WALK THE WALK
INTERVIEW OF CHRISTOPHER BAILEY
PRESIDENT WHO STAFF ASSOCIATION
MARIA DWEGGAH, WHO
This is your second year as an elected
staff representative. What made you
decide to run?
A couple of years ago during a previous administration,
the staff morale was quite bad
and staffmanagement relationswere arguably
at a historic low point. The staff committee at
the time was fighting some important policy
battles including reforming the practice of using
short term contracts for long term work,
and the disenfranchisement of awhole class of
staff that resulted. There were public calls for
WHO administration to be fair, transparent
and accountable, aswell as for a change in culture
at WHO which arguably had been fostering
or at least condoning varying forms of
harassment and negativework environments.
Yet at the same time, Iwas hearing similar stories
inwhich the staff committee itselfwas not
transparent, accountable and was using bullying
tactics on staffwhomthey had labeled as
in opposition to their party line, the very tactics
ofwhich theywere accusing the administration.
As I come from a Knowledge Management
background that emphasizes the power of
community and collaborative problemsolving,
I wondered if I could help. I sent an email to
the staff committee and cordially offered my
support, but also indicated that I had noticed
the tone of their communication with staff
was growing increasingly negative. I said that
I understood their frustration, but theremay be
other approaches and Iwould be happy to put
mymoneywheremymouthwas and help explore
them. You see, I’ve been a card carrying
member of not one but three unions formuch
of my adult life and I believe in solidarity and
collective action for the sake of the community.
Walk the talk
I wanted to be part of the process to turn
things around and to rebuild confidence and
move forward. A group with similar approaches
agreed on a few simple objectives
and principles.We agreed that we could not
ask administration for greater accountability,
transparency and fairness if we did not exemplify
it ourselves and that we would fight
for this on the committee. For those of us
fighting for staff rights at the time, we felt the
soul of the institution was at stake, and we
were determined to bring about a better way
of advocating staff rights.
Your first year as President of the
WHO Staff Association is coming
to a close.What has been your biggest
accomplishment?
TeamWork and Professionalization
of Staff Management Relations
There have been a number. I guess the over
arching accomplishment is the professionalization
of staff management relations,
which was revitalized by my predecessor,
Lahouari Belgharbi and I think through a
team effort has become even stronger this
year. Although we often disagree with administration,
we have learned to respect and
listen to each other, and each has learned to
compromise and find mutually advantageous
solutions.
Prepare or be prepared to fail
One good example of this was the outsourcing
issue. Fivemailroomstaffwere going to be
let go due to budget cuts just around Christmas
time. A few of us intervened and began a discussion
processwith the administration,which put the action on hold. You see these jobs
were to be replaced with an outside agency.
But rather thanmake a huge public outcry, or
defend the individual jobs on the basis of individual
circumstances, we took a policy approach.
The Administration relied on the UN
outsourcing policy as (See ST/IC/2005/30)
to defend their decision.We researched policies
in other sectors, public and private and
quoted from FICSA Resolution 59/2 to demonstrate
that the outsourcing plan did not meet
the criteria set out in the Information Circular.
We asked what the WHO policy was and how
it compared to UN recommendations.
We found out we had no explicit policy. So,
we were able to come together to agree on a
fewbasic principles: 1) every daywork that is
deemed essential to the operations of the organization
should be done by WHO staff. 2)
predictable peaks and extraordinary circumstances
(meetings of governing bodies, extraordinarymeetings,
etc.) could justify use of
an outsourcing company. We haven’t finalized
the policy yet, but because we took a policy
approach,we not only preserved several specific
jobs, but won’t have to re-fight the same
battle the next time there is a budget cut.
There are many others, but this I think exemplifies
our approach. 1) Evidence based decisionmaking.
2)Work at the policy level, 3) Behave
as you expect others to behave, 4) Staff
interests are best served through collective
action not through brokering of individual
needs.
Communication
Other key accomplishments I think include
better, or at least more imaginative, communication,
such as our use of blogs and role
play, as well as a general atmosphere of cordial
businesslike relations in our dealings
with each other, administration and our constituents.
We have also had more outreach
and training sessions than in some previous
years.
With many years of union experience
behind you in a variety of jobs, what
has been the biggest challenge for you in the UN system as a staff representative?
Actually, that last conversation on the opposition
of collective action versus brokering of individual
needs points up one of the big problems.
Don’t getmewrong, every staffmember
is important and should never be treated as a
number. Each one of us is deserving of respect
and has unique circumstances and considerations.
However, staff and management
both often seem to work from the point of
view of individual entitlements, not from the
larger community vision. How does this affect
me? What favor can I cash in to fix my problem?
If I help solve your problem, will you be
part ofmyweb of gratitude? Thatway leads to
rot and corruption.
Collective approach versus individualized
approach to representation
Yes, I advocate networks, but networks run on
different principles. Communities of practice,
for instance, do not work solely on a quid pro
quo dynamic. There is an implicit assumption
that sharing knowledge (the currency of technical
professions) freely for the common good
will benefitmemore than brokering individual transactions. Thomas Jefferson used a good
metaphor for this. ‘If I light your candle with
mine, I do not diminishmy flame. Instead, together we make
the roombrighter for all of us.’
This concept is beautifully captured by the
African philosophy of Ubuntu: ‘my wealth is
yours, yours is mine. Your pain is mine, mine
is yours.’ It emphasizes the interconnectedness
of things and that we are part of larger
complex systems, not just ‘dog eat dog’. This is
the concept of solidarity.
Every successful union engagement I’ve been
involved with has had this assumption embedded
into decision making. Every flawed
union engagement has been tainted with the
more ‘individualized’ approach. I still pay my
union dues even though I’m no longer in
those professions, partly because of this principle.
My great grand uncle was one of the
founding members of the American Civil Liberties
union and my father, who is now a retired
artist and cranky ex-sixties radical,
showed me some of his writings. One thing
stuck inmy head. ‘Freedomis not the freedom
to be selfish. Freedom is the opportunity to
givewithout restraint.’ Think about it. If every
one is selfish,we cantmove forward. But if we agree about a set of common goals,we create
a space where we can work together and
achieve far greater things,without fear thatwe
will be punished for our ‘selflessness’. Or to
quote another African proverb, ‘If I run alone,
Iwill run faster. Ifwe run together,wewill run
farther.’ Many work units atWHO might take
heed of this.
Any words of encouragement you can
give to staff to convince them to
come forth and volunteer?
If what I’ve said resonates at all, I do hope you
will consider standing for election and volunteering
your time and efforts. Every community
gets the government they deserve and staff associations
are no different. Giving your time
will benefit you in ways that may not be immediately
apparent, but will be more powerful
in the long run than other more short term
considerations.On the other hand, if you think
what I’ve said is nonsense, and I am just a
hypocritical capitalist running dog lackey in
bedwith administration, then I encourage you
to run for office as well and get me and those
other bums out! That’s democracy.
