STAFF REPRESENTATIVES’ CORNER

IAN RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, UNOG STAFF COORDINATING COUNCIL

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UPDATE ON THE UNOG STAFF COORDINATION COUNCIL:

Helped colleagues with the new contractual system
July saw a new system of contracts, whose aim was to make things more simple. But for many colleagues, it ended up otherwise. We fielded a lot of calls from staff who weren’t sure what type of contract they’d be graduating to, including a large number of short-term staff from UNCTAD who’d been working there for years but who, at the time of writing, still weren’t sure whether they’d be getting temporary or fixed-term appointments. Within two weeks of the new system, we jointly organized a well-attended meeting for all staff with management, in order to explain the new system and answer everyone’s questions.

Fought a rearguard action on permanent contracts and ensured those still eligible will get them
During the previous Council, the General Assembly decided to abolish permanent contracts. On coming in, we fought a rearguard action, paying an internationally-recognized administrative lawyer to provide us a legal opinion on this.

Unfortunately, the legal ammunition we had hoped for just wasn’t there in the opinion, and it was too late to get the General Assembly to reverse its decision.
However, there’s now a final one-time review to provide permanent contracts to staff who by the end of June 2009 would be eligible to receive them. We asked colleagues who felt they were eligible to submit their names, which we’ll cross-check with the list prepared by management to make sure no-one’s left out.

Pushed for stronger continuing contracts
When the General Assembly abolished permanent contracts, they didn’t replace them with anything, but asked management to propose a new form of open-ended contract. Called continuing contracts, we negotiated safeguards with management to make it diffi cult for a programme manager to terminate a staff member without showing that an effort had been made to find an alternative post. This will also have to be reviewed by a joint staff-management committee.
The next step is to get this package approved by Member States. With other UN unions we commissioned a study comparing the continuing contract to those of national civil services, all of which award such contracts almost automatically after a fixed number of years, often fewer than the five years proposed by management. We’ve therefore been engaged in a global effort with the other unions to brief and inform members of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, which decides on such issues. The Executive Secretary has more to say on this.

Restarted negotiations with management
One of our first decisions was to rejoin the annual round of SMCC negotiations between the UN staff unions from different duty stations and New York management. The previous year’s Council had boycotted these negotiations and it was during this time that permanent contracts were abolished and the thrust of human resources reform moved against headquarters staff in favour of field staff.
Our presence at the June negotiations was strongly welcomed by the other UN staff unions and we had an immediate impact. The new system of mobility is much lighter than what was originally proposed, we ensured that staff selection decisions below G5 can now be reviewed by a central body to prevent abuse, we negotiated safeguards under the new staff selection system, Inspira, to bolster the rights of current staff over candidates applying from outside, and as mentioned above, we strengthened staff rights under the proposed continuing contracts.

Tripled the staff legal assistance fund
July also saw the introduction of a new system of justice, more professional than its predecessor, with three judges, one each in Geneva, Nairobi and New York.
However, the organization only allocated one P3 lawyer to defend the 3,500 staff in Geneva, who may have been victims of harassment, unfair dismissal and discrimination – colleagues come to us every day for help on this.
We therefore tripled our legal aid fund to 150,000 fr., which will support the development of an internal cadre of staff defenders, reducing our reliance on expensive outside lawyers unfamiliar with UN practices.

Eased life for working parents
Many working parents have faced major diffi culties finding a crèche place in Geneva. The UN is unable to contribute capital funds for a building, supply building space, or subsidize running costs for a crèche of its own. This flies in the face of its stated commitment to support equal opportunities for staff.
On behalf of the Council, UN Special and other international organizations are now working closely with the City of Geneva, as part of its policy of making a crèche place a right, not a privilege.
We’ve also secured funds from SAfito subsidize parents who have financial difficulties in meeting crèche costs, and we’re fighting with colleagues through the courts to have crèche fees reduced across the Canton.

Started a strategy on mobility
The new mobility requirements in 2010 will require staff seeking promotion to P5 and above to move duty stations and spend part of their career in hardship duty stations. This has huge consequences, especially for working parents.
At the time of writing, Vienna staff union was preparing an online survey which we’ll distribute in Geneva. Recognizing that it is easier to move if it’s possible to return, we’re seeing how a system of exchanges can be set up with the regional commissions. We’re also collecting evidence from staff to present at the next round of negotiations with management to see how this policy can be made more staff-friendly.

And finally... kept SAFI open
For several years UNOG had wanted to close SAFI. But we’ve obtained its agreement that it stays open within the Palais. Because UN rules decree that the shop be contracted to a private company, we’re working to ensure that what comes out remains a valuable resource to staff and continues to generate funds for welfare, legal protection and for the clubs and societies. We’re also fighting with the tax authorities, who want to make SAFI pay taxes for its activities of the last several years, despite having benefited up to this year from a special tax agreement.