Judgment No. 380
Decision
THE COMPLAINTS AND THE APPLICATIONS TO INTERVENE ARE DISMISSED.
Consideration 5
Extract:
It is significant that the defendant organisation has provided for the application of the United Nations Staff Rules and Regulations. "This Tribunal would therefore hesitate to depart from any interpretation which had been placed upon any regulation by the United Nations Tribunal. The fundamental question in issue cannot, however, be decided as a matter of pure interpretation." [cf. UNAT case No 225; UNAT Judgment No. 236]
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 236
Keywords
judgment of the tribunal; iloat; unat; case law; staff regulations and rules; enforcement; interpretation; consequence
Consideration 21
Extract:
"Where there is only a simple obligation to consult, the decision-maker's duty is to listen or at most to exchange views. The object of the consultation is that he will make the best decision and the assumption is that he will not succeed in doing that unless he has the benefit of the views of the person consulted."
Keywords
consultation; effect; purpose
Consideration 13
Extract:
The complainants must "establish that they are entitled to enforce [the] agreements as a part of their contracts of employment over which alone the Tribunal has jurisdiction."
Keywords
complainant; competence of tribunal; burden of proof; enforcement; terms of appointment; contract; staff union agreement; elements
Consideration 21
Extract:
The object of negotiation is compromise. "This object would be frustrated if either party began with the determination not to make any concession in any circumstances, just as the object of consultation would be frustrated if the decision-maker began with a determination not to be influenced by anything that might be said to him. On both these hypotheses there would be a lack of good faith."
Keywords
good faith; collective bargaining; consultation; purpose
Consideration 1
Extract:
Vide Judgment 382, consideration 1.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 382
Keywords
competence of tribunal; interpretation; staff union agreement; effect
Consideration 14
Extract:
To establish that there was a promise to negotiate, the complainants rely upon the facts and reasoning contained in an opinion given personally by the members of the Tribunal. In this opinion the members, who were not confined within the limits of the Tribunal's jurisdiction, reached the conclusion that the agreement recognised that there would be prior negotiation. "The Tribunal sees no reason to differ from this conclusion." The complainants have thus justified the foundation of their statements concerning their promise to negotiate.
Keywords
tribunal; competence of tribunal; iloat; promise; collective bargaining; staff union agreement; advisory opinion
Consideration 21
Extract:
"Negotiation starts from equality of bargaining power [i.e. legal equality; economic strength may be unequal]; consultation supposes legal power to be in the hands of the decision-maker, diminished only by the duty to consult."
Keywords
collective bargaining; consultation; difference
Consideration 3
Extract:
Vide Judgment 382, consideration 3.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 382
Keywords
claim; competence of tribunal
Consideration 16
Extract:
Vide Judgment 381, consideration 6.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 381
Keywords
organisation's duties; amendment to the rules; provision; terms of appointment; contract; salary; collective bargaining
Consideration 7
Extract:
The experts were not in agreement about the methodology or the salary-scale figures. "In these circumstances it would be natural for [the Director] to contact his staff association in order to ascertain their views and, if necessary, negotiate with them to reach an agreed figure. This is something which a [director] might do even if contact was not prescribed by the Staff Regulations."
Keywords
organisation's duties; no provision; reckoning; salary; scale; staff union; collective bargaining
Consideration 27
Extract:
The question is whether the duty of consultation for which provision is made in the statutory texts had been modified by the practice of the preceding ten years or more and expanded to embrace negotiation. "If negotiation is different from consultation, it is difficult to see how the change could be made otherwise than by an amendment made in accordance with the Staff Regulations."
Keywords
organisation's duties; practice; no provision; collective bargaining; consultation
Consideration 18
Extract:
Vide Judgment 381, consideration 8.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 381
Keywords
organisation's duties; staff regulations and rules; enforcement; provision; collective bargaining; consultation
Consideration 21
Extract:
"If the end-product of the discussions [...] is a unilateral decision, 'consultation' is the appropriate word. If it is a bilateral decision, i.e. an agreement, 'negotiation' is appropriate. Decisions are reached after consultation; agreements after negotiation."
Keywords
decision; collective bargaining; consultation; consequence; difference
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