Definitive Report - Report No 56, 1961

Case No 228 (Greece) - Complaint date: 04-APR-60 - Closed

1. 29. In a communication dated 4 April 1960, addressed directly to the I.L.O, the Piraeus Omnibus Drivers' and Conductors' Association alleges that, a strike in protest against the monopoly of urban transport having been arranged for 26 January 1960, the Government, on 25 January, ordered the requisitioning of cars and the civil mobilisation of the personnel pursuant to Law No. 1986/1939, which hitherto had never been applied. The personnel as a whole having refused to submit to the civil mobilisation, it is alleged, the Government ordered the arrest of Mr. Vassilis Papastafidas, President of the Piraeus Omnibus Conductors' Association, who was later sentenced to five months' imprisonment by the Piraeus summary court. Further, on the basis of section 2 of the Presidential Decree of 16 February 1933, it is contended, his driving licence was definitively withdrawn, thus preventing him from carrying on his occupation and, in consequence, from performing his functions as a trade union officer.
2. 30. The complainants - like the Government, in a communication dated 29 May 1960 - having indicated that the person concerned had appealed to the Athens Court of Appeal against the decision of the Piraeus summary court, the Committee decided to await the result of the appeal before making its recommendations to the Governing Body.
3. 31. In a communication dated 5 December 1960 the Government stated that, by judgment No. 2511/60 of the Athens Court of Appeal, Mr. Papastafidas had been acquitted.
4. 32. In the same communication the Government declared that the person concerned had appealed to the Council of State against the decision to withdraw his driving licence and the Committee, therefore, decided to await the decision of the Council of State before making its final recommendations to the Governing Body.
5. 33. In a letter dated 15 April 1961 the Government states that, by decision No. 2356/60, the Council of State annulled the decision of the Piraeus traffic police and that, subsequently, his driving licence was restored to Mr. Papastafidas.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 34. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that it would be purposeless to pursue the matter further.