Judgment 1147
72nd Session, 1992
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The Staff Committee, which does not even have personality in law, may not itself appeal. But its members may nevertheless rely on their position as such to ensure observance of the Regulations. Indeed that is why Article 34(2) empowers them to enforce their rights. Were that not so the system of staff representation set up by the EPO would prove meaningless. The staff member has a direct interest in making the organisation respect his rights because he derives them directly from his status as such. The contingency is one that Article II of the Tribunal's Statute contemplates. If the EPO were right, a further effect would be to hamper the functioning of a body established under the Service Regulations and acting within the bounds of authority the Regulations set."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II OF THE STATUTE
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 34(2) OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
collective rights; competence of tribunal; locus standi; staff regulations and rules; staff union; status of complainant;
Judgment 1134
72nd Session, 1992
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"In keeping with precedent and with [Article] VII(1) [of the Statute] a complaint will be irreceivable if it challenges a general decision that must ordinarily be put into effect by individual decisions against which internal appeal will lie."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII(1) OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
administrative instruction; condition; general decision; individual decision; internal remedies exhausted; receivability of the complaint; staff union;
Judgment 1061
70th Session, 1991
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Freedom of speech must be protected particularly for officers of a staff association, so that they are not hampered in their task of representing the membership when in dispute with the administration. But there are limits on such freedom. A staff representative's public statements must not impair the dignity of the international civil service: indeed he is under a special obligation not to abuse his rights by using expressions or resorting to behaviour incompatible with the decorum appropriate to his status both as an international civil servant and as an elected staff representative." (Vide Judgments 87 and 911.)
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 87, 911
Keywords:
conduct; duty of discretion; fitness for international civil service; freedom of speech; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 911
64th Session, 1988
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 17
Extract:
"The grant of facilities to a staff association is not a privilege the organization may withdraw as it pleases. The reason why it grants them is not just goodness of heart but its own broad interest in having the association perform its responsibilities fully and efficiently. Thus it is the organization's own interest that decrees the grant of facilities and, conversely, they may not be withdrawn entirely or in part unless that interest so requires. Such are the principles the Tribunal applied in Judgment 496 and others and will apply to this case."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 496
Keywords:
facilities; organisation's interest; staff union;
Consideration 17
Extract:
"Although, as UNESCO says and indeed the Tribunal has held, facilities are not a matter for negotiation or agreement and although no obligation attaches to the actual outcome of consultations, one of an executive head's duties is to consult the staff association in keeping with [...] general principles [...] reflected in Chapter VIII [of the Staff Regulations]."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: CHAPTER VIII OF THE UNESCO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
consultation; enforcement; facilities; general principle; organisation's duties; staff regulations and rules; staff union;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The list of those to whom the Tribunal is open as given in Article II[6] of the Statute of the Tribunal "is exhaustive. For one thing, it does not include bodies that have legal personality. For another, even supposing the association, though it is an official body, did not have personality in law but was just a de facto group, it does not hold a contract of appointment with the organization. On both counts it does not have access to the Tribunal under Article II and the complaint is irreceivable insofar as it purports to be a party."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II, PARAGRAPH 6, OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"In denying the association its customary privilege of having a text printed and issued, the organization infringed its rights as representative and defender of the staff's interests. The impugned decision cannot stand."
Keywords:
discontinuance; facilities; freedom of association; publication; staff union;
Judgment 615
53rd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The complainants observe that they were Chairman and Vice-chairman of the staff union and in their brief they claim as such an award of damages. The [organisation] retorts that insofar as they are appealing as such their complaints are irreceivable [...] the Tribunal will not rule on the plea. What the complainants seek is repayment of the sums they believe were unlawfully deducted from their salary as staff members, and they are therefore acting in their own name."
Keywords:
deduction; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; salary; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 496
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 36
Extract:
"It is enough to say that the absence of any evidence supporting the decision creates the suspicion that it was taken with improper motives and that such a suspicion is amply confirmed by consideration of the events leading up to it [...] The director wished to get rid of a [staff] committee which he believed to be unrepresentative. [...] The decision [...] can only be viewed either as an attempt to use coercion where persuasion had failed or as an expression of resentment at the failure. as such it is an abuse of power."
Keywords:
abuse of power; amendment to the rules; facilities; grounds; misuse of authority; staff union;
Consideration 37
Extract:
The administration required all communications to and from the staff association to be submitted to it for inspection "on the ground that 'factual information which the staff association conveys needs discussion between the parties when there are doubts on the accuracy of such information'. This has from time immemorial been the standard excuse for censorship; the alleged object is never to suppress the truth but just to make sure that only the truth is told. Freedom of association is destroyed if communication between the members is permitted only under supervision."
Keywords:
freedom of association; freedom of speech; judicial review; staff union;
Consideration 17
Extract:
The grant of facilities to the staff association is not a privilege which can be withdrawn at will. "The organization does not provide facilities purely out of benevolence but because it is in the interests of the organization that the functions which the association discharges should be fully and competently performed. Facilities should be granted only when it is in the interests of the organization that they should be; likewise, they should be withdrawn, wholly or in part, only when the withdrawal is in the interests of the organization."
Keywords:
facilities; organisation's interest; staff union;
Consideration 34
Extract:
Within the limits determined by the organization's interests, "the Director has the widest discretion in determining the extent of the facilities which the organization offers to the staff association and in making from time to time such changes in them as he thinks to be desirable. Changes do not have to be negotiated and agreed [...]. [The Director] may not, as is the rule in all his decisions, act without taking all the relevant facts into consideration and he can hardly do that without ascertaining the views of the staff association. But after these have been considered, the decision is for him alone."
Keywords:
abuse of power; amendment to the rules; consultation; facilities; misuse of authority; organisation's duties; staff union;
Summary
Extract:
The Tribunal believes that any violation of the right to freedom of association, i.e. the right to set up a professional association, may be impugned by the holder of a contract of appointment. However, the staff association itself may not intervene in this case, since access to the Tribunal is restricted to officials alone.
Keywords:
cause of action; contract; freedom of association; locus standi; official; receivability of the complaint; staff union;
Summary
Extract:
The Tribunal recognises the Director's right to alter the scope of the facilities extended to the staff association. However it reserves the right to set aside any modifications which have not been properly justified. It considers as unjustified the imposition on the staff association of the requirement that communications to be despatched through the organization's facilities should first be submitted to the administration. Furthermore, it considers as a violation of the right to freedom of association the cut in the organization's contribution to the expenses of the association.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; discontinuance; discretion; facilities; freedom of association; grounds; judicial review; staff union;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The principle of freedom of association "is accepted by the organization and [the Staff Regulations require] the Director to make provision for staff participation in the discussion of policies relating to staff questions and Staff Rules made thereunder give effect to the principle. The rules provide inter alia that staff shall have the right to associate themselves together in a formal organisation for the purpose of developing staff activities [...] and making representations to [the organization] concerning personnel policy and conditions of service".
Keywords:
freedom of association; provision; staff claim; staff regulations and rules; staff union; working conditions;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The Staff Rules give effect to the principle of freedom of association by providing inter alia "that staff associations shall have the right to request their membership for [...] financial contributions; and that the [organization] may give financial assistance to any such association in the furtherance of activities beneficial to the staff provided that the membership of the association also contributes substantially to such activity."
Keywords:
contributions; facilities; freedom of association; staff union;
Consideration 14
Extract:
"There is evidence that the Director approved of the formation of a separate professional association at Cepanzo and that he encouraged others. There is no evidence that he interfered in any way with the freedom of choice of staff members and therefore no evidence that he interfered with freedom of association."
Keywords:
freedom of association; other; staff union;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The staff association, being the formal organisation created under [the rules], seeks to intervene as a 'collective personality'. It is unnecessary to decide whether or not the association has such personality. Assuming that it has, it is not a personality which holds a contract of appointment by the organization so it is not a person to whom the Tribunal is open under Article II" of the Statute. The intervention is not receivable.
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
intervention; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff union;
Judgment 481
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
Under the Staff Rules, any unauthorised and unjustified absence from duty shall be charged to special leave without pay. "It is for the administration to determine whether or not an official needs permission to be absent from duty and whether to authorise participation in a staff demonstration during working hours." By warning the association that participation in the demonstration set for the next day [to secure recognition of the association] would be treated as unauthorised and unjustified, the Director-General kept within the bounds of his authority.
Keywords:
discretion; enforcement; provision; special leave; staff regulations and rules; staff union; staff union activity; time off; unauthorised absence; unpaid leave;
Judgment 447
46th Session, 1981
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
There had been tension between the Director and the staff association. The complainant, a member of the association, was transferred against her wishes. She insists that she was the victim of a disguised disciplinary sanction: she was transferred hastily and over her objections. But the transfer was part of a general plan which had been drawn up much earlier. There is nothing to suggest that its intention was to mask a sanction. The complainant was not especially active in the staff association. There being uncertainty about the real grounds for the impugned decision, the Tribunal will not regard as proved her allegation of a breach of the right of association.
Keywords:
evidence; freedom of association; hidden disciplinary measure; lack of evidence; staff representative; staff union; staff union activity; transfer;
Judgment 403
43rd Session, 1980
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"What is not described in the regulations are the facilities which, because of the administration's interest in the efficient working of the staff association, it is now customary for the administration to guarantee or provide. The most important of these is permission for the chairman and other officers of the association to take 'time off' within reasonable limits for the association's work." There are others: the provision of office space, the collection of subscriptions to the association (by deduction with the member's consent of dues from pay).
Keywords:
facilities; freedom of association; no provision; practice; staff union; time off;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The organization, in common with all others, recognises the right of the staff in accordance with the principle of freedom of association [...] to organise [...]. Nor is it disputed that it is for the staff to organise itself and not for the Director-General to organise it."
Keywords:
executive head; freedom of association; independence; staff union;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"It is [...] generally accepted that the existence of a good and efficient staff association is essential to good staff relations and so is a concern of the administration. All organisations therefore have in their regulations a section [...] in which the ways of maintaining contact between the administration and the staff association are described."
Keywords:
freedom of association; organisation's interest; provision; staff regulations and rules; staff union;
Consideration 18
Extract:
The Director-General issued the complainant, the chairman of a staff association not recognised by the organization, instructions concerning time off in two memoranda. The Tribunal believes that the Director drew clearly erroneous conclusions from the dossier. By way of relief the complainant asks for the withdrawal of the documents mentioned from her file. "The Tribunal considers that in this case the quashing of the decision will afford all the relief necessary."
Keywords:
application for quashing; mistaken conclusion; personal file; staff representative; staff union; time off; warning;
Judgment 391
43rd Session, 1980
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainants argue that the staff union acted at variance with its own rules in proposing reductions in salary and in hours of work to prevent dismissals. They accuse it of having consulted the whole staff instead of just its members and maintain that there were irregularities in the voting. "The Tribunal is not competent to pass judgment on the activities of the staff union and the staff union bodies. The complainants' pleas are material only insofar as the organisation gave weight to the staff union's resolutions".
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; consultation; flaw; staff union;
Judgment 380
42nd Session, 1979
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The experts were not in agreement about the methodology or the salary-scale figures. "In these circumstances it would be natural for [the Director] to contact his staff association in order to ascertain their views and, if necessary, negotiate with them to reach an agreed figure. This is something which a [director] might do even if contact was not prescribed by the Staff Regulations."
Keywords:
collective bargaining; no provision; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale; staff union;
Judgment 362
41st Session, 1978
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
Nothing in the Regulations cited by the complainant suggests "that an elected representative of the staff is employed as such by the organization. Any such interpretation would be destructive of the nature and purposes of the staff association, since, if its representatives were as such in the employment of the organization, they could be instructed by the organization what to do."
Keywords:
independence; organisation; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 274
36th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 22
Extract:
"Activities within the staff organization [...] constitute an area that is 'prima facie' outside the Director-General's jurisdiction. [...] There may be exceptional cases. [...] As a general rule a staff member gives no undertaking, express or implied, about how she will conduct herself in the business of the Staff Council or its organs."
Keywords:
competence; complainant; conduct; executive head; freedom of association; staff union; staff union activity;
Consideration 26
Extract:
"When [the complainant] is present at a meeting of the [organization's] council or of its committees [she] must behave with the same propriety as any other staff member. If there was here an act of misconduct, the fact that it was committed by a staff representative for a serious purpose mitigates the offence but does not extinguish it."
Keywords:
conduct; consequence; freedom of association; misconduct; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union;
Consideration 22
Extract:
"[A]s a general rule a staff member gives no undertaking, express or implied, about how she will conduct herself in the business of the Staff Council or its organs. It would be contrary to the principle of freedom of association that she should. Freedom of association means that there must be freedom of discussion and of debate [...] There could be no true freedom of association if the disapproval of the Director-General [...] of what was said could lead to disciplinary measures."
Keywords:
competence; definition; elements; executive head; freedom of association; staff union;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
On the eve of the elections, the Director-General sought assurances from the election and referendum committee concerning the participation of regional members, in particular as regards their nomination of candidates. "Any intervention by an employer with the processes by which his employees elect the representatives who will have to negotiate with him is a delicate matter even when he has a clear 'locus standi'." In the instant case, it is doubtful whether the Director-General had such a right.
Keywords:
competence; election; executive head; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 82
14th Session, 1965
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant requests compensation for the prejudice suffered as a result of the delay by the organisation in giving effect to the judgment. Intervenors x,y and z, insofar as they are acting on their own behalf, do not enjoy any right liable to be affected by the present judgment; they are also acting on behalf of the staff, who have no cause to intervene in the present proceedings. Their interventions are accordingly not receivable.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 61
Keywords:
cause of action; intervention; lack of injury; locus standi; no cause of action; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 78
13th Session, 1964
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"On the submission that the elections held on [...] by the staff association should be declared void by the Administrative Tribunal: no provision of its Statute, and in particular Article II, empowers the Administrative Tribunal to adjudicate on such a submission."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
application for quashing; competence of tribunal; election; staff union;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The powers of the Director-General as regards the staff association are governed by the organization's regulations. "None of these regulations empowers the Director-General to invalidate elections held [by the association] to form its executive committee on the ground that such elections were irregular [...]. Hence, by refusing to invalidate the elections [...] the Director-General, far from violating the Staff Regulations and Rules, applied them correctly."
Keywords:
application for quashing; competence; election; executive head; flaw; no provision; refusal; staff union;
Judgment 61
10th Session, 1962
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
The interventions of Messrs. X and Y, on behalf of the staff association, are not receivable, since the association "has no cause to intervene in the present proceedings". In as far as the interveners "acted on their own behalf, they have rights which may be affected by this judgment, and their intervention is receivable in as far as the [...] Tribunal is competent to pass judgment on the complaint itself."
Keywords:
intervention; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff union;
Judgment 35
7th Session, 1958
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The Tribunal has put it that an intervention by Mr [X] was not receivable insofar as it would have been exercised by the person of the chairman of the [...] staff association who did not have this right." Moreover, the intervention was not receivable if made in a personal capacity since the intervenor "did not possess any right liable to be affected by [the resulting] judgment".
Keywords:
cause of action; intervention; locus standi; no cause of action; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 33
7th Session, 1958
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
Vide Judgment 35.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 35
Keywords:
cause of action; intervention; locus standi; no cause of action; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 32
7th Session, 1958
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
Vide Judgment 35.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 35
Keywords:
cause of action; intervention; locus standi; no cause of action; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
