Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150) - Greece (Ratification: 1985)

Other comments on C150

Observation

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The Committee takes note of the comments made under article 23 of the ILO Constitution by the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) in communications dated 29 July 2010 and 28 July 2011, as well as the Government’s reply dated 16 May 2011. It also takes note of the discussion that took place at the Committee on the Application of Standards during the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2011) with regard to the application by Greece of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98). It notes that the Conference Committee welcomed the Government’s indication that it was working on arrangements with the ILO for the visit of a high-level mission proposed by the Committee of Experts to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the issues raised by the GSEE concerning the application of 12 Conventions ratified by Greece, including the present one. The Conference Committee also considered that contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) would assist the mission in its understanding of the situation (Provisional Record No. 18, Part II, pages 68–72).

The Committee takes note of the report of the high-level mission which visited the country from 19 to 23 September 2011 and held further meetings with the European Commission and the IMF in Brussels and Washington, DC, in October 2011, on the basis of the request made by the Committee on the Application of Standards.

Article 3 of the Convention. Matters regulated through direct negotiations between employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Committee notes that the Government replies to the comments made by the GSEE in relation to the scope of Article 3 of the Convention according to which particular activities in the field of national labour policy may be regulated by having recourse to direct negotiations between employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Committee refers in this regard to its comments under Convention No. 98.

Articles 4 and 9. Coordination and control within the system of labour administration. The Committee notes that the high-level mission report raises questions as to the coordination of policies pursued in parallel in the framework of the structural reforms in the areas, for example, of collective bargaining, wages, social security and employment policies. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in detail the steps taken to ensure the effective coordination of the functions and responsibilities of the system of labour administration in the context of the current reforms and the control of the activities carried out by any parastatal agencies as well as regional or local agencies to which particular labour administration activities may have been delegated.

Article 10. Status, material means and financial resources of the labour administration staff. The Committee notes that, according to the high-level mission report, retrenchments and wage reductions have affected the public sector in the current context. It also notes that a particular area of concern raised by the European Commission was the inefficiency of the labour administration and the lack of capacity to run operational programmes under the European Social Fund in a results-based manner, taking into account that 50 per cent if these funds were devoted to human resource development and another major portion to education and life-long learning. While being fully aware of the difficulties the country is currently facing, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep the Office informed of the impact of the public sector reform on the status, material means and resources of the staff of the labour administration with regard to the requirements established in Article 10 of the Convention.

The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the steps taken or envisaged to elaborate and run operational programmes under the European Social Fund in a results-based manner. It reminds the Government that it may avail itself of ILO technical assistance.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]