On 28 January you received an email from the Director of Finance and Human Resources regarding the issue of the deduction of Staff Association membership fees from your January salary. As announced during the Association's public meeting on 31 January, here are our responses to the main points raised in the email.

The Staff Association would first of all like to thank all the employed and associated members of personnel who participated in large numbers in this first public meeting of the year 2022. On this occasion, our representatives presented the state of progress of the themes that are of major concern at the beginning of 2022.

The Staff Council (SC) of the Staff Association (SA) has decided for its new mandate 2022-2023 to communicate even more widely to all personnel, members and non-members of the SA.

We would like to update you on the latest developments regarding the on-going discussions about the status of USERs and the impact on the introduction of the “Cost of Living Allowance” (COLA).

You have had the opportunity to be informed of this if you have followed our last public meetings, for the first time in CERN's history, and after more than two years of discussions with the Management, the annual membership fees to the Staff Association (SA) have not been deducted from the January salaries of SA members.

In the previous ECHO we informed you about the petition to support CERN Users who are facing financial difficulties following CERN's decision to reclassify subsistence payments made to CERN USERs under a new category, namely a “cost of living” (COLA) allowance.

GAC INFORMATION SESSIONS in 2022

In accordance with the Statutes of the Staff Association, the Staff Council, in its meeting of 14 December 2021, elected a new Executive Committee.

This first issue of ECHO in 2022 gives us the opportunity to wish you and your families happiness and success.