Interim Report - Report No 75, 1964

1. 108. Two complaints on the same subject were lodged directly with the I.L.O by the Staff Association of the Electric Transport Company and the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Workers in Electricity and Public Utility Undertakings, respectively. The allegations made by the former organisation are to be found in three communications dated 1 August, 14 September and 22 October 1963. The allegations made by the latter organisation, which bear on the same facts, are set forth in two communications dated 26 August and 17 October 1963.
2. 109. All these communications were forwarded to the Government for its observations as they were received; the Government sent a reply in a letter dated 21 October 1963.
3. 110. The Committee, when it had the case before it at its 35th Session, held in Geneva on 4 and 5 November 1963, considered that the observations of the Government had reached it too late for the Committee to be able to consider its merits, and decided to defer consideration of the matter until its present session.
4. 111. Both 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), have been ratified by Greece.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 112. The Staff Association of the Electric Transport Company alleges that during a strike started in order to obtain restoration of the termination indemnity rights which had been abolished by agreement between State and employer, although they had been granted to the workers some 40 years previously, the Government on 29 July 1963 took measures of requisition in regard to the company's staff by virtue of Emergency Law No. 1984 of 1939 concerning the organisation of the country's civilian and economic mobilisation, Emergency Law No. 1986 of 1939 concerning the regulation of questions arising from the civilian and economic mobilisation of the country, and Emergency Law No. 450 of 1945.
2. 113. The Pan-Hellenic Federation of Workers in Electricity and Public Utility Undertakings, after confirming the allegations made by the Staff Association of the Electric Transport Company, stated that in view of the number of occasions on which similar requisition measures had been adopted by the Government, there appeared to exist on the part of the Government a systematic policy designed to protect the interests of the employers.
3. 114. To elucidate its statement, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Workers in Electricity and Public Utility Undertakings cites the following examples: in November 1962 the Government requisitioned the services of the staff of the Athens Gas Company, which had carried out two stoppages of work, each lasting two hours, demanding a readjustment of salaries and wages; in June 1963 the Government requisitioned the staff of the Telecommunications Authority, which had carried out successive stoppages for the same reason ; in July 1963 the Government requisitioned the Athens tram drivers in order to prevent them from campaigning through the medium of strikes for the enforcement of Law No. 2112 respecting the payment of indemnity in case of dismissal; in August 1963 the Government requisitioned all the tram drivers in the country who were planning a 48-hour strike to demand an increase in salaries and wages.
4. 115. The Staff Association of the Electric Transport Company, after stating that the requisition measure applied to the staff of the company had been annulled, then stated that the transitional Government which had taken the place of the former Government had carried out a further requisition on 16 October 1963. The Pan-Hellenic Federation of Workers in Electricity and Public Utility Undertakings makes the same allegation in its communication of 17 October 1963.
5. 116. The complainants consider that this requisition measure is arbitrary in character and that it can be classed as a violation of the internal legislation of the company. They recall that the exercise of the right to strike is guaranteed by article 11 of the National Constitution. They also point out that the exceptional laws under which the government measures were taken provide for recourse to civilian requisition only " in the case of military mobilisation or serious tension in international relations ".
6. 117. The complainants, considering that the situation does not answer to the description of the conditions mentioned above and considering further that the requisition measures adopted cannot properly invoke the emergency legislation referred to above, state that they have lodged an appeal with the Council of State to the effect that the decisions of requisition mentioned in this letter should be rescinded.
7. 118. In its reply, the Government confirms the requisition measures against which the complainants protest. It also confirms that these measures were taken under the legislative texts mentioned by the complainants. It declares, however, that the said measures were not of a disciplinary Or punitive nature but were solely designed to forestall the paralysis in the economic and social life of the country which would have been the consequence should the Electric Transport Company have ceased to operate.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 119. On a number of occasions in the past, the Committee has had occasion to examine cases having similar or comparable features. In those cases the Committee, noted that the requisition of workers was of an exceptional nature in a labour dispute in view of the gravity of its consequences with regard to personal freedoms and trade union rights?. It also considered that measures such as the requisition of workers on the occasion of a labour dispute could be justified only by the need to ensure the working of essential services or industries whose suspension would lead to an acute crisis.
2. 120. In the case under consideration it would be reasonable to question whether the stoppage of urban electric transport services-which are normally operated by the Electric Transport Company-would be likely to lead to an acute crisis which, as the Government asserts, would jeopardise the social and economic life of the country. However, since the complainants have lodged an appeal with the Council of State regarding the measure taken by the Government, the Committee considers it preferable not to proceed further with its examination of this aspect of the question before knowing the result of the proceedings so instituted.
3. 121. Indeed, the Committee has followed the practice in earlier cases of not proceeding to examine matters which were the subject of pending judicial proceedings, provided that these proceedings were attended by proper guarantees of due process of law, where the pending judicial proceedings might make available information of assistance to the Committee in appreciating whether or not allegations were well founded.