Rapport intérimaire - Rapport No. 93, 1967

1. 252. The allegations put forward by the Federation of Bank Employees' Organisations are contained in three communications addressed directly to the I.L.O and dated 11 December 1965, 8 February 1966 and 12 March 1966, respectively. The allegations made by the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Workers in Electricity and Public Utility Undertakings are contained in a communication dated 10 March 1966. All these communications having been forwarded to the Government as they were received, the latter submitted its observations on them by two communications dated 25 February and 7 September 1966.
2. 253. Greece has 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).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 254. First of all, the complainants allege that the management of the bank trust " Commercial Bank-Ionian and People's Bank ", in a circular letter to the personnel of both those banks signed by their president, Mr. Stratis Andreadis, who, according to the complainants, is also the main shareholder, urged the personnel to resign from their trade union organisations, flouting the clauses of International Labour Conventions No. 87 and No. 98, which have been ratified by Greece, and " in retaliation for the trade union activities of the employee organisations ". At the same time, the complainants state, the management of these two banks took the initiative of setting up a dissident trade union organisation, which it tried to force the employees to join by bringing all kinds of pressure to bear on them.
2. 255. In support of their allegations the complainants supply a substantial amount of documentation: the text of the circulars mentioned above; the text of the question asked in Parliament by Mr. George Alevras, Member of Parliament for Athens; the reply by the Minister of Labour to the question raised by Mr. Alevras; letters from the management of the two banks urging the personnel to ignore the directives of their trade union organisations; information on the membership of the managing committee of the dissident trade union; etc.
3. 256. In its communication dated 25 February 1966 the Government states first of all that under the law of Greece " it is forbidden for employers or for the directors, officials or other employees of any undertaking (a) to restrict the freedom of workers or employees to form trade unions, or to join trade unions or political parties, by dismissal or threat of dismissal from their employment, or by any other illicit means; (b) to oblige them by such means to form trade unions or to join trade unions; (c) to require a worker with a view to his being given, or remaining in, employment to make a written statement undertaking not to join trade unions or to cease to be a member of a trade union ".
4. 257. The Government goes on to state that the Federation of Bank Employees' Organisations has appealed to the courts against the employers' alleged violation of the law. " We shall clearly have to wait ", the Government continues, " for the court's decision before we can determine whether or not the Federation's allegations are well-founded."
5. 258. Following its standard practice, the Committee, considering that the outcome of this legal action will be highly useful to it in determining whether the allegations are well-founded or not, recommends the Governing Body to ask the Government to be good enough to inform it of the court's ruling and to decide, in the meantime, to postpone examination of this aspect of the case.
6. 259. The complainants then allege that, in two telegrams dated 10 and 12 March 1966, Mr. Stilianou Papaioannou, General Secretary of the Union of Employees of the Ionian and People's Bank and a member of the Executive of the Greek General Confederation of Labour, had been arrested during a strike while he was performing his trade union duties. The complainants add that he was due to be tried on 14 March 1966.
7. 260. In its communication dated 7 September 1966 the Government reports that the person in question " was acquitted of the charge against him by ruling No. 15004/66 of the court of summary jurisdiction ".

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 261. Mr. Papaioannou appears to have been released, since there remains no charge against him; the Committee therefore considers there would be no purpose in pursuing the examination of this aspect of the case and consequently recommends the Governing Body to decide that it does not call for further investigation.