United Nations turns to ACAS for advice on negotiation

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recently approached Acas to deliver negotiations skill training to management and employee representatives attached to the United Nations (UN). ICTY is a UN body charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and other former Yugoslavian territories,

The training was delivered in The Hague by two of Acasí Area Directors, Chris Martin and Steve Hodder. The two day programme covering traditional distributive bargaining and joint problem solving. The 12 delegates, mostly lawyers, represented seven different nationalities but fortunately their common language was English.

Chris Martin said: Last year the ICTY 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. Not wishing to repeat the experience they jointly approached Acas for help.

Feedback from the event was very positive and we took every opportunity to spread Acasí message that prevention is better than cure. There is a possibility that our efforts will lead on to other things. Certainly our reputation as a can-do organisation has been spread further afield and we have made some new friends along the way.

The UN has a unique employment structure. Employees are exempt from all domestic employment legislation within the countries hosting UN duty stations. 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, and this includes processes to govern consultation between management and employee staff unions. Since there is a separate staff union at each duty station and no definition in the Charter of what consu ltation means or whether it includes negotiation, there is considerable scope for confusion.