Interim Report - Report No 4, 1953

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Analysis of the Complaints
  89. 89 The complaint of the I.C.F.T.U alleges that various measures taken by the Czechoslovak Government constitute a violation of trade union rights. It claims in particular that the Czechoslovak Government has, without consulting the workers, taken measures affecting their vital interests such as the suppression of the five-day week ; that works councils have ceased to be independent and are composed of Government officials instead of true representatives of the workers ; that recourse to forced labour was a current practice ; and that the Government resorted to the most questionable measures in order to increase production.
  90. 90 The complaint presented by the Workers' group of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, supplementary to the complaint of the I.C.F.T.U, contains a number of allegations of violation of trade union rights grouped under the following headings:
• Right of association. The single trade union organisation, known as the " Revolutionary Trade Union Movement ", has a monopoly in matters concerning the right of association which is guaranteed to it by the Constitution and by a special Act of 1946. An Act of 1951 sets forth by name the organisations which are authorised to exercise the right of association. The monopoly enjoyed by the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is further protected by an Act of 1950 providing various sanctions against persons who attempt to associate themselves without authorisation for purposes of opposition. The fact that such a monopoly exists proves in itself, in the view of the complainants, that the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is not a true trade union organisation. Furthermore, in granting this monopoly to a single trade union organisation, the State intended to subject the trade unions to systematic supervision, as appears clearly from an Act of 1951.
• The single trade union organisation. The tasks assigned to the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement by legislation are those which normally fall upon heads of undertakings and have no connection with the normal activities and objectives of a trade union organisation. This appears clearly from the Act of 1948 which sets forth the duties assigned to the trade unions within the framework of the Five-Year Plan (which duties may be reduced essentially to the function of increasing productivity), from the Act of 1946 concerning the single trade union organisation (which does not recognise any rights of the working class other than those which it earns by its participation in the building up of the régime), and from the rules adopted at the Second National Congress of trade unions in 1949. The union groups within the undertaking have no other duties than to impose on the worker, whether he be a member of the union or not, respect for the measures taken by the management. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that the organic structure of the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement is dominated by rigorous centralisation. The so-called elective bodies of the trade union movement are provided with a staff of paid secretaries appointed and directed from above. In the view of the complainants, no machine for dragooning the workers could be more perfect. Finally, the trade union groups being organised on the principle " one undertaking-a single organisation ", the worker is watched in his trade union by the same persons who supervise him in his work.
• Representation within the undertaking. It appears from a decree of 1945 concerning works councils that the interests which the works council must represent are not those of the real men who work in the industries of the country but those visualised by popular democratic ideology. The complainants analyse in detail the legislative provisions concerning the election of members of the works councils and charge that, by reason of the complete subordination of the works councils to the single trade union organisation, there is in reality no trace of true representation of the workers within the undertaking.
• The right to strike. Although one would look in vain for the word "strike" among those specifying the actions liable to penalty in the popular democratic legislation, the strike is, in fact, of all the means of defence, the one which would be the most brutally repressed. This is particularly clear from an Act of 1950 which equates the strike with sabotage.
• Communication of the Complaints to the Government
  91. 91 The complaint submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was communicated to the Czechoslovak Government by letter of 20 April 1951.
  92. 92 In accordance with the decision taken by the Committee at its first session (January 1952), the Director-General addressed a letter of reminder to the Czechoslovak Government on 22 January 1952 inviting it to transmit any observations it might wish to make to the International Labour Office before 15 February 1952.
  93. 93 No reply having been received from the Czechoslovak Government at the time of its second session (March 1952) and a new complaint having been submitted by the Workers' group of the Governing Body, the Committee decided to suspend the examination of the case and to communicate the new complaint to the Czechoslovak Government for its observations, requesting it to forward such observations not later than 1 May 1952. The Director-General addressed a letter to this effect to the Czechoslovak Government on 20 March 1952. A further letter of reminder was sent to the Czechoslovak Government on 3 May 1952.
  94. 94 No reply has yet been received from the Czechoslovak Government.