At the October 2001 meeting of the Staff Interpreters' Committee in Rome, written updates were provided by members from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Government of Canada (FGC), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Commission (EC) and the United Nations in Geneva (UNOG). Oral statements were made by all of the above (except for UNOG which was not represented) as well as by members from the NATO Defence College (NDC), the OECD, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the European Parliament (EP). Deputy representatives for the FGC and the United Nations in Vienna (UNOV) also spoke.
Management structure
There has been little change except in the various United Nations headquarters where several heads of department are due to retire shortly.
Staff levels
Staff levels have remained unchanged on the whole. The EC is poised for a slight increase in the wake of the Price-Waterhouse-Cooper study which recommended the hiring of more staff interpreters so that the current ratio of 48/52, with free-lancers outnumbering staff interpreters, is reversed to 51/49. New recruits have finally arrived at NATO to fill posts left vacant by several retirements and the UN is advertising a competition for several posts in 2002. Hiring at the MAE is hampered by a procedure imposing low starting salaries, thereby discouraging capable applicants. Understaffing resulting from budget cuts is a concern at FAO, especially in the English booth. The ECJ, UNOG, NDC, EP and FGC report stable staff levels, although a large proportion of current staff is set to retire soon at the FGC. Chinese is making progress at ICAO where two interpreter-translators were hired in 2001, with two more to come.
Salaries
Small increases have been granted by at least 4 organizations (FAO, FGC, ICAO and OECD). In some cases, salaries had been frozen for years. The OECD is lagging 7% behind other Coordinated Organizations. A new collective agreement at the FGC determines salary raises until 2003, and interpreters are paid extra when doing TV broadcasts or providing multilingual interpretation.
Working conditions
Colleagues from various organizations report a growing imbalance in the yearly workload. MEPs' keenness on minimizing time spent away from their constituencies has actually crammed the work week at the EP into 3 days. Upcoming ministerial meetings or sudden developments in the political or military arena invariably trigger a flurry of unexpected meetings at NATO. The same complaint was heard from the OECD member, and the UNOV colleague lamented the total absence of meetings in October while other months were insanely busy. There is no clear-cut session length rule at NATO, and no cut-off time whatsoever at the ECJ or at MAE. Last-minute changes in the meeting schedule are a daily occurrence at NATO. Staff interpreters at MAE are supplied with official mobile phones and required to remain reachable and available round the clock. In short, although unexpected time off is always welcome, the trade-off (i.e. never being able to plan one's day or week) is a definite stress factor. In stark contrast, UNOV colleagues may seem privileged, as their consent is required before a meeting is allowed to run overtime and the number of sessions they are assigned cannot exceed 8 per week. However, they are sometimes denied the basic right to be excused from work when they are ill, as the dearth of EN and FR freelance interpreters in Vienna means meetings would simply be cancelled if booths were not manned.
An agreement signed at the EC in 1987 sets a maximum of 18 sessions per 2-week period, although some flexibility is allowed for very high level meetings. ICAO meetings seem evenly distributed through the year.
Part-time work (50% to 75%) is increasingly popular at the OECD, with positive feedback from both interpreters and management. NATO's 5 part-timers (80% or 90%) are less unanimous in their satisfaction with the arrangement.
Non-interpretation duties have increased at the ECJ (preparation of hearings) and at FAO (heavy translation workload, especially for the English booth). Time spent on documentation can often be significant (ECJ, FAO, FGC and MAE) and is not always compensated.
Interference by management is looming at NATO and even more so at the NDC, where authorities see productivity, rather than quality, as the priority objective. They are considering converting specialists (i.e., interpreters or translators) into 'dual-purpose' linguists (interpreter-translators), whether linguists agree or not.
Deteriorating facilities are an increasing cause for concern at the OECD and UNOG.
New Technologies
Large-scale, thorough, exhaustive tests and experiments in the use of New Technologies were carried out throughout 2001 at the EP, the United Nations (NY) and the European Union Council.
The official United Nations paper concludes that remote interpretation allows for cost savings in limited cases only, and should not be used indiscriminately.
The EP report emphasizes the need for an in-depth medical study before any decision regarding the use of remote interpretation can be taken. The EU Council has decided to upgrade its current conference rooms and to build new ones to prepare for enlargement. The ever-proactive chief interpreter at the EC has even created a specialized NT unit, with expert Pepe Esteban at its helm. At the ECJ, a Website is in the making and a working group is monitoring NT developments. NATO reported no new NT experiment in 2001. Teleconferencing is very much on the increase at the FGC (one day maximum) and videoconferencing has been used by the MAE in various technical settings.
Documentation and Computerization
Top marks for computerization go to the Federal Government of Canada, which provides every single staff interpreter in the Conference Interpretation Service with an individual laptop computer, printer and Internet connection so that documents can be downloaded on missions… or at home, which some might regard as an intrusion. Front runner is the EC, where virtually all conference sites are equipped with computers and Intranet/Internet connections. NATO is seriously lagging behind, with only two computers and frequent reluctance by delegates to provide copies of their statements. No special problems are reported at the ECJ, FAO (whose Interpretation Department manages some 100 specialized in-house glossaries), UNOG (Web site) or ICAO (all documents are ready at the start of the meeting or even the night before).
Missions
OECD interpreters are spending less time away from home now that a policy is in effect to promote local recruitment. EC colleagues are also relieved that FLs sometimes replace them on missions abroad; and the FGC also favors sending free-lancers on missions as some of them waive their rights to rest days.
MAE missions are tending to be shorter but more work-intensive, while FAO and UNOV missions are occurring more often and lasting longer (several weeks for UNOV). The cost-cutting trend is now well-entrenched almost everywhere. As a result, weekend air fares are imposed more and more frequently, thus interfering with family life. A welcome exception is ICAO, which deserves to be praised for taking the health-wise decision of providing business class seats and rest days for long trips.
Training
Opportunities and policies vary hugely from one organization to another when it comes to interpreters' training. The offer is substantial at the ECJ but dismal at FAO, and "virtually non-existent" at the OECD, apart from an introductory course to IT. IT training is also on offer at the EC, FGC and UNOV.
Several organizations are encouraging interpreters to learn new languages and are even footing the bill in part or in total: the EC, the EP, the FGC and to a lesser extent, UNOG and UNOV (2- to 4-week courses abroad). At NATO Russian is the only unofficial language acknowledged as useful. No in-house training is available at ICAO, but interpreters may sign up for external training and obtain an 80% refund. The EC offers advanced refresher courses as well as thematic training.
Relations with Free-lance interpreters
As good as ever.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
EC - European Commission and the
ECJ - European Court of Justice and the
EP - European Parliament
FAO - United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
FGC- the Government of Canada
FL - Freelancer
ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization the
IT – Information Technology
MAE - French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MEP – Member of European Parliament
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization the
NDC – NATO Defence College
OECD – Organization Economic Cooperation and Development
UNOG - United Nations in Geneva.
UNOV - United Nations in Vienna
