3. The Development and Structure of Labour Unions

• 3.1. The General Confederation of workers of Greece (GSEE).
• 3.2. The Supreme Administration of Civil Servants' Trade-Unions (ADEDY).
• 3.3. Employers' Organisation

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3. The Development and Structure of Labour Unions

In the Greek labour relations system salary and wage earners may join one of the two different trade-union structures according to the type of labour contract under which they work. Salary and wage earners employed by any employer under private law contracts may join (or are entitled to join) primary-level trade-unions that belong (or may belong) to the structure of GSEE, the General Confederation of Greek Labour. Employees employed under public law contracts (i.e. civil servants) may join, or are entitled to join, primary level trade-unions that belong (or may belong) to the structure of ADEDY, the Supreme Administration of Civil Servants' Trade-Unions. Both structures have three levels, consisting of primary-level trade-unions (company, regional or craft unions), secondary level organisations such as Federations and Local Labour Centers, and tertiary level organisations such as GSEE and ADEDY.

As far as employers are concerned, their interests are represented by three different national organisations, namely, the Federation of Greek Industry (SEB), representing industry and big enterprises in general; the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE), which represents trading concerns; and the General Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Small Manufacturers of Greece (GSEBEE), representing the interests of handicraft professionals and small manufacturing enterprises.

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3.1. The General Confederation of workers of Greece (GSEE).

GSEE was founded in 1918. Its present structure is to a large degree the result of decisions taken immediately after the end of the Civil War. Already at the time of the first post-civil war GSEE Congress (the 10th Congress, September 1950) organisational changes which set the bases of the postwar structure of Greek trade unionism were adopted. It was decided that national occupational and sectoral Federations along with the Labour Centres would henceforth comprise the basis of GSEE. Federations comprise primary-level trade-unions on an industrial, sectoral or occupational basis. Labour Centres are organisations at the local/regional level according to the administrative division of the country and normally follow the division of the country in Prefectures, and comprise all the unions of the region concerned. Each primary level union can be member of one Federation and one Labour Centre.

Federations and Labour centres are entitled to be memmbers of the GSEE. To avoid double voting when representatives for GSEE congresses are elected, members are entitled to choose one way for electing representatives either via federations or vi Labour Centres. These organisational changes took effect over the period until the convocation of the 11th GSEE Congress in April 1953. According to GSEE data, whereas 248,503 employees were represented in the 10th Congress by 1664 first-level Unions and 63 Labour Centres, in the 11th Congress a total of 370,217 employees found representation through 52 Labour Centres and 17 Federations. Out of the latter, the seven largest ones accounted for a quarter of all GSEE members. Since then, GSEE's structure rests on Federations and Labour Centres, as can be seen in Table 3.1. It is noteworthy that the number of Federations has increased since the early 50s. The same is observed, to a lesser extent, with regard to Labour Centres.

TABLE 3.1.

GSEE's composition in terms of Labour Centres and Federations,
1953-1998

The present-day structure of GSEE, on the basis of the data of its 29th Congress (March 1998), includes 2,347 first level Unions, which in turn are subsumed under 62 Federations and 75 Labour Centres. These Federations and Labour Centres represent the interests of 442,852 voting members.

The composition of GSEE is presented in greater detail in Table 3.2.

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TABLE 3.2.

Federations and Labour Centres Subsumed Under GSEE
29th CONGRESS (1998)

f e d e r a t i o n s

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federations
not suprassing the electoral limit

Pensioners' Federations

Labour Centres Subsumed Under GSEE

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Labour Centres
not Surpissing the Electoral Limit

The number of Federations and Labour Centres that belong to GSEE and form the structure of Greek trade-unionism, considered along with the number of trade-unions and the active/voting members, denote a widely fragmented structure. GSEE had decided at its 27th Congress to proceed with rationalising its structure through mergers and unifications of labour organisations (especially Federations of a similar nature), as it had been discussing doing for years. In this area

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things are at a standstill, with only two exceptions . A unification of three similar Federations was achieved in the branches of textiles, clothing, and leather processing, and the result was the creation of the Federation of Textile, Clothing, and Leather Workers of Greece (OEKIDE). An analogous attempt at unification is evolving in the area of chemical and oil products. The new organisation will issue out of the merging of two Federations, the Oil Trade Federation, which was founded in 1955, and the Refineries Federation, founded in 1970.

Since the mid-90s, GSEE appeared to be going through one of the better phases of its long history. In the recent past, even after 1974, GSEE leaderships were in three different cases (in 1975, 1982 and 1985) the outcome of governmental-judicial meddling. Yet this "iron law", which dictated that the majority of GSEE administration's members should always be sympathetic towards the government-in-office, was overturned in the early '90s. However, during this same period, GSEE, suffered the consequences of economic restructuring and deindustrialisation. The result was that trade-union density decreased in the 1990s. Approximately 564,000 GSEE members voted for the Confederation's 25th Convention in 1992, while roughly 482,000 voted for the 27th Convention in 1995 and about 442,000 for the 28th Convention in 1998.

TABLE 3.3. Trade-Union Voting Members and Trade-Union Density
1992-1998

This decrease in trade-union density reinforced the uneven development of labour unionism between the private sector on the one hand, and those state-controlled companies whose employees are engaged under private law contracts, on the other; it thus affected GSEE dynamics. The varying records in strike-related activity, already detectable in the late 1970s and running throughout this period, are indicative of this uneven development, as are the differences in the nature of salaried employment between the private sector and the public sector utilities, the unevenly distributed density of trade-union involvement, and the degree of representation of the various Federations in GSEE's bodies (congresses, boards and executive committees). Thus, while GSEE has secured its place as the top national organisation of salary and wage earners employed under private law contracts in the private sector and in state-owned companies,

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its potential is being undermined by recent economic developments. At this point the issue is not whether deindustrialisation and the economic restructuring process will undermine GSEE's bargaining power (an outcome which was to be expected and is already observable), but whether it will also invalidate the vested right of GSEE leadership's relative autonomy from the state and from the machinery of political parties.

On the basis of the results of its 28th Congress, 22 members out of GSEE's 45-strong leadership belong to PASKE, 10 to DAKE, another 10 to ESAK-S, and the remaining 3 to Autonomous Intervention. Relative to the composition of the preceding leadership PASKE has lost a seat (and the absolute majority along with it), which was won over by DAKE.

Finally, a special characteristic determining the autonomy of the Greek labour movement and the trade-unions’ operation has to do with the manner in which labour unions receive their funding. Since the time of the Metaxas dictatorship (1936-40), a compulsory system of paying dues and contributions by workers for the benefit of GSEE had been put into effect. For a number of decades both GSEE and the secondary level labour organisations were funded by means of this compulsory contribution mechanism. Despite minor reforms in the system brought about either by governmental initiative or in answer to trade-unions demands, the Ergatiki Estia Organisation (OEE) remains the principal source of funding for labour unions. Employers and employees forward, by means of social security contributions, 0.25% of the latter's salaries to IKA (the Social Security) on behalf of OEE. Part of this sum is allotted to trade-unions for their operation. In 1990 a law abolishing union funding through Ergatiki Estia (OEE) and the compulsory contributions system was put forward. This resulted in the collapse of labour unions' operation. GSEE requested, and achieved, a return to the previous regime as well as a tripartite administration of the Ergatiki Estia, and declared that it would take measures to further the financial autonomy of labour unions.

Today GSEE is still mainly funded by OEE. For instance, from April 1st 1995 until December 31st 1997 (from its 28th until its 29th Congress), 88.02% of gross revenues of 3.2 billion drachmas came from OEE's subsidy, and only a mere 1.42% from labour organisation members' contributions. (The remainder was proceeds from interest and, primarily, EEU subsidies). Concerning the funding of secondary-level organisations i.e. Federations and Labour Centres, the situation is comparable. For instance, the 70 Labour Centres and 68 Federations that will participate in the evolving process for electing representatives for the next GSEE congress (in 2001) will receive their funding by OEE (which, incidentally, will also provide the funds for the Congress itself). Funding will

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be given out on the basis of each organisation's membership and in accordance with a Ministry of Labour and Social Security resolution which specifies the prerequisites and conditions of distribution and payment of the funds in question. The labour organisations of the employees of state banks and other state-owned companies and public utilities (e.g. the Public Electricity Company, Greek Telecommunications Organisation, Greek Railways Organisation, Post Office etc.) provide to a certain extent an exception to this rule of financial dependence on OEE. As far as they are concerned, union contributions are deducted from employees' salaries by their employer and handed over to their respective labour organisation. Regarding companies of the private sector, even though the same system could potentially be put into effect on the basis of current legislation, by consensus between employers, employees, and the labour organisations themselves, its implementation remains extremely limited.

3.2. The Supreme Administration of Civil Servants' Trade-Unions (ADEDY).

The founding of ADEDY took place in December 1947 due to an initiative by the Greek Teachers' Federation, the Judicial Clerks Federation, the Panhellenic TTT (Telephony, Telegraphy, Postal Service) Federation, and 15 other civil servant organisations. The creation of ADEDY was preceded by the founding of a similar organisation, the Confederation of Greek Civil Servants (SDYE), in 1926. Yet the operation of this latter organisation had been repeatedly forbidden in the years of political instability following its establishment and up to the outbreak of WW II.

ADEDY is also a three-level organisation with primary-level trade-unions of civil servants forming secondary-level Federations which are members of the tertiary-level Confederation. A decisive step towards the organisational development of ADEDY and the ability of civil servants to represent themselves was its 25th Congress held in 1983, which was conducted on the basis of proportional representation regarding the election of representatives. At the 29th Congress, held in 1995, a total of 60 Federations participated, representing close to 226,000 members who had voted. Today, the organisational configuration of ADEDY includes 1264 first-level unions that are organised in 52 Federations and represent a total of 240,709 voting members. Table 3.3. gives a more detailed account of ADEDY's structure on the basis of participation at its 30th Congress of November 1998.

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TABLE 3.4

Federations Subsumed Under ADEDY, 1998

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On the basis of the results of the 30th ADEDY Congress concerning the election of the organisation's 85-member governing body, PASK received 44 seats, DAKE 23, the Civil Servants Unity (affiliated with the Greek Communist Party) and Autonomous Intervention (affiliated with the Left-wing Progressive Coalition) got 8 seats each, and 2 seats were won by independent left-wing candidates.

Thus in the 90s, whereas the density of GSEE participation is decreasing, in the case of ADEDY it remains stable and even shows a slight increase. In view of these developments the leaderships of GSEE and ADEDY decided to take the initiative for unifying the two topmost national Confederations of the private sector and public administration. The first step in this direction was the creation of a Labour Institute shared by the two organisations, which incorporated the GSEE Labour Institute (INE-GSEE) founded in 1990. The next step will be a Congress held in common, the object of which will be the discussion of issues relating to a potential merger.

3.3. Employers' Organisation

There are three high-ranking employers' organisations that play a pivotal role in the national labour relations system, namely, the Federation of Greek Industries (SEB), the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE), and the General Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Small Manufacturers of Greece (GSEBEE).

SEB was founded in 1907 under the title of Greek Industrialists' and Small Manufacturers' Association. Its name was altered in 1946 to Association of Greek Industrialists, and finally took its present form in 1979. The members of SEB are no longer natural entities (the industrialists themselves) as in the past, but rather legal entities (corporations and other companies) or employers' unions (domain- or periphery-wide). The member-companies of the latter are considered extraordinary members of SEB. Its members are mainly Small- and Medium-size Businesses (SMBs), according to the EEU definition. 93% of Greece's 4,150 industrial enterprises (Corporations and Limited Companies) are SMBs. 85% of SEB members are processing/manufacturing industrial businesses and the rest belong to the Services sector. SEB plays a pivotal role in the negotiations pertaining to the General National Collective Labour Agreement and some 100 other sectoral and occupational Collective Agreements. It takes full part in EEU processes, maintaining offices in Brussels since 1962, and participates in more than 50 UNICE work groups; likewise, it takes part in OKE, the Social Dialogue Commission, and the Standing Commission for Employment.

The National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE), founded in 1994,evolved

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out of the Greek Commercial Societies' Union (EESE) which had been established in 1987 as the topmost trade-union organisation of professionals involved in commerce. Today, ESEE incorporates 10 Federations that organise the country's commercial societies by district, and a Commercial Agents' Federation. Its forerunner EESE was the result of long-drawn-out efforts aimed at the transformation of the Coordinating Council of Greek Commercial Societies into the Greek Commercial Societies' Union, which only came to fruition in 1987. The Commercial Societies of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, recognised since 1955 as vehicles for conducting nationwide collective bargaining as national representatives of the trading profession, played a leading part in the founding of both the Coordinating Council and EESE.

GSEBE, founded in 1919 as the Union of Small Manufacturers of Greece, was renamed GSEBEE in 1988 so as to include tradesmen. Its members are Federations encompassing such professional categories as booksellers, coffee-house keepers, florists, undertakers, dry cleaners, shoemakers, carpenters, plumbers, barbers and hairdressers, metal handicraftsmen, bakers, tailors, goldsmiths, photographers, dental technicians, car mechanics, electricians, and shopkeepers. The members of second level GSEBEE Federations are persons, not companies; they are people who are self-employed with or without additional employees. A total of 61 professions is organised in the context of GSEBEE. In 1995 it was composed of 48 local federations comprising 682 unions with 70,665 members and 13 sectoral federations involving 89 unions with 5,636 members.

These three employers' organisations do not all carry the same weight, but their development was not synchronous as well. In the mid- 80s there was an initiative to organise a single employers top level organisation in the line of the French Patronat but the initiative (ESYP) did not gain momentum and was abandoned. Thus in the three employers organisations differing phases of centralisation and decentralisation tendencies are to be observed in their structures. In brief, it can be noted that in the early 1990s SEB came out of a prolonged and difficult adaptation period, while ESEE acts within an area of professional interests in which specific groupings are characterised by their fluidity, and GSEBEE is going through a rather transitional phase and it is debatable whether its current bargaining capacity reflects the genuine potential of the craftsmen and traders sector.

SEB since the late 70s went through a difficult adaptation period, which was directly connected to the crisis in Greek industry, the radical shifts in the political scene, and the policies of the New Democracy

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(1974-81) and PASOK (1982-85) governments, as well as to the industrial labour relations crisis related to the growth of militant labour unionism in factories, and the ideological climate of the period between 1974 and 1985 which was not much favourable for private entrepreneurship. One of the main aims included under SEB's institutional role as described in a 1993 SEB edition entitled "Mission, Principles, Way of Functioning, Services to Members" can be viewed as an effect of this strenuous adaptation period. Therein, mention is made (p. 7) of the "elucidation and acceptance of the social role of industry and private enterprise by the general public". SEB's chosen strategy in the '90s was to give priority to dialogue on all levels. One issue preoccupying the topmost organisation of Greek industry concerns the centrifugal tendencies of peripheral Associations. The Coordinating Council of Industrial Organisations was constituted to address and balance these tendencies.

The founding of EESE in 1987 and its evolution into the National Confederation of Greek Commerce (ESEE) in 1994 constituted an analogous effort to deal with the centrifugal tendencies that can be observed in the area of commercial professional interests. New professional organisations were formed after 1974, which were linked to the restructuring of commercial activity from traditional to modern, developing enterprises such as department stores and supermarkets. Even nowadays the organisation of commercial professional interests is marked by fragmentation and centrifugal tendencies.

The General Confederation of Professional Craftsmen and Small Manufacturers and Traders of Greece (GSEVEE) represents the sector of very small businesses. It has been recognised since 1955 as the topmost organisation in that area, entitled to sign the General National Collective Labour Agreement. The attempt to organise tens of thousands of professionals, small manufacturers, and tradesmen (traditionally characterised by an occupation-centred structure), concurrently with their local or peripheral organisation, appears to be leading to the weakening of their bargaining potential. This organisational polyvalence is intensified by the parallel and officially recognised structure of Chambers of Commerce and Industry on the one hand and the Chambers of Handicraft Industry and Commerce on the other, by means of which professional interests are also voiced through institutionalised participation in Ministry Committees, the keeping of professional records, etc.