The following message has been sent to all Union representatives in the field:
Geneva, 13 May 2003.
Dear Colleagues,
It is only today 13 May, and very indirectly - viz. through remarks made by our colleague Basharat Ahmad acting as President of FUNSA Islamabad on an internal FICSA communication - that the ILO Staff Union was appraised of the results of the 56th session of the International Civil Service Commission on the "Review of the Methodology for surveys of best prevailing conditions of employment at non-headquarters duty stations". The report anticipating on these results was issued on 4 March 2003, and is available at http://icsc.un.org/other/ses/56r8.pdf
Decisions reached by the ICSC represent a deliberate attempt at reducing the levels of salaries for locally recruited staff in virtually all non HQ duty stations through the combined use of 3 instruments, each of them appearing as far more political than technical:
- Increase in the number of comparators in selected duty stations (this is called "Differentiation of labour markets") through classification of duty stations according to 4 categories instead of 3 categories installed in 1997 (requirement of 5 to 15 employers to be retained instead of current 5 to 12). The list of affected duty stations is still to be established.
- Increase in the number of public/non profit sector from 25% to 33% of surveyed employers. It is well known that public / non-profit employers usually provide worse conditions of employment and remuneration than best paying private employers...
- Usage of alternative methods of data collection instead of relying on a local team composed of staff members able to conduct a thorough dialogue on the spot. The idea to collect information directly from HQs of multinational companies, or by phone, will clearly lead in many duty stations to an underestimation of indirect remuneration, which in some instances represents a significant portion of overall remuneration package.
Taken in isolation, each of these instruments would result in a reduction of remuneration levels considered in surveyed employers. Acting together, the three approaches may have an extremely negative impact.
ILO was not represented at all on the Working Group (members of ICSC - organisations - "staff representative bodies" - secretariat of the ICSC) where the report leading to these decisions were taken. FICSA and CCISUA representatives expressed dissenting views, which were apparently summarily dismissed.
It is deeply regretted by the ILO Staff Union that neither FICSA nor CCISUA apparently felt it appropriate to fully inform staff of the dangers ahead when the Working Group concluded its session on 28 February, that they did not try and mobilize staff ahead of the ICSC session held in Rome from 31 March to 18 April, and, more then 3 weeks after the conclusion of the ICSC Session, that they have not yet proposed any course of action to firmly oppose this very serious prospective deterioration in remuneration for local staff throughout the world.
We, in the ILO Staff Union, feel it would be foolish to wait any longer.
While we will obviously voice our concerns with the representatives of the Director General at the earliest opportunity, i.e. probably to morrow 14 May, we do feel the strongest protest should emanate from the Field.
We therefore suggest that, as a matter of urgency, you, as local Staff Union representatives, express your concerns at the results of ICSC 56th session to :
i) Regional Directors and Directors of ILO field structure;
ii) Chairpersons of Local salary survey Committees.
We also advise you to:
i) duly inform all local ILO staff at your duty station about the situation, asking them to be ready for action when called for;
ii) contact without delay representatives of all other local Associations/Unions to inform them about the situation if not known to them, and to already consider possibilities of joint actions.
Next session of the ICSC is to be held in New York in July 2003. Decisions however have already been taken. It is therefore of the utmost importance that mobilization builds up from now on, so that the whole of the system expresses loud and clear its opposition to the steps taken by ICSC towards a further degradation of conditions of service for local staff in non HQ duty stations - at odds, to say the least, with the statement made by the UN Secretary General to the UN General Assembly in 2002 that " The United Nations must create more opportunity and incentives that will make the careers of General Service staff more rewarding."
We still hope FICSA and CCISUA will assume their responsibility for organizing a worldwide response. Nevertheless, do not wait to raise awareness and start mobilizing colleagues. Kindly keep us posted on whatever initiative you may take in relation with the above.
In brotherhood,
Jean-Victor Gruat,
Chair,
ILO Staff Union Committee
