Topics  Definitions and good intentions  Classification of Jobs  Working and Employment Conditions  Union demands

Definitions and Good Intentions Art.0.1 of the Staff regulations: The Staff Regulations (…) regulate the conditions of employment and set forth the duties and rights of the officials of the International Labour Office. Kofi Annan, September 2002 : Action 28. Effective 1 January 2003, all employees of the United Nations Secretariat will be referred to as international civil servants. Juan Somavia, May 2003 : Whether we are G-staff, P-staff or national professional officers, we are part of one single entity and one single Organization. I remember the Secretary-General saying something of that order a couple of years ago, and maybe we can think about starting to see all staff as international civil servants performing different functions in the same international institution. And we should not discriminate on the basis of distinctions between field and headquarters.

Article 2.2 of the Staff Regulations: Jobs shall be classified in categories and grades, in accordance with the duties and responsibilities attaching to them, as follows: Classification of Jobs (1) DG, DDG, ADG, TFC (2) Director & Principal Officer category – D2 & D1 (3) Professional category – P1 to P5 (4) NEW – OCTOBER 2001 (GB MARCH 2001) National Professional Officers category – NO A to NO D (5) « General Service category, comprising all other grades »

Geographical distribution Local Recruitment: Tougher than ever … Art.4.3. : (a) The appointment of staff on a wide geographical basis SHALL NOT be a consideration in the appointment of officials to the General Service category (b)Officials of the GS category (…) shall not NORMALLY be transferred No such transfer shall take place without the official’s consent Jobs in this category shall AS FAR AS POSSIBLE be filled by locally recruited officials. MEANS: STILL POSSIBLE

NATIONAL OFFICERS That Obscure Object of Desire … Art.4.3. bis: (a) Jobs in this category SHALL BE filled by locally recruited officials. (b)Officials of the National Professional Officers category (…) SHALL NOT be transferred to other duty stations. MEANS: "Abandon all hope ye who enters here"

Employment & Working Conditions  Strong ICSC influence  Obvious differences in contract types because of different recruitment procedures (Field)  Salaries adjusted for P, less so for G  Social security: SHIF not always, MEC usually not  Family benefits: local conditions  Pensions: better grossing up, but no dollar protection for PR and non-pensionable part  Hardship is not recognized for GS

Conditions (II)  Overtime compensation & language allowances – less and less  More then limited prospects of mobility (Field, but also HQ)  Education allowances: NONE  Doubts concerning merit increments  Longer waiting period for titularization  Unequal public and peers’ recognition

Union Demands  Continuity in Grade Structure : For career prospects, to avoid part of discrimination  Access to education grant: At least in country of work  Mobility:  Remove artificial obstacles  Security:  At parity for evacuation, work out proper insurance mechanisms (P staff: Hardship)