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

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Greece (Ratification: 1996)

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 the GSEE’s first communication, dated 16 May 2011.

The Committee 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 the 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 considerations and a more detailed analysis of the situation.

Article 5 of the Convention. Promotion of collective bargaining. The Committee observes that the GSEE refers in its comments to the following steps taken in response to the call for austerity measures which it considers to violate the aim of the Convention to ensure the promotion of collective bargaining progressively extended to all workers, including those in the public service: the imposition of a temporary freeze in career advancement premiums; the imposition of a “labour reserve” concealing collective dismissals of thousands of workers in the public and broader public sector without any negotiation; the imposition of unilateral wage and salary reductions through the establishment of a special solidarity contribution of 2 per cent on regular pay to combat unemployment.

While bearing in mind the very particular circumstances of the recent interventions, the Committee recalls that the authorities should give preference as far as possible to collective bargaining in determining the conditions of employment of public servants and, where circumstances rule this out, measures of this kind should be limited in time and protect the standard of living of the workers who are the most affected (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 264). The Committee requests the Government to reply to the latest comments from the GSEE and to indicate the measures taken to ensure the protection of the standards of living of the workers most affected by these interventions. It further firmly hopes that the Government and the social partners concerned will be in a position in the near future to fully discuss the time limitations of the measures imposed and to consider any further measures that may need to be taken in relation to the wages of public servants or the imposition of labour reserves in a manner so as to privilege as far as possible the determination of such matters through collective bargaining.

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