Interim Report - Report No 108, 1969

Case No 519 (Greece) - Complaint date: 28-APR-67 - Closed

1. 256. The Committee examined this case previously at its May and November 1967 Sessions. On those occasions it submitted interim reports, which were approved by the Governing Body at its 169th Session (May-June 1967) and 170th Session (November 1967), respectively.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 257. On last examining the case, when it recalled that Greece had ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), the Committee presented its definitive conclusions on certain aspects of the case, and on other aspects recommended the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to supply additional information.
2. 258. The Government was accordingly asked to indicate whether the measures taken by virtue of Royal Decree No. 280 of 21 April 1967 were still in force, and to indicate precisely the rules that governed, in law and in practice, military tribunal procedure, the right of workers to form organisations of their own choosing and the right to strike. The Government was also asked to present its precise observations on the allegations analysed in paragraphs 481 to 483 of the 101st Report of the Committee, according to which, among other things, the public authorities had compelled trade union officials to cease their activities, the Government had interfered in the organisation of the trade unions, particularly in respect of the composition of their managing committees, and the existing unions were only tools of the régime.
3. 259. These observations were requested of the Government in a letter dated 23 November 1967. The Government replied in a letter dated 23 May 1968, which arrived too late to enable the Committee to examine it in detail at its May 1968 Session, and sent supplementary communications on 29 May and 1 June 1968.
4. 260. In its communication of 23 May 1968, the Government stated, as it had done before, that the suspension of certain provisions of the Constitution had been decreed only to prevent the dangers with which communism was threatening the country. It added that Royal Decree No. 280 had been promulgated for the same reason. The Government, however, insisted that these measures were essentially temporary and that they had been taken on the ground of the existence of an exceptional situation.
5. 261. The Government then declared that it had a draft national Constitution worked out and that the citizens had been invited to state their views through special postcards or through the press.
6. 262. With regard to the consequences of Royal Decree No. 280, the Government stated that its promulgation had had the effect not of abolishing the guarantees provided for by the Constitution but simply of enabling the authorities to disregard some of them if circumstances justified this course. Apart from the organisations dissolved under Royal Decree No. 280, which, according to the Government, were organisations controlled by the Communists with the purpose of making use of them to overthrow the existing régime by force, the workers' organisations were functioning normally in accordance with their Constitutions.
7. 263. Here the Government quoted several articles of what was at the time only the draft Constitution. These articles provided for freedom of assembly and of association, the latter without prior authorisation, and made the State responsible for protecting intellectual and manual labour and for the material and moral progress of the workers. The Government also quoted the draft Constitution to show how it would lay down that every person might express his opinion in the press or otherwise provided that he respected the law.
8. 264. The Government stated that freedom of the press would be regulated by the law. Already, it added, censorship had been lifted for certain newspapers and periodicals, and it was exercised as little as possible.
9. 265. The Government gave the following explanations concerning courts martial. Their functions were provided for by article 97 of the former Constitution. They were composed of officers and judges belonging to the branch of military justice. The Emergency Act of 1912 provided for the establishment of extraordinary courts martial in case of national emergency, which were additional to the normal courts martial. Emergency courts of this kind were set up under Royal Decrees Nos. 281 and 298 of 1967. They were presided over by ordinary judges, and the public prosecutors were also those of the ordinary courts.
10. 266. The Government stated that procedure in courts martial was almost identical with that of the ordinary courts and based on the same principles of a public hearing, respect for the rights of the defence and the right of appeal. It added that courts martial were rarely held.
11. 267. With regard to freedom of association in its narrow meaning, the Government declared that workers had the right to establish organisations of their own choosing. It stated in this connection that a considerable number of trade unions had been established throughout the country since 21 April 1967, and added that the right to strike was virtually re-established and that several stoppages of work had already occurred.
12. 268. As for the arrests carried out, the Government affirmed once more that nobody had been arrested for trade union activities and that all the arrests in question had been carried out because the persons concerned had been guilty of offences under the ordinary Penal Code or of offences against the existing régime. The Government added that the accused were brought to trial as quickly as possible. Lastly, it mentioned some measures of clemency, specifying that an amnesty had been declared for certain offences committed before and after 21 April 1967 and that prisoners who had been accused of these offences had been released.
13. 269. There was no truth, said the Government, in the claim that trade unions were " under the direct orders of the Government ". With regard to the General Confederation of Labour of Greece, its executive committee had been elected freely in July 1966 and was still in office. This executive committee, the Government went on, had defined the attitude of the Confederation to the Government in a unanimous resolution, expressing its desire to stand by the side of the Government. " It considers ", said the Government, " that this attitude is in the interests of the nation, the people, the working classes and trade union activities, and so it has authorised the Secretary-General of the Confederation to act accordingly. The adoption of this attitude by the executive committee has subsequently been approved by all the organisations making up the General Confederation of Labour in resolutions that have themselves been ratified by an overwhelming majority of the organised working classes."
14. 270. The Government stated that the operation of these organisations was free, being based on the Constitutions of the trade unions and on the legislation in force. It added that they were free to convene general assemblies and that a large number of workers' organisations had already held elections to appoint new executive committees on the expiration of the term of office of the old committees. A total of 1,100 primary organisations throughout the country had elected their executive committees in this way.
15. 271. The Government also stated that the trade unions, acting within their powers, had taken part in the signing of collective labour agreements and 83 arbitration awards. It added that more than 10,000 workers' meetings had been held.
16. 272. Lastly, the Government stressed that the régime established on 21 April 1967 was carrying out " a very full social programme and continually adopting measures to improve working conditions and raise the standard of living of the working classes ". The Government continued: " Through the collective agreements and the arbitration awards mentioned above, it has increased salaries and wages by an average of 12 per cent, whereas, during the same period, the cost of living, instead of rising, had fallen by 5.2 per cent for foodstuffs and by 3.7 per cent for other goods, the average fall being 4.1 per cent."
17. 273. In a telegram dated 29 May 1968, which was followed by a letter of the same date, the Government stated that a Royal Decree had been promulgated under which article 10 of the former Constitution concerning the protection of the right of assembly had been brought into force again in respect of the exercise of this right by the members of workers' and employers' occupational associations, and that the same Royal Decree had also brought into force again article 11 of the Constitution, which concerned protection of freedom of association " in respect of the exercise of this freedom for the satisfaction of occupational aims ".
18. 274. Furthermore, stated the Government, a Legislative Decree had been approved, which provided that the property of occupational associations that had been dissolved should be transferred, by decision of the courts of first instance, to occupational associations, federations or central workers' organisations with similar aims.
19. 275. " The Government " continued the letter of 29 May 1968, " has been led to take these decisions, for, like public opinion, it has long been aware that the free exercise of the right of assembly and the right of association, when exercised by workers and by occupational associations in general, far from provoking social disorders or dangers, meets legitimate occupational and trade union interests as well as the interests of society."
20. 276. In a letter dated 1 June 1968, the Government gave the following details on the points mentioned in paragraphs 273 and 274 above. The Government confirmed that articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution had been brought into force again, but stated that the right of association of civil servants and employees of public corporations might, under an Act, be made subject to certain restrictions. It added that civil servants and employees of public corporations were not permitted to strike.
21. 277. With regard to the transfer of the property of unions that had been dissolved, the Government stated that Legislative Decree No. 434 of 29 May 1968 contained the following provisions: " The property of every workers' trade union dissolved by the military authorities by virtue of the Act on the State of Emergency shall be transferred in the following order: (a) to another association of the same occupational group with its headquarters in the same place and pursuing the same aims, or, failing such an association, to another association with similar aims, or (b) failing also an association of the latter type, to the local occupational or similar association of a higher degree to which the dissolved union was affiliated (federation, workers' central organisation) or, if the union was not affiliated to such an association, to the General Confederation of Labour of Greece."
22. 278. It is the court of first instance of the place where the dissolved union had its head quarters that decides which of the associations fulfilling the above conditions shall be considered as the successor of the dissolved union, and for this purpose it examines in particular the economic situation of each, " the possibilities that each may have of fulfilling the aims of the dissolved union and the relation between the aims set forth in the Constitutions of the various associations ".
23. 279. In addition to the information contained in the preceding paragraphs, the Government furnished new observations in a communication dated 30 October 1968, which was received on 1 November 1968. The Committee considers that these observations reached it too late to enable it to examine them in detail, and that it must postpone its examination thereof until its next session.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 280. It is of interest to mention here that the question of the application of Convention No. 87 in Greece was the subject of a detailed discussion at the 52nd Session of the General Conference in June 1968, particularly within the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and that in conclusion the Committee " regretted that no progress had been made towards ensuring the application of the Convention, and expressed the hope that the necessary measures would be taken without further delay ". It should also be noted that the Government representative of Greece stated, in particular, that " numerous measures had been taken by the Government with a view to re-establishing all Constitutional liberties. These liberties would be entirely re-established as from 1 September 1968."
2. 281. In its General Report, the Conference Committee stated that it considered that there were very serious breaches in the application of Convention No. 87 by Greece. It found that the guarantees laid down in the Convention had not been re-established, regretted this situation, which jeopardised some of the fundamental rights of the workers, and drew the attention of the Conference to the case of Greece, expressing the hope that urgent measures would be taken by the Government to ensure the full enjoyment of the rights in question. At the Conference, in plenary session, the Government delegate of Greece stated that he considered that the decision of the Committee was to be deeply deplored.
3. 282. The Committee has also noted that complaints under article 26 of the Constitution of the I.L.O. concerning the observance by Greece of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 have been lodged by a number of delegates to the 52nd Session of the Conference, that these complaints relate to various aspects of the allegations before the Committee, and that the question of the action that should be taken on them will be examined by the Governing Body at its November 1968 session.
4. 283. Subsequently, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the International Metalworkers' Federation sent two telegrams dated respectively 30 and 31 July 1968, in which they alleged that two new trade union officers, Mr. Papageorgiou and Mr. Papaioannou, had been arrested. The same allegations were made by the Inter national Federation of Chemical and General Workers' Unions in a communication dated 27 August 1968.
5. 284. These allegations were brought to the attention of the Government, which replied in a communication dated 5 September 1968 that the trade unionists in question had not been arrested but invited to report " to give information relating to national security and the illegal activities carried on by Communist organisations ".
6. 285. Since the release of the persons in question has been confirmed by a telegram dated 1 August 1968 from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the Committee considers that no purpose would be served in continuing this aspect of the case and recommends the Governing Body to decide that it does not call for further examination.
7. 286. With regard to the other questions that have been raised in this case (independence of the trade union movement, transfer of the property of organisations that have been dissolved, trade union rights of civil servants, etc.), several problems are likely to arise, calling in question the principles of freedom of association and the respect by Greece for the obligations that it has undertaken by ratifying Conventions Nos. 87 and 98. As, however, the Government's most recent observations arrived too late, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to adjourn until its next session its examination of those aspects of the case which have just been referred to.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 287. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, for the reasons stated in paragraph 285 above, that the allegations concerning the arrest of the trade union officers Papageorgiou and Papaioannou do not call for further examination;
   • (b) to decide, for the reasons stated in paragraph 286 above, to adjourn until its next session the examination of the other aspects of the case before the Committee on Freedom of Association.