Standing Concertation Committee

Ordinary Meeting on 11 May 2009

The meeting of the Standing Concertation Committee held on 11 May 2009 was entirely dedicated to the preparation of the TREF meeting on 19 & 20 May 2009.

The Committee took note, discussed and agreed on some clarifications on a number of documents and presentations that the Management planned to submit and/or present to TREF on the following subjects:

• Personnel statistics 2008:

J. Purvis presented the Personnel Statistics for 2008 prepared by HR Department. In line with the previous year, key messages were firstly, a general reduction in staff (2544 to 2400, - 6%), secondly, a reduction in administrative services personnel (from 422 to 387, - 8%) and thirdly, a marked increase in the number of Users and Unpaid Associates (from 8369 to 9140, + 9%)

• Five-Yearly Review 2010:

A series of draft documents were submitted for discussion, comprising an introductory document explaining the statutory basis for the following four documents: a report on the main recruitment markets for staff members, a report on the comparator research institutions for Fellows, the Management’s proposal identifying the financial and the social conditions to be reviewed and a report on recruitment and retention of staff members.

• Employment Contract policy:

Draft modifications to Chapter II and Annex R A 11 of the Staff Rules & Regulations 11th Edition were proposed following the consensus reached at the previous committee meeting on adjustments to the CERN employment contract policy (see The Bulletin, issue No. 18-19/2009, official news heading).

• Equal opportunities (EO):

The SCC heard a proposal, prepared by D. Chromek-Burckhart, Equal Opportunities Officer and T. Smith, Equal Opportunities Advisory Panel Chair, towards an enhanced Diversity Policy at CERN. This would accompany the current objectives of the EO policy and would actively promote diversity as an asset by which the qualities of individuals or different identity groups are valued - an initiative supported by the Director-General. Additional improvements are also foreseen in attracting more female personnel to CERN, giving equal chances for projects and career advancement independently of age, and developing a coherent model for resolving work conflict. An action plan will be elaborated in collaboration with the Management for autumn 2009.

by HR Department