Definitive Report - REPORT_NO96, 1967

1. 46. The complaint of the Union of Technicians Employed by the Mining Undertakings of Eleusis and Megalo Pefko is contained in a communication dated 9 May 1966, addressed directly to the I.L.O. This complaint was transmitted to the Government for its observations by a letter dated 11 July 1966, to which the Government replied by a communication dated 28 November 1966.
2. 47. Greece has ratified 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).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 48. It is alleged that the management of the firm of Eleusis Bauxite Mine Ltd. has adopted a systematically anti-union attitude which has found expression on a number of occasions in mass dismissals. The complainants allege that any person going on strike or venturing to submit a demand knows that he will immediately lose his job.
2. 49. In addition to these general allegations the complainants assert that the management of the Eleusis mine isolates members and officials of the union by assigning them to newly opened worksites far removed from the places where the rest of the workers are employed.
3. 50. In its reply the Government states that immediately upon receipt of the complaint it took steps to have an inquiry carried out on the spot. This inquiry was carried out jointly by the local labour inspection service and by the department for the technical monitoring and supervision of mines of the Ministry of Industry.
4. 51. The following facts were revealed. The employment of workers on isolated worksites is a common occurrence arising out of the frequent opening of new galleries and prospection for new deposits. The opening of new galleries in remote parts of mines is not contrary to the safety regulations in force for mines unless only one worker is employed there, which has not occurred in this instance.
5. 52. The work performed on new worksites is not arduous; workers are assigned to these new sites only as the need arises; the transport of the workers assigned to these sites is effected by the Company in its own vehicles and at its own cost.
6. 53. The Company pays the wages of its employees regularly and it is a long time since the competent labour inspection service was notified of the dismissal of any trade union official.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 54. In reply to the complainants' allegations, which are couched in rather vague terms and give no specific particulars (dates when action was taken, names of persons suffering thereby), the Government states the results of an inquiry which it has had carried out on the spot jointly by the labour inspection service and the technical department for mines of the Ministry of Industry.
2. 55. It would appear to be shown by this inquiry that the employment of workers in the Eleusis mines is conducted in a normal manner, and nothing has been brought to light which would give grounds for the belief that the measures taken by the Company for the organisation of its work were of such nature as to infringe trade union rights.