FICSA came into being on 1st of May 1952, as the Staff Associations/Unions of the European Office of the United Nations (now known as United Nations Office at Geneva), United Nations, International Labour Organization (ILO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and World Health Organization (WHO) established FICSA as a federation and accepted its statutes.
Today, FICSA is a federation of 30 Staff Associations/Unions of organizations belonging to the United Nations Common System, 18 Staff Associations/Unions from international organizations outside the UN Common System have associate status, while 18 Staff Associations/Unions are consultative members. 24 Federation of United Nations Staff Associations (FUNSA)s of various countries sit as observers in FICSA.
The diversity of membership ensures that all staff in the field and at headquarters duty stations have an opportunity to exchange views and information about the conditions of service, seek the Federation's assistance and support when difficulties arise, and organize collective action.
PLEASE NOTE: FICSA has no right to intervene in individual cases and can only intervene when it is a matter concerning the freedom of association and staff representation issues, for example, if a staff representative is being retaliated against due to his/her staff representation activities. Even then, FICSA can only intervene, if and when, requested to do so by the FICSA-member staff association/union.
FICSA's annual and ongoing programmes of work include the following activities:
Representing the interests of international civil servants in interagency bodies and legislative organs of the common system
Coordinating activities at the local level and exchanging information on conditions of service
Informing all staff on issues affecting their conditions of service
Organizing training seminars, workshops and working groups on specific aspects of conditions of service
Advising member associations/unions on staff-management relations
Producing position papers on the technical aspects of conditions of service
Coordinating industrial action
Supporting the use of the appeal process (internal appeals and Administrative Tribunals) in cases of non-observance of terms of appointment
Formulating strategies to prevent violations of rights
Participating in cost-of-living surveys that determine post adjustment and salary scales
Advocating staff positions with Member States representatives
Providing guidelines on how staff associations should deal with organizational reform
Council and offices
Aims
Accomplished goals
FICSA's actions have helped staff to:
Coordinate the preparation of legal briefs which resulted in staff winning their appeals at the ILOAT, such as the recent judgments on the pay cut (ILOAT)
Successfully challenge proposed cuts in pensions and secure a more equitable adjustment for pension beneficiaries
Obtain increases in allowances and benefits, e.g., children's allowance, installation grant, hazard pay
Obtain a dependent spouse allowance for the first dependent child in the case of single parents
Obtain the creation of an ICSC Contact Group to review the consultative process and working arrangements of the ICSC
Obtain a total review of the current post adjustment methodology and its operational rules
Enhance reviews of the internal system of justice and the appeals process
Improve security in all duty stations, especially for all staff at high-risk duty stations
Protect the staff/management consultative process
Preserve staff rights when organizations reform and re-profile
Enhance the voice of staff in interagency bodies
Obtain the release of detained staff and provide assistance to their family members
Change the rules governing contractual arrangements, access personal files, clarify the definition of dependency
Successfully challenge proposed cuts in pensions and salaries and secure a more equitable adjustment for pension beneficiaries
Use legal recourse proceedings to challenge reduction and freeze of pensions
Improve the content of cost-of-living questionnaires
Obtain increases in allowances and benefits, e.g., children's allowance, installation grant, hazard pay
Eliminate deductions from base salary (negative post adjustment multipliers)
Improve the hardship and mobility scheme
Extend the rental subsidy scheme to field duty stations
Provide leave for parents in cases of child adoption
Secure periodic upward adjustments in the amount of education grant
How does FICSA help international civil servants protect their rights?
FICSA informs staff about their rights and works with its members to ensure that the organizations respect those rights. When rights are violated, FICSA organizes demonstrations and meets with the representatives of Member States to ask for their assistance. FICSA has a legal defense fund to launch cases at Administrative Tribunals to defend staff rights.
FICSA is mandated to participate in the inter-agency bodies that make decisions about conditions of service and is able to influence those decisions. FICSA participates in discussions and presents technical papers to support staff positions.
Who are international civil servants
International civil servants are impartial, non-partisan public sector civil servants that work in international organizations, independent from any particular government, person or entity outside of their organization. International civil servants are expected to respect the dignity, worth and equality of all people without any distinction whatsoever.
The organizations for which international civil servants work are sovereign, which means that national labour law does not apply to them. Instead, staff conditions of service are governed by rules and regulations defined by the organizations and approved by the Member States that provide the funding for the organizations. If staff have grievances, they cannot bring a case to a national court. Grievances are handled by the organizations’ Internal Justice Systems and by Internatinal Administrative Tribunals.
In most instances, FICSA refers individual civil servants first to their own staff association or union for assistance. If the association is unable to find a solution, they are welcome to ask for the Federation's help with the approval of their association/union. Most common issues are:
Problems with supervisors or employers: Individuals are requested to seek the assistance of their own staff representatives. If a solution is not forthcoming, a member staff association may ask FICSA for assistance.
Legal issues: FICSA has access to the services of an attorney and will provide assistance if the request is made by a member staff association or union.
Pension entitlements: Questions about pension entitlements should be addressed to the local Pension Committee. The website of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund addresses many of the questions that staff are likely to ask.
Paternity leave: Questions about individual entitlements should be addressed to the HR professionals in each organization, or to the staff association or union. If a reply is not forthcoming, the FICSA secretariat will provide assistance.
Workshops and Training
FICSA offers workshops on various topics such as whistleblowers, occupational health, organizational change, laws governing ILO Administrative Tribunal appeals, and the General Service salary survey methodology.
What do they achieve?
Training and information on various topics requested by FICSA members in order to bring back to staff associations/ unions for implementation and use
Who are they run by?
Expert trainers in their respective fields on the topic of the workshop.
Refer to the FICSA Training Catalogue (available to all FICSA Members) for more information
FICSA has the power to change things!
FICSA is mandated to participate in interagency bodies that make decisions about conditions of service and is able to influence those decisions. FICSA participates in discussions and presents technical papers to support staff positions.
Some recent successes:
Coordinated the preparation of legal briefs which resulted in staff winning their appeals at the ILOAT, such as the recent judgments on the pay cut (ILOAT)
Successfully challenged proposed cuts in pensions and secure a more equitable adjustment for pension beneficiaries
Obtained increases in allowances and benefits, e.g., children's allowance, installation grant, hazard pay
Obtained a dependent spouse allowance for the first dependent child in the case of single parents
Obtained the creation of an ICSC Contact Group to review the consultative process and working arrangements of the ICSC
Obtained a total review of the current post adjustment methodology and its operational rules
FICSA represents the interests and defends the rights of international civil servants in interagency bodies and legislative organs of the common system.
