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GB.270/PFA/14
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Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee |
PFA |
FOURTEENTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Report of the International Civil Service Commission
1. The present document reports on those recommendations of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), submitted in its annual report to the General Assembly for 1997,(1) which the Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee (PFAC) must assess quickly in order to avoid the need for costly retroactive adjustments. These recommendations concern the base/floor salary scale and family allowances for staff in the Professional and higher categories. The document also reports on the recommendations of the ICSC concerning post adjustment in Geneva.
2. The Committee will not during the present session be able to consider the decisions of the General Assembly on the ICSC recommendations, since these recommendations will probably not be adopted before mid-December 1997. A detailed report will be submitted to the Committee at the 271st Session of the Governing Body in March 1998.
Base/floor salary scale
3. The ICSC has recommended a net increase of 3.1 per cent in the base/floor salary scale for staff in the Professional and higher categories with effect from 1 March 1998. In accordance with the agreed methodology, the 3.1 per cent increase takes account of the increase in the salaries of the United States federal civil service for the year 1997.
4. This adjustment will be made by a consolidation of post-adjustment points into basic salary on a "no loss, no gain" basis. This will mean that only staff members at duty stations with very low post adjustment (below 3.1 percentage points) will receive an increase in their net remuneration. The increase in the base/floor salary scale will also require a proportional increase in the basis used for calculating the mobility and hardship allowance and separation payments.
5. As in previous years, the rates of staff assessment for those without primary dependants will need to be adjusted to produce a net rise of 3.1 per cent for those staff members as well as for those with dependants.
6. These measures will require an amendment to article 3.1 of the ILO Staff Regulations with effect from 1 March 1998.
Post adjustment at Geneva
7. The Committee will recall that in 1993 the General Assembly of the United Nations had requested the ICSC to ensure that surveys on the cost of living at all headquarters duty stations are fully representative of the cost of living for all staff. That request reflected the concern of the General Assembly at the fact that in Geneva a significant proportion of staff members of the Professional category live in France while receiving post adjustment based on the cost of living in Geneva. The ICSC considered two main approaches for follow-up action. One was to set a single post-adjustment index taking into account the cost of living both in Geneva and in the neighbouring areas of France. The other was to calculate two post adjustments, one for staff members resident in Geneva and the other for those resident in France. Both methods posed numerous difficulties, mainly of a legal nature, which in the opinion of the Geneva-based organizations needed to be examined in depth in order to avoid any risk of censure by the competent administrative tribunals. In 1995, the General Assembly had requested the ICSC to establish a single post-adjustment index for Geneva. In its 1996 report, the ICSC drew attention to the technical difficulties identified by its advisory body, the Advisory Committee on Post Adjustment Questions (ACPAQ), as well as the political, administrative and legal implications which prevented it from establishing a single post-adjustment index in 1996. In its resolution 51/216 of 18 December 1996, the General Assembly once again requested the ICSC to complete its study on the establishment of a single post-adjustment index for Geneva in order to allow implementation of that index as soon as possible and by 1 January 1998 at the latest.(2)
8. At its spring 1997 Session, the ICSC considered a report by the ACPAQ which proposed a method of setting a single post-adjustment index. At the request of representatives of Geneva-based organizations, who emphasized that the legal, administrative and other difficulties referred to earlier would need to be resolved before the ICSC could decide on a particular methodology, the ICSC agreed to submit their observations to the United Nations Legal Counsel in order to obtain his legal opinion and to review the entire matter at its July session. In July, the ICSC decided to report to the General Assembly that it had re-examined the entire matter and concluded that all the possible ways of responding to the General Assembly's request posed legal difficulties; and that if it were technically possible to calculate a single post-adjustment index based on prices in Geneva and the neighbouring areas of France, such an index would not be without risks and would pose a number of problems. Those problems included the need for changes to the organizations' staff regulations, the risk of the breakup of the common system if certain organizations refused to implement the index, the possibility of appeals by staff, the need for transitional measures, the advisability of undertaking a preliminary analysis of possible net savings, etc. For all these reasons, it is not possible to implement a single post-adjustment index for Geneva by 1 January 1998 as requested by the General Assembly. If, following the review of this information, the General Assembly decides to pursue the approach of a single post-adjustment index, it should be noted that the Geneva-based organizations will need time to amend their staff regulations and the General Assembly may wish them to bring the matter to the attention of their respective governing bodies. Before pursuing this approach, the General Assembly may also request the ICSC to carry out a study of the savings that could be realized from the implementation of a single post adjustment, taking into account expenditures associated with transitional measures and estimated costs of litigation.
9. The Committee will be informed at its March 1998 Session of the General Assembly's decisions. Given the importance of this issue, the Director-General has deemed it appropriate to inform the Committee immediately of the content of the ICSC recommendations.
Financial implications
10. The cost entailed by implementing the ICSC recommendations concerning the increase of 3.1 per cent in the base/floor salary scale (paragraph 3) is covered by the provisions made for that purpose in the Programme and Budget for 1998-99.
11. The Committee may wish to recommend that the Governing Body --
(a) endorse the recommendations of the ICSC, subject to their approval by the United Nations General Assembly, concerning measures applicable to staff in the Professional and higher categories, namely, an increase of 3.1 per cent in the base/floor (net) salary scale and a review of staff assessment rates for staff without primary dependants, with effect from 1 March 1998;
(b) authorize the Director-General to give effect in the ILO, through appropriate amendments to the Staff Regulations, to the measures referred to in subparagraph (a), subject to their approval by the General Assembly.
Geneva, 9 October 1997.
Point for decision: Paragraph 11.
1. General Assembly Official Records, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 30 (A/52/30).
2. See, GB.264/PFA/12, Nov. 1995; GB.267/PFA/12 (Corr.), Nov. 1996; and GB.268/PFA/10, Mar. 1997.