The Staff Association, TREF, Finance Committee and CERN Council
The Staff Association, following its participatory and consensual approach, always tries to find the best possible agreements for the Organization and its staff. For this our main assets are in discussion and consultation with the management, explanatory work and persuasion at TREF, and in other meetings, with delegates from Member States.
TREF (Tripartite Employment Conditions Forum), a forum for exchange and discussion
"The objective of the Forum is to improve the decision-making process by giving those concerned the opportunity and time to understand fully the positions of all participants." (CERN / RTG / 8)
The Tripartite Forum on Employment Conditions (TREF) was created by CERN Council in June 1994 and is composed of representatives of the Member States, the Management and the Staff Association. The forum is tasked with the studies of remuneration and employment conditions at CERN and does not have decision authority. As its name suggests, TREF allows an exchange of views between the three parties, a guarantee for a better mutual understanding and facilitation for the adoption of constructive solutions.
This body also gives the opportunity for Management to explain its proposals, before their submission to Finance Committee and Council for decision.
Finance Committee (FC), contributions, budget, spending
Finance Committee (FC) brings together representatives of national administrations and examines all matters relating to financial contributions from Member States, the budget of the Organization and the Laboratory’s expenses.
A delegation of five persons from the Staff Association attends the meetings of Finance Committee as observer.
CERN Council, the decision making body of the Organization
CERN Council is ultimately responsible for all major decisions. It determines the policy of CERN (for scientific, technical and administrative matters), decides on the approval of the program of activities and the adoption of budgets, and reviews expenditure.
Council holds open sessions twice a year (in June and December). In between sessions, its delegates meet in restricted and closed sessions to monitor the progress of business and discuss with the Director General on decision proposals to submit to Council.
| A new Chairman of the Board! This year the discussions of the Council are under the leadership of a new president. Prof. Sijbrand de Jong was elected on September 18th, 2015 for a term of one year, renewable twice, effective as of January 1st, 2016. He takes over from Prof. Agnieszka Zalewska who reached the end of her mandate after three years in the function. "I owe a lot to CERN, which I got to know in 1984 as a summer student", Prof. de Jong said We are certain that Prof. de Jong will take the best decisions in the interest and for the future of CERN and its staff, in a spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding. |
Staff Association Cocktail
The Staff Association, profiting from the presence at CERN of the delegations from Member States during the meetings of Finance Committee and Council, have on several occasions organised gatherings between representatives of Member States and their fellow citizen staff members at CERN. This is an opportunity to discuss with the delegates about the concerns of the staff as well as have more general discussions about CERN and its staff.
| Why does CERN and its staff need a Staff Association? Of course CERN is first the employer of its staff. But what we do not all realise, is that CERN is also acting as a State for us, since CERN itself provides us with a system of health insurance, unemployment insurance and pension, all of which fall under the responsibility of the State in our home countries. It is therefore appropriate to state that we are employed by CERN but that we are also citizens of the Organization. Staff members, as citizens, can mostly relate to the democracies in which they live. Since CERN is not a democracy, in the sense that the Member State delegations and Management are not elected by the staff, the Member States and the Directorate have full powers, or very close to. In this context, there is a clear need to have a strong Staff Association which can defend the interests of its members and more generally the interests of all CERN staff. As citizens of CERN, you at least have the power to elect your representatives to the Staff Association! |
La version française de cet article a été publiée dans l’Écho n°242.
