Topics covered (click on the titles below):
Introduction
What is you Staff Union for?
Contracts and employment security
Parental leave
Flexible working arrangements (FWA)
Wages
Introduction
The Staff Union’s “Your rights at a glance” videos will be added to this page as they are released. Don’t hesitate to send us your comments and suggestions for future videos by writing to syndicat@ilo.org !
Enjoy viewing, and stay tuned…
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What is your Staff Union for?
The Staf Union’s recent achievements include:
- the new Collective Agreement on a Procedure for Recruitment and Selection
- the Collective Agreement on Maternity Protection and Parental Leave in the ILO
- the negotiated policy on flexible working arrangements
To learn more about your Union or if you need support, get in touch with your local Union Reps in Field offices and in HQ, members of the Staff Union Committee, working groups or with the Legal Advisor (syndicatlegal@ilo.org). We are here to help and need your engagement to make a change.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Staff Union is held in two sessions, in a hybrid format. The agenda for the first session of the AGM includes a discussion of the draft programme and future strategy of the Staff Union. Take part in the AGMs to have your say about your Staff Union’s Mission & objectives !
Contracts and employment security
An all staff survey on how contractual arrangements impact our lives conducted by the Staff Union in September 2022 reveals that, compared to staff on RB-funded contracts, staff on TC-funded contracts experience higher levels of work insecurity and a limited access and lower uptake of staff benefits. They are exposed to a loss of access to health protection and residency permit, often cannot access unemployment insurance and external services (e.g. mortgage, loans) in their duty stations and struggle more with family planning decisions (having a baby, children’s care services or education). Inequal access to career development prospects is also felt by TC staff, with limited or no access to training, opportunity to have a role during the ILC, and mobility.
The Contracts and employment security working group is made up of Staff Union Committee members and technical advisors who volunteer to elaborate the Union’s position in negotiations with the Administration to combat inequalities between those on RB and TC funded contracts. Building on facts and great inputs from staff, in February 2024 the Union has signed a new Collective Agreement on recruitment and selection procedures, negotiated provisions to ensure that colleagues assigned to projects have 2-year contracts, reviewed the parameters of the Assessment Centre to enable a greater number of colleagues to benefit from it, and facilitated their participation in competition processes. A new IGDS on mobility and on the redeployment of colleagues at the end of their project is under negotiation, pending a new round of negotiations in the second half of this year.
Do you want to contribute to the work of the Staff Union’s Contracts and employment security working group? Contact syndicat@ilo.org. We are always looking for volunteers!
Text of the video available: HERE
Parental leave
Other important features of the Collective Agreement on Maternity Protection and Parental Leave in the ILO negotiated in November 2023 include: a more gender-sensitive language; extended compassionate leave for still birth and death of any dependent; 16 weeks of adoption leave and an extension of age of adoption to 18 years; nursing arrangements, incl. time to commute for nursing purposes.
The Staff Union’s Diversity, Equality and work-life balance working group is keeping a close eye on the implementation of this collective agreement. To facilitate inclusion, diversity, equality and work-life balance, the working group strives to ensure that all negotiations conducted under the framework of the Joint Negotiation Committee (such as policies on contract and mobility; policy against harassment, including sexual harassment; policy on disability inclusion) are conducted through a gender equal, non-discriminatory and an intersectional lens. It supports the promotion of diversity and inclusion of colleagues with a disability and of LGBTIQ+ colleagues in the ILO. This comprises sensitization, awareness-raising, advocacy efforts; information sessions; activities to exchange views/concerns and share information, knowledge and good practice in collaboration when relevant, with GEDI, FUNDAMENTALS, UN-GLOBE, the Employee Resource Group (ERG) on Disability Inclusion and HRD.
Do you want to contribute to the work of the Staff Union’s Diversity, Equality and work-life balance working group? Contact syndicat@ilo.org. We need a diverse group of volunteers!
Text of the video available: HERE
Flexible working arrangements (FWA)
Wages
For internationally recruited staff (P and above): ICSC cost-of-living surveys, which are conducted on a periodical basis, are sent by the ICSC to all P Staff of a duty station. Local cost-of-living data comes from three sources: (i) retail prices of a basket of goods and services, (ii) housing costs incurred by staff members in the duty station, and (iii) monthly/annual expenditures of duty station staff members.
For locally recruited staff (GS and NO): ICSC surveys used for calculating salaries are complex, as they look at the cost of labour, comparing UN salaries and that of other organizations in the local labour market. Conducted usually every 5 years, to issue new salary scales, these surveys require a) finding a large number of comparators (enterprises whose size, job diversity and salaries are comparable to UN, and that accept to participate), b) doing a job matching exercise between comparators and UN jobs and c) comparing salaries, allowances, taxes. The most important factor considered in the ICSC methodologies is the shift in wages paid by local employers, not the prevailing economic conditions in a given country. This often causes frustration and misunderstandings on how salaries are set.
The Local Survey Committees (LSC), and the Local Salary Survey Committees (LSSC) support the rolling out of the surveys. They can work on finding good local comparators, preparing and carrying out the surveys, and communicating with local UN staff.
Do you want to get involved in the work of the Staff Union on wages, including by getting trained to participate in a local survey process? Contact syndicat@ilo.org.
Wages
Wages
For internationally recruited staff (P and above): ICSC cost-of-living surveys, which are conducted on a periodical basis, are sent by the ICSC to all P Staff of a duty station. Local cost-of-living data comes from three sources: (i) retail prices of a basket of goods and services, (ii) housing costs incurred by staff members in the duty station, and (iii) monthly/annual expenditures of duty station staff members.
For locally recruited staff (GS and NO): ICSC surveys used for calculating salaries are complex, as they look at the cost of labour, comparing UN salaries and that of other organizations in the local labour market. Conducted usually every 5 years, to issue new salary scales, these surveys require a) finding a large number of comparators (enterprises whose size, job diversity and salaries are comparable to UN, and that accept to participate), b) doing a job matching exercise between comparators and UN jobs and c) comparing salaries, allowances, taxes. The most important factor considered in the ICSC methodologies is the shift in wages paid by local employers, not the prevailing economic conditions in a given country. This often causes frustration and misunderstandings on how salaries are set.
The Local Survey Committees (LSC), and the Local Salary Survey Committees (LSSC) support the rolling out of the surveys. They can work on finding good local comparators, preparing and carrying out the surveys, and communicating with local UN staff.
Do you want to get involved in the work of the Staff Union on wages, including by getting trained to participate in a local survey process? Contact syndicat@ilo.org.
Text of the video available: HERE