Απεργία στις δημόσιες επιχειρήσεις και τους οργανισμούς κοινής ωφέλειας

Abstract

The goal of the present paper was, on the one hand, the description of the legal framework with regard to the exercise of the right to strike in public organizations and common welfare companies, and, on the other hand, the analysis and critique of this legal framework, as well as of its functioning in action, through the conclusion of the case -law and the theoretical approaches. In particular, initially we referred to the concept of “common wealth organization” and we showed that with the passing of time, this concept was developed so as to include not only public organizations, but also companies functioning solely on private criteria, be them national or foreign, seeing that an important criteria is the nature of the services provided, that is, whether they serve with their functioning basic needs of society and not their legal status or the legal framework that dictates their functioning. Furthermore, we stated the prerequisites of the legal exercise of this right in the common wealth companies, which are more strict than those in force for the exercise of this right in “common” companies, since the goal of the legislator is, taking under consideration the importance that these companies bear for the satisfaction of the basic needs of society, to make sure that during the strike these companies will continue to satisfy, if not all, at least the elementary needs of society. These needs, which companies have to cover in case of strikes, are molded with the agreement for the setting of the security staff with negotiations. It should be stated that the prerequisites needed to be satisfied for the legal exercise of the strike in these companies are the obligation to announce to the employer, the Miniser of Labor and the Competent Minister the requests of the strike at least four (4) days before the initiation of the strike, the invitation of the employer to participate to the public debate and the obligation to provide personnel to cover not only the safety needs of the company, but also the elementary needs of the society. These prerequisites are additional to those in force for the legal exercise of the right of strike in the “common” companies, so the strikers should abide by all of them. Subsequent to the prerequisites of the legal exercise of the strike, we examined the effects of an illegal strike, that is to say a strike for which not all the prerequisites were satisfied, to the legal position of the strikers, i.e. the set-off of the leave days with the days of the striker’s absence of his employment as a result of his taking part in an illegal strike etc. Finally, we tried to make a comparison between the legal framework of Greece and that of France, Spain and Great Britain, in order to demonstrate the similarities, if any, and the differences.