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it seemed possible that before too long the ETUC might take them both in, and the Western European Trade Union movement would then, to all intents and purposes, be organised within a single organisa- tion, though Portugal, Spain and Greece would still present problems. The ETUC has still to evolve as a working organisation with a specific programme. The former European Confederation of Free Trade Unions in the Community had dealt with EEC affairs and institutions, and there was a need to broaden the outlook and activities of the ETUC which had evolved from it and from the EFTA Trade Union Committee.
26. On the subject of relations with trade union organisations in Eastern Europe, Mr Hargreaves said there had been a great deal of misrepresentation in the media. Meetings had taken place for many years on a bilateral basis: for example, a TUC delegation had visited Hungary and Czechoslovakia this year, and previous years had seen visits to the Soviet Union, Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania. Bilateral contacts are now generally regarded as expensive in time and money and there was a move towards a multilateral basis. The TUC's attitude on multilateral contacts was to move cautiously and take a step at a time. A second East-West European trade union conference to be held under the auspices of the ILO Workers' Group will take place in Geneva on 28 February/ 1 March 1975 to discuss questions of the industrial environment. The meeting is an exercise in bringing people together to see if they can discuss common, but important, trade union problems of a non-political nature. The TUC was interested in follow-up action, but not in a "follow-up organisation". Thus, in 1976 it might be possible to mount another meeting concerned with training (eg vocational training, training of union officials, relations with employers etc). subject of this technical nature would involve discussions of detail and both sides will be getting closer to genuine union to union talks. The TUC's hope was that they would be able to move to a position in which they could influence conditions affecting Eastern European workers who were now becoming commercial competitors. Their purpose was essentially a trade union purpose and their aim was to find out whether the trade unions of Eastern Europe could share in a genuine and joint trade union function as seen from the point of view of the Western unions.
27.
A
The Chairman thanked Mr Hargreaves on behalf of the Board for his frank and full account of developments in the European trade union scene and their implications.
Item 6: The International Labour Organisation
(Paper OLC (1974) 6)
28.
In introducing the paper Mr Morgan drew attention to the sad death in 1973 of the ILO's British Director General, Mr Wilfred Jenks. He had been succeeded by a Trenchman, Francois Blanchard, who was elected by the Governing Body on a split (33-15) vote.
The new Director-General had initiated a substantial reform of the ILO's
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