this decision, the Director-General despatched a letter to the Czechoslovak Government on 20 March 1952. A further letter of reminder was also sent to the Government on 3 May 1952.
73. No reply having been received from the Czechoslovak Government, the Governing Body, at its 119th Session (May 1952), on the recommendation of the Committee, decided:
(a) to ask the Director-General to make a further approach to the Czechoslovak Government on its behalf with a view to obtaining such observations as it might wish to make concerning the complaint presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the further complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office;
(b) to inform the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations of the position with regard to this matter.
74. The Director-General communicated this decision of the Governing Body to the Czechoslovak Government and to the Economic and Social Council by letters dated 28 and 27 June 1952 respectively.
75. A further letter of reminder was also sent to the Czechoslovak Government on 14 November 1952.
76. No reply was received to this letter.
77. On the occasion of the discussion of the Sixth Report of the International Labour Organisation to the United Nations at the 14th Session of the Economic and Social Council, the representative of the Czechoslovak Government, in a speech delivered on 17 July 1952, explained the reasons why his Government had not replied to the request of the Governing Body Committee on Freedom of Association for information concerning the complaint brought forward by the I.C.F.T.U against his country.
78. The relevant passages in his speech were as follows:
The I.L.O report gave a summary of the work done by the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association. The I.L.O representative had told the Council that the Government of Czechoslovakia had not replied to the Commission within the time limit laid down. The Czechoslovak delegation had stated on many occasions that the protection of trade union rights was closely linked with that of fundamental human rights, which devolved upon the United Nations. If the protection of trade union rights was entrusted to a special body, such rights were exposed to serious danger. The Czechoslovak Government had therefore not approved the setting up of that Commission, whose work was to suppress and not protect trade union rights in capitalist and underdeveloped countries and in colonies. The Commission was the instrument of the hostile propaganda against countries wishing to defend peace. That was the meaning of a decision taken by the Commission and by the Governing Body as regards an alleged complaint against Czechoslovakia. The purpose of such propaganda was to seek to hide from the working classes of the capitalist countries the increasing suppression of trade union rights. It aimed at opposing the will of the working class in its campaign for the improvement of workers' living conditions and for the maintenance of peace.
That campaign was, however, doomed to failure. The workers of the world knew the part played by trade unions in countries wishing to defend peace, especially in Czechoslovakia. They also knew that no capitalist countries assured to trade unions such freedom as they enjoyed in the peace-loving countries. The Czechoslovak delegation saw in the alleged complaint against its country an act of hostile propaganda and categorically rejected the decision taken by the Commission and the Governing Body.
The violation of trade union rights in capitalist countries was one of the forms of war preparation. Capitalist governments wished to suppress trade unions which disclosed the aggressive plans of those governments. On the other hand, the effective safeguarding and protection of trade union rights was an integral part of the campaign for peace. The I.L.O had helped to suppress trade union rights instead of standing out strongly in their defence.
The Czechoslovak delegation considered that the I.L.O by supporting the violation of trade union rights in capitalist countries, by backing propaganda directed against countries wishing to defend peace, and by taking part in manoeuvres to destroy the unity of workers, had docilely become the tool of the warmongers.
79. At its meeting in February 1953, the Committee observed that the complaints had been duly communicated to the Czechoslovak Government, but that the Government, in spite of repeated requests, had made no reply, and that it appeared from the statements made by the representative of the Czechoslovak Government before the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that the Government had deliberately refrained from making any reply. Having regard to the fact that the allegations contained in the complaints were of a precise character, the Committee concluded that the case merited further examination by the Governing Body.
80. At its 121st Session (Geneva, March 1953), the Governing Body approved the Committee's conclusions and decided to request the Czechoslovak Government to consent to the case being referred to the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission, asking the Government to send a reply before the 122nd Session of the Governing Body (29-30 May 1953).
81. The Director-General communicated the Governing Body's decision to the Czechoslovak Government by a letter dated 9 March 1953.
82. No reply to this letter has been received from the Czechoslovak Government.

C. C. The Committee's conclusions

83. According to the procedure at present in force for the examination of complaints relating to alleged infringements of the exercise of trade union rights, with the exception of cases covered by article 26 of the I.L.O Constitution, which it will be recalled relates to the supervision and application of Conventions ratified by a member State, no complaint can be referred to the Commission without the consent of the government concerned. If the Governing Body is of the opinion that a complaint should be investigated it must first seek the consent of the government concerned. If such consent is not forthcoming, the Governing Body has to give consideration to such refusal with a view to taking any appropriate alternative action designed to safeguard the rights relating to freedom of association involved in the case, including measures to give full publicity to charges made, together with any comments of the government concerned, and to that government's refusal to co-operate in ascertaining the facts and in any measures of conciliation.

The Committee's recommendations

84. In accordance with this provision the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
(1) to note that the trade union organisation established by the legislation at present in force in Czechoslovakia is contrary to the principle of freedom of association contained in the Declaration of Philadelphia;
(2) to give full publicity to the present report, and to bring it to the notice of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.