CCISUA STATEMENT TO HCLM

MR. NASR ISHAK, VICE-PRESIDENT OF CCISUA, TO THE 15TH SESSION OF THE HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE ON MANAGEMENT

From ECLAC in Santiago to UNU in Tokyo, the Federation’s diverse membership comprises the Staff Unions and Associations of ECA, ESCAP, ESCWA, FSU, ILO, the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), ISAU (UNESCO), UNICEF, UNIDO, UNON, UNOV and my own organization, UNHCR.

CCISUA’s Vision and Strategy
At the outset, I would like to brief you on some developments relating to the vision and strategy of CCISUA: As the Committee was informed at the 14th Session, CCISUA and FICSA are keenly aware of the need to work closely together on all issues of a system-wide nature. The two Federations have continued their dialogue and much progress has been made towards developing a joint vision and a common approach for fulfilling this shared objective.

For its part, CCISUA held an Extraordinary General Assembly, in November 2007, in order to consider an amendment to its Statute that would allow for greater and more effective participation by all the membership of CCISUA in the decision-making process. The amendment – which was unanimously adopted – includes some major changes to the Federation’s modus operandi in order to better serve the interests of the staff, particularly those serving in the field.

CCISUA’s strategy is also geared towards strengthening its partnerships and increasing its engagement in the various fora that deal with the staff’s conditions of service. In spite of its limited financial and human resources, CCISUA pledges to remain fully engaged as a partner in these endeavours through active participation in the work of the relevant bodies including the ICSC, the HR Network, the CEB, the Fifth Committee and the Pension Fund.

FICSA will present you additional information on the ongoing joint efforts towards establishing a mutually reinforcing and eventually unified staff representation structure that would be more effective than further diversification.

Value and purpose of dialogue with the High Level Committee on Management
The Secretary-General and his top Management team have repeatedly stressed the importance of Staff-Management dialogue which they consider “essential in making our Organization work better”.

In the sphere of this Committee’s work which brings together the most senior administrative managers of the organizations of the system, dialogue with the staff is indeed important particularly as this Committee is currently giving a great deal of attention to meeting the demands of the Member States for effective, efficient and harmonized UN system.

However, before discussing the items on the Agenda of this Session, I would like to share with you some thoughts which were inspired by what the Secretary-General said during a recent meeting he had with the US President on 15th February:

There are two points to be made about the “value of leadership” and “engagement and partnership”: With regard to “leadership”, what is clear is that leadership has little value if the leaders do not give the good example. It would be fair to recognize that the Secretary-General – on numerous occasions – has given the good example. In the case of commitment to transparency and accountability, he decided to voluntarily disclose his financial assets to the public.

As regards “engagement and partnership”, the Secretary-General has demonstrated his commitment to work with the staff when, for example, he agreed to replace the Joint Advisory Committee in New York with the Joint Negotiation Committee (JNC). These two tangible actions by the Secretary-General are symbolic and should – in our view – be followed by all CEB members. Should all Heads of UN organizations, Funds and Programmes follow the Secretary-General’s example, the UN system could indeed “work better” and regain much of the confidence and the credibility it has lost in the eyes of the public in recent years.

In any event, we would like to recommend to this Committee that the standards introduced by the SGB on the Joint Negotiation Committee at Headquarters in New York should be implemented at all duty stations aspart of the harmonization Plan of Action.

The talented staff of the organizations we represent have continually proven themselves not only as an important source of innovative ideas for modernizing business practices in their respective organizations but also as a driving force for sustainable change and for improving performance and accountability. The staff needs a leadership that will give the example and a Management that will respect fully the Rules and Regulations of the organization. These conditions are essential for sound Staff-Management relations and are prerequisites for genuine Partnership between the Staff Representatives and the Management to emerge.

Follow-up on issues raised at the 14th Session of HLCM Before moving to the items on the Agenda of this Session, I would like to recall some important elements from the statements that CCISUA and FICSA representatives made to the 14th Session of HLCM held last September: The Vice-President of CCISUA noted in her statement that “As a Federation of Staff Unions and Associations we in CCISUA are seized by the imperatives that staff deserve the organization’s protection, regard, acknowledgement and consideration. We are all affected by the momentous changes which are taking place throughout the United Nations, from the effects of UN reform, to standardization of contracts, to something as mundane as common accounting standards”.

For his part, FICSA President said that he was “particularly concerned about the effects of out-sourcing, off shoring and other administrative initiative on staff”. He posed the question: “who will (and is) representing these people who are in some cases not considered staff.”

Unfortunately, the above concerns do not seem to be taken seriously at least in some organizations. Cost cutting actions with major impact on the operations and the staff continue to be taken in the name of reform and efficiency; without regard to the relevant principles or genuine staff consultations. In some cases, these actions may be taken on the behest of donor governments or for financial reason; but these external factors can by no means justify the disregard of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

In order to highlight the seriousness of the above-mentioned concerns, I would like to provide the following two examples which are also reported on in detail by the Board of Auditors in document A/AC.96/1025 dated 13 September 2006:

1. Establishing staffing quotas for Donors: UNHCR has signed with a donor government an agreement which contains a clause that requires UNHCR to increase the percentage of the nationals of that donor country to 13% of all Professional staff. Such a clause is clearly contrary to Article 101 of the Charter and simply undermines all the principles of international civil service.
2. Replacing regular staff by temporary non-staff personnel: UNHCR had in the past hired non-staff persons (called “project staff”) either through implementing partners it funded or directly by signing irregular service contracts to carry out staff functions. Repeated audit observations had pointed out that persons recruited under such agreements were performing functions similar to those normally done by regular staff members and UNHCR was asked to phase out such arrangements. Although new arrangements have been developed in order to be compliant with the rules, the Board of Auditors still took the view that “beyond their functional merits, these arrangements do not comply with the staff policy”.

The premise is that we are all subject to the UN Charter which is the basis for all UN policies and practice. The Charter should remain the fundamental reference document particularly when it comes to proposals for reforming or harmonizing the UN system; be it for enhancing operational efficiency or for improving oversight and accountability.

System Wide Coherence cannot be achieved if some UN organizations are allowed to violate the UN Charter or to disregard the legitimate and fundamental rights of the staff purportedly to implement reforms or gain donors’ support.

Security and Safety of Staff (CEB/2008/HLCM/3)
Turning now to the first substantive item on the Agenda, namely the Security and Safety of Staff, I am pleased to inform you that CCISUA has participated in the Inter-Agency Security Management Network (IASMN) and has a number of important concerns with regard to operational Security in High Risk/Complex Environments. These will be discussed in greater detail when the above-mentioned report will be reviewed by the Committee.

However, CCISUA was gravely disappointed to learn from media reports that there were serious lapses and shortcomings in the UN security management system in Algeria. Mr. David Veness is quoted as saying that “the hostile intent against the U.N. in Algeria was present and well-known before the attack”.

Last week, the Vice-President of CCISUA, Ms. Rita Wallace (in her capacity of the Chairperson of UNICEF Global Staff Association) met with Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, Head of the Independent Panel on Staff Security, to exchange views both in the light of Algeria bombings and in general. Among the issues raised with Mr. Brahimi that CCISUA fully shares are the following:

• The unequal treatment of national staff and the lack of protection at the time of evacuation.
• Lack of MOSS compliance in some offices.
• The need to determine whether common premises afford better protection or make UN offices easier targets.
• The pressure placed on staff by high stress environments, leading to high vacancy rates and consequent overwork.
• The need to recognize the extra risk for female staff in countries where women’s rights are not fully respected.

What CCISUA expects of the UN is to put in place a robust, fully funded, and comprehensive security management system run by competent staff.

Other HR issues of particular relevance to HLCM
The large number of Unions and Associations that CCISUA comprises is a challenge that the Federation has been trying to effectively meet. Individual Unions and Associations may have concerns that are not necessarily shared by others. For example, job insecurity and lack of career prospects may be major issues in some duty stations while in others, the growing numbers of temporary staff or the threat of outsourcing can be the main concerns. While CCISUA plays an important role in consolidating and harmonizing diverging positions, it is sometimes necessary to convey to the advisory and decision making bodies its Members’ views “as is”.
The following are some of the topics on which we would like to present staff views in the course of this Session but I will mention now only the headlines for the sake of time:

Staff Mobility
(Mobility policy must be incentive-based and not mechanical or forced; must balance staff needs with those of the organizations; should be accompanied by training, should take into account family situation and special constraints of the staff members concerned; should clearly lead to career development.)

Gender
(Progress towards parity is unsatisfactory and not adequately monitored. Some organizations are going backward by recruiting more male than female staff. Need to enhance dual career policy also as spousal employment is key also to a successful mobility policy. New measures are needed to enhance retention of female staff particularly at the senior level. Lack of affordable child care facilities was identified as one of the impediments to female staff. Need to provide education grant for the “under five” years old.)

Administration of Justice
(The exercise of delegated authority in disciplinary matters is an issue of concern in a number of duty stations. Lack of respect for the due process rights of the staff during investigations results in vitiating disciplinary decisions and moral damage to staff.)

Contractual Policies
(The Framework for contractual arrangements, the reform of the job classification system for General Service staff and the review of the salary survey methodologies are matters of high staff interests and CCISUA plans to coordinate efforts with FICSA in order to ensure effective staff participation in these important reviews)

Staff Representation and Staff-Management consultative machinery
(Need to extend substantial additional support to elected staff representatives to improve their capacity to perform their added duties and to meet the financial requirements for their participation in joint Staff-Management consultative machinery.)

Effect of the declining US$ on pension:
(The continuing decline of the value of the US$ has serious impact on the pensions benefits. This situation requires collaborative efforts to develop measures to alleviate and mitigate the negative impact US$ devaluation.)

We look forward to fruitful dialogue and I thank you for your attention.