Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Greece (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee takes note of the comments made under article 23 of the ILO Constitution by the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) in communications dated 29 July 2010 and 28 July 2011, as well as the Government’s reply to GSEE’s first communication dated 16 May 2011.

The Committee also takes note of the discussion that took place at the Committee on the Application of Standards during the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2011) with regard to the application of Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98). It notes that the Conference Committee welcomed the Government’s indication that it was working on arrangements with the ILO for the visit of a high-level mission (HLM) proposed by the Committee of Experts to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the issues raised by the GSEE in its comments concerning the application of 12 Conventions ratified by Greece. The Conference Committee also considered that contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union would assist the mission in its understanding of the situation [Provisional Record No. 18, Part II, pages 68–72]. The Committee takes note of the report of the HLM which visited the country from 19 to 23 September 2011 and held further meetings with the European Commission (EC) and the IMF in Brussels and Washington, DC, in October 2011.

The Committee observes that the majority of the issues raised in the HLM report concern Convention No. 98 and would refer to its comments under that Convention for its general consideration and a more detailed analysis of the situation.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programme. The Committee observes the concerns raised by the GSEE in its comments in relation to certain legislative changes or legislative intervention which has effectively restricted the right to strike in the country. The GSEE refers in particular to: (1) the uncertainty of the legality of strike action related to non-wage matters when an arbitral award has been issued on the basic wage; and (2) the renewed use by the Government of civil mobilisation orders to bring an end to legitimate strike action in the maritime sector.

As regards the first point, the Committee observes the following information provided by the Organization for Mediation and Arbitration (OMED) to the HLM:

In case of arbitration, the right to strike was suspended for 10 days. … In reply to questions raised by the HLM, the OMED indicated that certain questions of interpretation had been left open in the text of the law. For instance, it was not clear whether arbitrators could issue awards on wages as well as allowances. It was also not clear whether in case an employer had recourse to arbitration on the issue of wages, a strike could nevertheless be staged on non-wage matters which were previously part of the collective agreement and over which negotiations had reached a standstill.

While fully recognizing that the right to strike may be suspended for a restricted period of time during which mediation, conciliation or voluntary arbitration procedures are engaged in, the Committee requests the Government to provide clarification as to whether workers may engage in industrial action despite an arbitral award on wages where the parties are at a deadlock in respect of negotiations on non-wage matters.

As regards the use of civil mobilization orders to curtail industrial action in the maritime sector, the Committee observes that this matter was recently dealt with by the Committee on Freedom of Association (Case No. 2838). The Committee, like the Committee on Freedom of Association, requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the civil mobilization order is no longer in force so that seafarers may have recourse to industrial action when they arrive at an impasse in negotiations and to ensure that, in the future, the decision to suspend a strike on the grounds of national security or public health is made by an independent body.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]