Salary negotiation policy in the "Co-ordinated Organisations"
Recommendation 944
(1982)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 4932, report of the Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 1 July 1982.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
2. Considering that the Council of Europe has always sought to be in the forefront of social progress, and that it is inconceivable that it should not apply to its own staff the principles embodied in its own instruments such as the Social Charter ;
3. Recalling that Article 6, paragraph 1, of the charter, which has been accepted by all the Contracting Parties, stipulates that "with a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to bargain collectively, the Contracting Parties undertake to promote joint consultation between workers and employers" ;
4. Noting that in most member countries the right of employees to participate fully in salary negotiations has been firmly established for many years in both the private and the public sector ;
5. Deploring the fact that this right is not recognised in salary discussions in the "Coordinated Organisations", where the Committee of Government Budget Experts, after examining the proposals of the Secretaries General and being addressed by two spokesmen for all the staff of the Co-ordinated Organisations, makes its unilateral recommendations ;
6. Recalling that in 1977 the Secretaries General of the five Co-ordinated Organisations proposed to their Councils that a group of five wise men be set up to make proposals for an overhaul of the whole of the Co-ordinated Organisations' decision-making machinery ;
7. Deploring the fact that no action has been taken on these proposals, and that the policy-making bodies of the Co-ordinated Organisations, in particular the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, continue purely and simply to endorse the budgetary recommendations of the experts ;
8. Observing that in the space of six years the governments have already twice modified the procedure laid down for adjusting the salaries of Co-ordinated Organisations staff ;
9. Observing, moreover, that before carrying out for the first time a three-yearly review provided for under the procedure in force, the budget experts are questioning that procedure and seem to wish to reject any salary review machinery based on clear, precise data ;
10. Fearing that, if the exacting linguistic and professional requirements (of versatility or specialisation, as the case may be), together with the disadvantages of expatriation, poor career prospects and, in some cases, lack of job security, are to be coupled with gradual worsening of the salary situation owing to arbitrary adjustment procedures, the Co-ordinated Organisations will have serious difficulties in managing and recruiting suitable, well-qualified staff ;
11. Noting that, in stating their claims, the staff of the Co-ordinated Organisations are aware of the difficult economic situation in member states, asking only at this stage for the adoption of a negotiated procedure comprising clear and precise commitments for a reasonable period ;
12. Emphasising, in this respect, that the staff of the European Communities have just obtained such a procedure of salary adjustment for a period of ten years, with provision for review after five years ;
13. Considering that this difference in treatment between the staff of the European Communities and of the Co-ordinated Organisations further accentuates the gap between them, thus giving rise to two categories within the European Civil Service,
14. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
14.1 turn its attention to the problems of remuneration policy and define the main lines of such a policy, including the progressive harmonisation of the remuneration of the staff of the various European organisations, this being a role which a committee of experts concerned mainly with budgetary considerations is unsuited to perform ;
14.2 pay more attention to the proposals of the Secretaries General of the Co-ordinated Organisations, who are directly responsible for staff management ;
14.3 grant the staff of the Co-ordinated Organisations and their representatives in the Standing Committee of Staff Associations of the Co-ordinated Organisations (CPAPOC) a right of salary negotiation ;
14.4 urge upon their governments that any new procedure that might be envisaged must be dealt with in negotiations in which all the parties participate at all stages on an equal footing, subject to the decisions of the Committee of Ministers.
