STAFF REPRESENTATIVES’ CORNER

IAN RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, UNOG STAFF COORDINATING COUNCIL

As I write this article, it’s early February, and the 27th Coordinating Council is reaching the end of its mandate. Elections are due in March. It’s the right time to do a roundup of what the Council has done this year. Below are some of the highlights that have marked this Council’s term:

A return to the negotiating table
One of the first decisions of the incoming Council was to re-engage in staff-management negotiations and rejoin the SMCC. It should be recalled that in the previous year the Council had boycotted negotiations, leaving staff in Geneva without a say in the huge human resources changes sweeping through the Secretariat. This included the abolition of permanent contracts, which was legislated by the General Assembly during the mandate of the previous Council, and the introduction of temporary contracts with 1.5 days of annual leave.

The Council was therefore presented with an unfortunate fait accompli. It received legal advice on the abolition of permanent contracts that was circulated to the staff in June. However, it was not sufficient to warrant a legal challenge. Not wishing staff in Geneva to be left out again, the Council has been active in the very complex negotiations to secure continuing contracts, which will replace permanent contracts. These negotiations are ongoing and while conducted directly with management will ultimately have to be approved by the Member States. With our requirements for termination indemnities, protection against abusive dismissal and coverage for all staff, regardless of programme or source of funding (such as extra-budgetary), this will not be easy.

Transition to new contracts
On 1 July 2009, staff moved to a new contractual system made up of two types of contracts, temporary and fixed-term. (A third type of contract, which is open-ended and called “continuing” is foreseen, but needs to be negotiated – see above.) Very little information was provided to staff on what the changes would mean to them, especially to those on short-term contracts.

The Council held a town hall meeting with management to answer the many questions. At this meeting, quite a few short-term staff raised the issue of their annual leave being shortened by the transition to temporary appointments. The Council has pursued this issue with management and while the rule is that temporary appointments have 1.5 days of leave, an exception is being made whereby staff will retain 2.5 days, if the reduction of one day of leave per month is not compensated for by the increase in steps, which temporary appointments bring with them. (Due to late submission, this was incorrectly reported in the February edition of UN Special.)

Mobility
A big issue has been mobility and the Secretary- General’s determination for all professional staff to change duty station on a regular basis. In a first phase, the Council had this policy watered down so that geographic moves would only apply to promotions to P-5 and above. It then undertook a concerted campaign against the requirements, using its good relations with the other staff unions of the UN. With support from certain Member States, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to put his mobility proposal on hold.

Legal assistance to the staff
2009 gave birth to a new system of internal justice, which has proved itself different from its predecessor. Quite a few judgments have been more favourable to colleagues, causing management to rethink how it treats its staff. For example, a staff member was compensated after being transferred without being consulted. Another was compensated after being insulted in an interview panel. We are concerned about a judgment upholding a non-renewal of contract because of a poor relationship between a staff member and her supervisor. The ESCWA staff union is appealing this ruling and we hope to see a positive outcome.

To support staff through the new system, the Council voted half-way through its mandate to more than double its legal fund to 150,000 francs, which has been used to support all staff who have asked for it. A third of that fund has been allocated, on a pilot basis, to the Office of Staff Legal Affairs, which has an expertise in the new system. The use of funds will be closely monitored and reviewed. This reverses a situation under the previous Council where vast sums were paid to an expensive private law firm in Geneva which has yet to provide the Council with a report on how the funds were used, despite repeated requests.

SAFI
This is an ongoing issue. Several years ago, OIOS undertook a review of the operation and concluded that it was against the rules for the staff to be running a business. Following this, UNOG’s initial wish was to close the business. This Council fought and obtained an agreement for SAfito remain open. However, in accordance with OIOS’s request, SAfiwill have to be placed in private hands. The question is: how can it retain its character and continue to provide funds for the running of the Council? One option being pursued is that of a management buyout, thereby retaining the team and keeping the familiar mix of products on sale. Parallel to this were complex tax negotiations with the City and Canton, now almost resolved.

Social and cultural activities
The two big social events this year were the children’s party and the staff end-of-year party. The well-attended children’s party, which took place in an original location with a fresh format, produced a large amount of feedback, some of which was featured in last month’s magazine. This is being studied.

The staff end-of-year party, held in December, saw 1,500 of you dance into the early hours. The feedback has been hugely positive. And despite emails being sent round to the contrary, the budget of this year’s party was less than that of the year before.

At the same time, we also made sure to maintain the grants to the clubs and societies and encourage more effective use of the limited facilities put at our disposal.

Time for reform?
It is inevitable that a staff union, made up of elected members, will be political. However, being new to the Council I wasn’t quite prepared for the barrage of personal attacks that came from the sidelines by certain members who have refused to attend the Council’s meetings and have consequently reported inaccurately on its activities. Perhaps the list system that the Council uses is partly responsible. It can discourage cooperation among members, who are sometimes more loyal to their lists than to the staff who elected them.

Maybe now is the time for the Council to consider reform. A constituency system, whereby the UN at Geneva could be split into twentyfi ve electoral units that would each elect their own representative, would be more appropriate. It’s a system that is practiced in the other staff unions of the UN, most notably in New York, and is certainly more effective, encouraging as it does, personal accountability by each member. However, that will be for the next Council to deal with.