Judgment No. 911
Decision
1. THE APPLICATIONS TO INTERVENE ARE ALLOWED.
2. THE IMPUGNED DECISIONS ARE QUASHED.
3. THE ORGANIZATION SHALL PAY THE COMPLAINANT 20,000 FRENCH FRANCS IN COSTS.
4. THE OTHER CLAIMS ARE DISMISSED.
Consideration 8
Extract:
"According to precedent, a staff association enjoys special rights that include broad freedom of speech and the right to take to task the administration of the organisation whose employees it represents. Like any other freedom, however, freedom of speech has its bounds. A staff association may not resort in public to action that impairs the dignity of the international civil service, save that the degree of discretion required of it is not as great as is expected of an individual staff member: both law and practice allow it wider freedom of speech and only gross abuse will be inadmissible."
Keywords
staff member's duties; duty of discretion; freedom of speech; collective rights; freedom of association; limits
Consideration 4
Extract:
"Every staff member enjoys [...] freedom [of association]. Since the exercise of it may be affected by the Tribunal's judgment, the applications are receivable."
Keywords
intervention; receivability of the complaint; cause of action; freedom of association
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The organization [...] accepts as a term of every contract of appointment its duty to respect freedom of association, and anyone who has such a contract may challenge any decision that impairs that freedom. What the complainant is saying - indeed it is the sole issue - is that the organization acted in breach of freedom of association. His complaint is therefore receivable insofar as he is suing in his own name."
Keywords
locus standi; receivability of the complaint; competence of tribunal; staff regulations and rules; enforcement; freedom of association; staff representative; official
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
locus standi; receivability of the complaint; competence of tribunal; staff union; staff representative
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
staff union; freedom of association; facilities; discontinuance; publication
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
staff union; facilities; organisation's interest
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
general principle; organisation's duties; staff regulations and rules; enforcement; staff union; consultation; facilities
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