As we have mentioned in our previous broadcasts, the General Assembly has agreed in principle to allow staff who joined before 2014 to be able to choose to work until 65 if they wish or retire at 60 or 62. However, it asked the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), which sets our conditions of service, to revert as early as possible with an implementation date.

As you may recall, the ICSC had earlier recommended 1 January 2016 for implementation based on consultations with staff federations, such as CCISUA and FICSA (the UNOG Staff Coordinating Council is a member of CCISUA) and management representatives of organizations. However, last year a number of organizations changed position and decided to lobby against the ICSC’s recommendation. 

CCISUA and FICSA were able to obtain that the ICSC would begin consultations with the organizations immediately for a final recommendation at its meeting this July to submit to the General Assembly this fall.

We believe that the implementation date should be as close as possible to 1 January 2016 as this issue has been under discussion since 2009 and has created great uncertainty among staff. We are also proposing options where those organizations that are ready to do so could go early, while those more reluctant would still have a final deadline for implementation – this ensures that a handful of organizations don’t continually hold up the process for the others. We shall be at the July meeting of ICSC and will be making our position clear there.

In view of the consultations undertaken by ICSC with organizations, we have sent this letter to the Secretary-General.