UPDATE: YOUR CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

FICSA’S REPORT, 67TH SESSION OF THE ICSC, NEWYORK 14 – 25 JULY 2008

Strategizing – FICSA Council, 4 – 8 February 2008, ILO Training Center, Torino

FICSA was represented by the President, the General Secretary, and the Information Officer assisted as rapporteur and resource person. CCISUA had two representatives, its President and Vice-President, and UNISERV had three representatives but was primarily represented by its Vice-President.
Ms. Angela Kane, the new Under-Secretary-General for Management at the UN, delivered a message from the Secretary-General at the opening of the session. Ensuring an independent international civil service with high standards of performance and accountability was one of his priorities, and that it was therefore critical that the common system organizations continued to be able to attract, develop and retain motivated staff of the highest caliber. Attractive conditions of service were an integral part of that goal, and should not be diminished. Staff, especially those working in difficult and risky duty stations, should be properly supported and fairly compensated, so that the UN organizations would remain competitive as employers.
As its introductory remark, FICSA asked for all participants to observe a minute of silence for colleagues who lost their lives in the service of the United Nations organizations since the 66th session of the ICSC.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND HIGHER CATEGORIES
Base/floor salary scale
FICSA took note of the ICSC recommendation to increase the base/floor salary scale for P and higher staff by 2.33% on a no loss/no gain basis. The Commission recommended to the General Assembly the proposed adjustment of the base/floor salary scale with effect from 1 January 2009.

Margin
FICSA and the HR Network alike both took note of the projected margin of 114.1, with an average midpoint of 113 over the past five years, and regretted that the margin had been consistently below its desirable 115 midpoint since 1997. FICSA asked for a real salary increase for staff in the Professional and higher categories.
The Commission decided to report to the GA that the margin was projected at 114.1 and to draw the Assembly’s attention to the fact that the margin had been below the desirable midpoint for the past five years and that the five-year average was currently standing at 113.
It also requested that its Secretariat update the margin on the basis of the actual post adjustment multiplier for New York and on the latest CEB staff statistics, if available.

Mobility/hardship scheme: review of the operation of the revised scheme and levels
FICSA supported the proposed revision to the amounts and supported that changes in the grade and dependency status of individuals, as well as in duty station hardship classifications, continue to be reflected in the amounts paid to staff during an assignment. With regard to the proposals for review in three years’ time, FICSA encouraged the Commission to carry out a review next year of the need for special clauses to exceptionally extend the five-year limit to address staff’s needs as soon as possible. The Commission decided to accept the recommendations of the working group. These included increases in the levels and changes in the grade and dependency status of individuals, as well as in duty station hardship classifications, that would continue to be reflected in the amounts paid to staff during an assignment. The Commission agreed that the movement of the base/floor salary scale was the most stable of the three adjustment factors and decided to give it the highest weighting in adjusting the amount payable. A 5 per cent increase for the hardship allowance, the mobility allowance and the non-removal allowance would be recommended to the GA with effect from 1 January 2009.
A further review would take place in three years time. The review will examine the need for special clauses to exceptionally extend the five-year limit for the payment of the mobility and non-removal elements for up to seven years. FICSA regretted that such exceptions were not approved at the present session.

Children’s and secondary dependant’s allowances: review of the level
This was the first adjustment of the allowances since the methodology was changed.
The HR Network submitted a new proposal regarding the transitional measure which provided that, in countries where the current allowances were above the revised flat rate by more than 10 per cent, the new rates would apply to newly eligible staff only, while the staff already in receipt of the allowance would continue to receive it at the old higher rate until the end of their eligibility period.
FICSA noted with appreciation the increase proposed by the ICSC, but expressed its continued disappointment that that the flat-rate allowances were significantly less than the previous rates in several duty stations, following the introduction of the new methodology. FICSA supported the transitional measure proposed by the HR Network as a means to protect the level of the allowances for those staff members who were already eligible to receive them. However, the Commission decided that their original proposal on the transitional measure was sufficient.
The Commission approved a flat rate children’s allowance of $2686 and a disabled children’s allowance of $5372. The secondary dependant’s allowance was set at $940. The US dollar amount of the allowance would be converted to local currency using the official UN exchange rate as at the date of promulgation and would remain unchanged until the next biennial review. As a transitional measure, where, at the time of implementation, the revised flat rate allowance is lower than the one currently received, the allowance would be equal to the higher rate reduced by 25 per cent of the difference between the two rates.
The HR Network and the staff representatives expressed serious disappointment that the transitional measure did not provide for 100 per cent of the difference between the new rate and the higher current rate in several duty stations: Austria, Japan, Denmark and Switzerland. The HR representative from WHO expressed the organization’s regret at the decision and reserved the right to request a review of the transitional measure. This was a question of acquired rights. The HR representative from WIPO and FICSA strongly supported the WHO statement. FICSA reminded the Commission that reform should not lead to a reduction in terms and conditions of service every time.

Assessing the implementation of the job evaluation Master Standard
The Commission was provided with an update which reported that five organizations had reclassified all or most of their Professional posts using the new classification tool, resulting in the reclassification of 11,500 posts. The organizations stated that they were pleased with the operation of the tool, while admitting that implementation had been slow. The Commission took note of the status of implementation and regretted that only 5 organizations implemented the new Master
Standard for Professional and higher categories. The Commission asked its secretariat to complete its work on the glossary of terms and for a translation into French and in Spanish as early as possible.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE APPLICABLE TO BOTH CATEGORIES OF STAFF
Education grant: review of the methodology
The review of the education grant methodology was the most controversial issue at this session.
A working group had met several times prior to the session to develop proposals to simplify and streamline the grant. However, the staff and the HR Network representatives felt that the proposed new system put forward by the working group created too many losers, with the main aim being cost-cutting. Furthermore, the proposal that had been made by the staff and HR representatives at the working group was changed by the ICSC secretariat after the meeting of the working group. Consequently, both parties continued to oppose the proposed new system.
At the initiative of FICSA, the staff federations launched petitions against the proposed changes to the methodology and many signatures were received, attesting to the fact that staff had very strong feelings about any potential decreases that would be caused by the new system.
FICSA continued to work together with the HR Network on this issue and lent its support to a counter-proposal put forward by the Network during the ICSC session. While representing a much-improved alternative to the working group’s proposal, which had not achieved consensus, it still was not ideal because too many staff would have lost out. This issue generated a great deal of discussion both during the session, after hours and behind closed doors. In the end, the Commission decided to maintain the status quo for the time being and to keep some of the methodological issues under review. FICSA expressed its appreciation for the work carried out by the HR Network and for the Commission’s decision to maintain the status quo.

Education grant: review of the level
The level of the education grant is reviewed every two years. CEB compiles data on school costs and the number of claims in each of the 16 geographical zones that exceed the ceiling by five per cent and then presents a paper to the Commission with proposed increases.
FICSA expressed its appreciation for the paper and the work that had gone into it, and supported the proposed increases. FICSA stressed that the grant was an integral part of the mobility policy, aimed to help staff access quality education for their children regardless of duty station.
The Commissioners questioned the list of representative schools, particularly the schools in Canada, some of which were considered to be the most elite and expensive, and the list of schools in Germany which did not include any in Bonn where most of the UN offices were located. They also questioned whether the children of staff actually attended all of the representative schools.
The HR Network explained that the selection of representative schools was not made by the Network. The list had been agreed on by the Commission according to an agreed methodology. The Network agreed to provide new data, on the basis of which the Commission decided to recommend the following increases:
In all cases, except the UK, the percentage increase was less than the increases proposed by the HR Network. The HR Network expressed disappointment especially with the lower increases for Switzerland, Sweden and the US. The revised amounts are valid for the school year in progress on 1 January 2009. The Commission also decided to introduce special measures for Bulgaria and Hungary and to discontinue a separate zone for Finland, which would now be included in the US dollar outside US zone.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SERVICE AND OTHER LOCALLY RECRUITED STAFF
Job evaluation standards: progress report
An ICSC working group met in Turin from 21 to 25 April 2008 and was tasked with designing a global job evaluation system that would be transparent, flexible and simple. FICSA participated in all the developmental work carried out by the working group¹.
FICSA expressed its appreciation for the language component having been included in the new design as a sub-factor, and requested that glossaries be developed as soon as possible for both the Professional and GS standards. FICSA formally requested that the representatives of staff continue to be fully involved in the entire process until the classification tool was promulgated and implemented. A communication strategy was needed, and the strategy should make it clear that the development of the standard had been a partnership among the ICSC secretariat, organizations and staff representatives. Concern was expressed that, based on the preliminary demonstration of the job evaluation too, mid-level graded posts had been consistently under-graded and that there seemed to have been some level of bias favoring supervisory over technical functions. The ICSC secretariat explained that those issues would be revisited and adjustments made to the tool, as necessary.
The Commission decided to request its secretariat to complete the standard and to report back at the summer session in 2009.

OTHER BUSINESS
Appreciation of local currencies and its effects on UN staff remuneration
In response to complaints received from staff about the loss of purchasing power due to the appreciation of local currencies against the US dollar, a report was presented containing the results of an analysis conducted by the ICSC secretariat of the effects of the continuing devaluation of the US dollar on the remuneration package of staff serving in field
duty stations.
The staff representatives thanked the ICSC secretariat for the rapid and comprehensive response to the concerns raised by staff, particularly in field duty stations. They regretted that there was no solution that would work for all duty stations, suggesting that what staff were seeking was income stability. Wages and benefits should allow staff to meet their living costs, mainly in the duty station where they were posted, but also considering the financial commitments they may have in their home countries or outside the duty station. Staff supported the proposed changes in the post adjustment classification system, the education grant and the mobility/hardship scheme, and urged vigilance in monitoring any such changes to guard against unintended consequences.
The Commission decided that no change in the operational rules governing the post adjustment, education grant and mobility/hardship scheme was warranted at this time, and decided that the matter should be referred to ACPAQ at its next session (IAEA, Vienna, 26 January to 2 February 2009).

¹ See FICSA/CIRC/1046 for the Report on the Federation’s participation