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GB.271/PFA/9
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Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee |
PFA |
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NINTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Decisions of the United Nations General Assembly
on the report of the International Civil Service Commission
1. At the Governing Body's 270th Session (November 1997),(1) the Director-General informed the Committee of the principal recommendations having implications for officials' conditions of service which were made by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) in its annual report to the United Nations General Assembly for 1997.(2) On the recommendation of the Committee, the Governing Body accepted the recommendations of the ICSC, subject to their approval by the General Assembly, concerning salary scales and staff assessment for staff in the Professional and higher categories, which would take effect from 1 March 1998, and authorized the Director-General to give effect to these measures by appropriate changes to the Staff Regulations.(3) In accordance with the practice established by the Governing Body at its 192nd Session (February-March 1974), the Director-General will report to the Governing Body on these amendments at its 273rd Session (November 1998).
2. The present paper reports on the decisions taken by the General Assembly at its Fifty-second Session in 1997 (resolution 52/216 of 23 December 1997) concerning the recommendations contained in the ICSC report.
Conditions of service of staff in the
Professional and higher categories
(a) Application of the Noblemaire principle
3. In considering the ICSC report, the General Assembly reaffirmed the need to continue to ensure the competitiveness of the conditions of service of the United Nations common system. It reconfirmed the continued application of the Noblemaire principle (whereby the salaries of Professional staff are determined by reference to those applicable in the civil service of the country with the highest pay levels), but could not accept that the fact that the German civil service remuneration package continued to be higher than that of the United States federal civil service was a sufficient basis for changing the comparator for Professional staff salary determination purposes. In doing so, it noted that any change process would be complex and would have implications, inter alia, for pensions, the currency of record and the location of the base of the UN remuneration system. However, the General Assembly requested the ICSC to continue to monitor the situation and to report again to the General Assembly when appropriate.
(b) Base/floor salary scale
4. As reported to the Governing Body in November 1997,(4) the ICSC recommended an 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. The General Assembly agreed to this recommendation. In accordance with the agreed methodology, this decision takes account of the increase in the salaries of equivalent staff in the United States federal civil service for 1997. This salary adjustment will be made by consolidating post adjustment points into basic salary on a "no loss, no gain" basis. It will also result in a proportional increase in the basis of calculation for the mobility and hardship allowance and separation payments.
(c) Post adjustment at Geneva
5. It will be recalled that late in 1996 (resolution 51/216 of 18 December 1996), the General Assembly reiterated its request to the ICSC to complete its study of a methodology for establishing a single post adjustment index for Geneva and to implement it no later than 1 January 1998. In its 1997 annual report, the ICSC informed the General Assembly that it was technically feasible to establish a single post adjustment index based on prices in Geneva and in neighbouring France. However, it recommended that a number of issues should be examined further before any final decision was taken. These issues included the extent to which staff of common-system organizations are able to reside in or travel to France and to transport goods between France and Switzerland; the level of financial savings that might be expected with the application of the proposed single post adjustment index (taking into account the cost of possible litigation before the Administrative Tribunals should the new regime be adopted); and the way in which transitional measures might be implemented under such a regime, since it was anticipated that this approach would result in a lowering of the post adjustment at Geneva. In addition, the ICSC stated that organizations in Geneva had indicated that an approach based on a single post adjustment index was incompatible with existing staff regulations and rules, and that time would be needed for consultation with their governing bodies and any consequential action before any Commission decision in this area could be implemented.
6. The General Assembly noted that the ICSC's report (and the views of Geneva-based organizations appended thereto) raised a number of technical, legal and administrative issues which had not previously been considered by the General Assembly. It therefore requested the ICSC to review these issues and to report again at the Fifty-third Session of the General Assembly late in 1998.
Remuneration of General Service
and other locally recruited categories of staff
7. In 1997, the ICSC undertook a review of the survey methodology applying to remuneration for the above categories of staff. In the context of this review, the General Assembly asked the ICSC to resolve, so far as possible, inconsistencies between the current methodology (which relies on the so-called Flemming principle, i.e. the best prevailing local conditions of employment) and that relying on the Noblemaire principle (see paragraph 3, above), by examining the overlap in remuneration between the General Service and Professional categories of staff. The ICSC had also been requested to study the feasibility of increasing the proportion of public sector employers included in salary surveys.
8. In its report to the General Assembly, the ICSC said that the inconsistencies between the two methodological principles reflected their different objectives, and an overlap between General Service and Professional salaries was not a problem in itself, provided it did not exceed acceptable levels. The ICSC proposed to keep the situation under review. The ICSC also recommended that the public/non-profit sector (including the national civil service) should apply to both headquarters and non-headquarters surveys, but that, in the case of non-headquarters duty stations, there may be a need to rely on public sector employers other than the national civil service where civil service remuneration was significantly lower than that of other employers. In addition, in the case of non-headquarters duty stations only, the ICSC proposed revised criteria (involving varying the number of employers to be surveyed) which would classify duty stations according to the complexity of their local labour markets, thereby providing a more accurate picture of local conditions within and between duty stations.
9. Reaffirming the Flemming principle as the basis for determining the conditions of service of the General Service and related staff categories, the General Assembly endorsed the ICSC's conclusions and the proposed modifications to methodology. It noted that the latter would be implemented for non-headquarters duty stations from 1 January 1998. The General Assembly also noted that the next round of headquarters General Service salary surveys would commence in 1999, and that at the conclusion of that survey round the ICSC would continue to review all aspects of salary setting for staff in the General Service and other locally recruited categories. The General Assembly also endorsed various ICSC recommendations concerning the criteria and procedures for determining the non-pensionable component of salary as well as related transitional measures. These changes will have the effect of reducing the maximum size of this component in the future.
Conditions of service applicable to all categories of staff
(a) Review of methodology for determining
the level of the education grant
10. In its report for 1997, the ICSC indicated that the methodology for determining the education grant, which had last been revised in 1992, had operated reasonably well, but that certain minor modifications were needed. These included: changes to the boarding component of the grant; applying the present methodology to significant one-time capital assessment fees levied by schools; identifying the trigger point for an adjustment of maximum allowable expenses; and monitoring common system organization practice in determining allowable items of expenditure. The General Assembly accepted these proposals and noted that they would take effect with the 1998 biennial review of the level of the education grant.
(b) Performance management
11. The ICSC's 1997 report provided a detailed overview of a range of performance management issues within the UN common system. It noted that the differing organizational cultures and strategies prevailing in the common system meant that a uniform approach in this area was not appropriate. The report concluded with a series of guidelines that common system organizations might consider in developing their own programmes in this area. The General Assembly welcomed the report and encouraged the executive heads of organizations to consider its recommendations.
(c) Appointments of limited duration
12. The ICSC has been examining this issue for several years, in the context of pilot arrangements concerning appointments of limited duration (ALD) implemented by the United Nations Secretariat and UNDP. In 1996, the ICSC secretariat convened a Working Group, with the participation of organizations and staff, which proposed a framework for ALD employment in the form of principles and guidelines and suggested a basis for possible remuneration structures. The ICSC informed the General Assembly that ALD arrangements were an appropriate employment arrangement to the extent that the practice did not impinge on the existence of the international civil service. It suggested that organizations wishing to use such arrangements should proceed on a pilot basis, observe the proposed principles and guidelines and closely involve the ICSC secretariat in the development of the relevant arrangements. The General Assembly endorsed the ICSC's approach.
(d) Review of standards of travel and per diem
13. This item had been included in the ICSC's work programme at the General Assembly's request. The ICSC reported to the General Assembly that the scope and complexity of the issues involved would require more detailed examination than had been possible within the time available. Accordingly, the General Assembly invited the ICSC to continue its consideration of these issues and report at a later date.
Other issues
14. In relation to other issues, the General Assembly noted that the ICSC --
(a) had established a Working Group on the Consultative Process and Working Arrangements, which would meet in January 1998 and would comprise members of the ICSC, representatives of common system organizations and staff bodies. The Working Group is directed towards resolving problems concerning the current operations of the ICSC. In noting this development, the General Assembly recalled its request to the Coordinating Committee for International Staff Unions and Associations of the United Nations System (CCISUA) and the Federation of International Civil Servants Associations (FICSA) to resume their participation in ICSC's work;
(b) would report in 1998 on new approaches to human resources management, in response to the General Assembly's concern that the Commission take the lead in developing standards, methods and arrangements in this area that respond to the specific needs of common system organizations;
(c) would report in 1998 on the issue of the status and representation of women in organizations in the common system, including ways by which the current situation might be improved. In so doing, the General Assembly recalled that in 1992 (resolution 47/216) it had urged the common system to introduce a coherent plan for improving the position of women in each organization.
Geneva, 20 February 1998.
2. Official records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement 30 (A/52/30).