The
United Nations (UN) has turned to Acas to give negotiation training to
management and employee representatives of the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
ICTY
is a UN body charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed
during the war in Bosnia and other former Yugoslavian territories.
Representatives
from ICTY attended a two-day programme covering traditional distributive
bargaining and joint problem solving.
Acas’
area director, Chris Martin, who delivered the training, said that ICTY had
struggled to handle a number of redundancies as neither management nor employee
representatives had a clear idea of what their negotiation/consultation remit
was, or how to go about the process effectively.
The
UN has a unique employment structure as employees are exempt from all domestic
employment legislation within the countries hosting UN duty stations.
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In
the case of The Hague, this includes all EU employment rights legislation.
Instead, those working for the UN are subject to employment rules laid down by
the UN Charter, including processes to govern consultation between management
and employee staff unions.
