WIPO
ORIGINAL: English
DATE: October 3, 2001
WIPO |
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ORIGINAL: English DATE: October 3, 2001 |
WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION
GENEVA
Forty-Seventh (32nd Ordinary) Session
Geneva, September 24 to October 3, 2001
adopted by the Coordination Committee
1. The Coordination Committee was concerned with the following items on the Consolidated Agenda (document A/36/1): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, 26, 27 and 28.
2. The report on the said items, with the exception of item 26, is contained in the General Report (document A/36/15).
3. The report on item 26 is contained in the present document.
4. Mr. Gustavo Albin (Mexico) was elected Chair of the Coordination Committee; Mr. Ma Lianyuan (China) and Mrs. Anda Filip (Romania) were elected Vice-Chairs.
5. Discussions were based on document WO/CC/47/1.
6. At the invitation of the Chairman of the Coordination Committee, the President of the WIPO Staff Association made a statement, which is reproduced in its entirety in the Annex.
7. The WIPO Coordination Committee approved the amendments to Staff Regulations 3.15 (Scale of pensionable remuneration for the Professional and higher categories), Staff Regulation 3.1 (Salaries for the Professional and higher categories and Salaries for staff members in the General Service category in Geneva), and Staff Regulation 3.12(A) (Dependency Allowances for the Professional and higher categories), as reported in paragraphs 1 to 10 of document WO/CC/47/1.
8. The WIPO Coordination Committee approved the amendments to Staff Regulation 0.2 (Currencies and Rate of Exchange), as reported in paragraphs 12 to 16 of document WO/CC/47/1.
Specific Rules Applicable to Staff Members in Part-time Employment
9. The Delegation of the United States of America made a statement concerning the issue to amend Specific Rules Applicable to Staff Members in Part-time Employment. It stated that it did not wish to block consensus, but raised concern about the International Bureau’s practice of providing the same level of medical insurance contributions for both full-time and part-time positions. The Delegation added that in its belief, the remuneration and benefit packages for the two groups should be set differently owing to the respective classification and contribution of time to the Organization, and believed that the approach currently used could potentially double the cost of medical benefit coverage and set the wrong precedent for the coverage of other benefits, thus further increasing WIPO’s overall employee cost. It believed that, under the current practice, if two part-time employees filled a single position, e.g. job-sharing, WIPO’s medical premium cost would be twice as high as it would be for a single person occupying the position. It stated that the main objectives for the use of
part-time positions was to optimize human resources and to reduce costs, and as such, the benefit packages according to the two groups should be designed with this objective in mind. The Delegation of the United States of America proposed that this item remain as it currently was and that it be deferred for consideration until the next session, when a compromise could be reached to satisfy WIPO’s needs for its employees as well as to meet the budgetary discipline objectives supported by its Delegation.
10. The WIPO Coordination Committee, while taking note of the statement made by the Delegation of the United States of America, noted the amendments to Staff Rule 7.1.12 (Terminal Expenses), Staff Rule 3.11.1 (Education Grant), and Annex I (Specific Rules Applicable to Staff Members in Part-time Employment), as reported in paragraphs 18 to 24 of document WO/CC/47/1.
11. The WIPO Coordination Committee noted the information contained in paragraph 26 of document WO/CC/47/1.
12. The WIPO Coordination Committee noted the information contained in paragraph 28 of document WO/CC/47/1.
13. The WIPO Coordination Committee re-elected Mr. Rémi Roul, Deputy Secretary General, Institut national de la propriété industrielle, Paris, as a member of the WIPO Staff Pension Committee for a term of office running until the Ordinary Session of the WIPO Coordination Committee in 2005.
[Annex follows]
Statement by the President of the WIPO Staff Association
to the WIPO Coordination Committee
(Friday, September 28, 2001)
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,
I would like to thank you for offering me this possibility to address you today and to draw your attention to a number of issues of concern to the staff of this Organization.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The staff, under the guidance of the administration, have done their best to carry out the duties and responsibilities with which they have been entrusted over this past year, duties and responsibilities which continue to evolve as WIPO, along with other Organizations in the UN common system, face the challenges of a changing technological, economic and political landscape.
Since the signing of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1967, WIPO has been actively and successfully promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. In recent years, unprecedented technological changes have profoundly influenced the way in which we deal with intellectual property. WIPO has, under the leadership of Dr. Kamil Idris, asserted itself as an international leader in this field.
In recognizing the successes of this Organization, thanks go to the Member States for their continued support and to the Director General who, through his leadership and vision, has ensured that the Organization is an outstanding example of efficiency and relevance within the UN Common System. Thanks also go to each and every member of staff who both individually and collectively contribute to achieving the goals set by the Member States and Director General.
We are all, however, very much aware of the need to continuously upgrade and improve systems and operations to ensure that the Organization remains at the fore. Such processes of reform are a key element in safeguarding the health and dynamism of any Organization. Indeed, it is echoed in the Report of the International Civil Service Commission for the year 2001 (document A/56/30), which notes that the scope of global change and the speed with which that change is taking place requires reform at both the national and international levels.
Distinguished Delegates,
The most precious resource in any Organization is its staff. Staff/management relations in any successful and dynamic organization are built on a partnership, characterized by mutual respect, communication and understanding. We hope that the staff and administration at WIPO will follow the example of the International Labour Organization and the ILO Staff Union by signing a joint staff/management Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The staff recognize the need for, and support calls to reform human resources management practices in the UN Common System. Many of the policies underpinning human resources management within the system were established in the post-war period - when the world was a very different place from the one in which we live today.
In the first instance, the staff is keenly awaiting the report, which the Coordination Committee had requested the Director General to commission from external consultants, concerning the problems facing WIPO with regard to recruitment and retention of staff.
Secondly, there is a pressing need for a well-defined and transparent career structure if we are to retain highly skilled staff, maintain levels of motivation and avoid inequity.
Thirdly, in the spirit of budgetary reform undertaken by the Organization in recent years, we must develop a performance and evaluation system that gives staff meaningful feedback on their strengths and areas for improvement. A more open and interactive dialogue between staff and their supervisors, will certainly foster greater levels of motivation among staff at all levels and will further heighten the success of the Organization.
The Director General has repeatedly underlined the need to invest in human resource development. Thanks to his commitment to staff development staff have had access to training in the fields of intellectual property, information technology, team building, stress management, personal efficiency as well as the existing languages courses. I am pleased to be able to announce to you today that the Director General has recently given his approval for the establishment of the function of and the recruitment of an Ombudsman at WIPO. The staff wholeheartedly welcomes this development which will provide for early and friendly resolution of conflicts. Furthermore, the Director General has also recently endorsed the introduction of gymnastics, dance and relaxation classes at WIPO. Staff and administration have also recently undertaken a joint review of the system of flexible working hours. I am also pleased to be able to communicate to you today that the Director General has recently approved the introduction of maternity leave for short-term staff. This will include eight weeks of special leave with full pay and, for those who wish to extend their leave, an additional eight weeks of special leave without pay. The staff fully supports these initiatives.
Distinguished Delegates,
We would also like to draw your attention to two specific problems related to employment conditions.
We understand and fully support the need to hire staff to provide assistance as and when required for short periods of time (i.e. less than 11 1/2 months). However, at WIPO, a trend is emerging whereby an increasing number of individuals have been employed under short-term contracts for periods of more than three years. The fact that they have been employed for this length of time clearly indicates that there is a need for these staff, without whom the work would not be completed. We would strongly encourage you to support the Director General in his endeavors to assimilate the current long-serving short-termers into fixed term positions through internal competitive selections.
A round of surveys is currently being conducted to adjust the salaries of staff employed in the general service category. Under the supervision of the Secretariat of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), the work of the preparation phase had been carried out and consequently presented at the fifty-third session of the ICSC in June. In the course of this session, it became clear that the ICSC has not changed its methods and that there are still no possibilities for the staff to defend their interests. As you know, the Federation of International Civil Servants' Associations (FICSA), provisionally returned to the ICSC in the hope that the ICSC had modified its approach. In light of the above, the Federation may have no option but to leave the ICSC definitively. The staff of WIPO join the call to reform the Statutes of the ICSC and fully support the proposal made by the UN Secretary General to re-examine the mandate and functions of the ICSC. The WIPO staff request your support, Distinguished Delegates, through your respective governments, in calling for the reform of the ICSC.
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,
In closing, I would like to thank you once again for this opportunity to express to you the concerns and priorities of the staff of WIPO.
[End of Annex and of document]
