The vice-President of ISAU and Executive Secretary of UNISERV (United Nations International Civil Servants Federation), Mr Ryad BOUHADEF, participated at the 93th session of the ICSC held at the United Nations HQ, New-York (USA), from March 21 to April 1st 2022. You will find below the UNISERV’s speech.
Mr. Chair, Commissioners, Members of the ICSC secretariat, Colleagues,
We too wish to congratulate all the new appointees to the commission, and we applaud the movement of the needle towards a gender balanced commission.
We thank the ICSC’s secretariat staff for their demanding work in facilitating this hybrid session, we also thank the interpreters for their services during the next two weeks of meetings.
We are pleased to be able to participate in this in person/hybrid ICSC session here at UN Headquarters in New York. It seems that we may be emerging out of the global COVID-19 crisis, however we recognise that it is far from over, and that many people continue to suffer from the multiple effects of the pandemic, from personal loss and effects on health, to various forms of disruption in everyday life and an increased sense of instability worldwide.
We are extremely worried and saddened by the conflict between two Member States of the organization, and we deplore the senseless loss of life on all sides of this conflict. We hope that all parties will be able to come to the table and find a peaceful resolution so that the suffering of innocent people will end. Our organization was founded after all to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” United Nations Common System personnel stand ready to do our part, in our multifaceted spheres of activity.
UNISERV thanks the ICSC Chair and his entire team for their prompt and decisive response to the various financial and other disruptions that we have seen in various countries and regions affected by various forms of instability since the last session. We encourage the ICSC and the Organisations to remain closely coordinated to respond promptly to inflation, devaluation, banking disruption and other situations when they occur.
We thank the ICSC for its presentations made to the Fifth Committee and we are very pleased to note that the General Assembly approved, in resolution 76/240 recommendations made by the ICSC regarding the Education Grant sliding scale and increase in boarding lump-sum. Similarly, UNISERV is extremely pleased to note that the consistent approach in terms of requesting from the General Assembly the application and expansion of the payment of amount in lieu of settling-in grant at category “E” duty stations has now been extended to category “D” duty stations on a pilot basis. This is a very welcome decision which will benefit our staff in the field directly. These successes are indicative of the GA’s trust in the credibility and consistency of the ICSC’s recommendations. We hope this dynamic will continue and we will play our part in ensuring that the ICSC receives a clear perspective on the staff’s concerns, and that its recommendations are based on broad consensus whenever possible.
UNISERV is concerned that the GA’s request that the ICSC undertake a comprehensive review of the compensation package every five years may be over-ambitious, distracting resources and attention from detailed examination of the package’s various components over time, as has been the Commission’s practice to date. We hope the ICSC Secretariat’s resources will be enhanced accordingly to ensure that this regular review can meet the usual high standards of quality, consistency, and ample consultation.
Regarding the GA’s request that the Commission identify good practices on ways to promote geographical diversity and rejuvenation, UNISERV stands ready to support these efforts, as both objectives are dear to us. Likewise, we look forward to engaging on the issue of multilingualism in the workforce in 2022-23.
UNISERV welcomes the outcome of the working group on contractual arrangements as contained in its report 93/R.3. We are particularly pleased with the recommendation to harmonize the annual leave accrual for temporary appointments with the other appointment types to 2.5 days per month. We are concerned by the diminishing use of the continuing contracts among member organizations, and we are similarly concerned by the increasing use of UN Personnel that are employed under contractual arrangements that fall outside the scope of the common system’s contractual framework. The increasing prevalence of “earmarked” funding which donors dictate cannot be used for staffing requirements creates pressures on organizations to deliver with the use of personnel that are employed outside the official contractual framework. UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS and UN Women have a combined workforce of about 36000 personnel, of which only one third are employed under the UN Common System contractual framework type appointments.
UNISERV appreciates the ICSC’s greater scrutiny of the application of the CCOG (Common Classification of Occupational Groups) by the organisations. We have several concerns in this area, including the adequacy and timely review of job classifications, downward function creep from P to GS categories, particularly in the field, combined with upward level creep. We welcome the ICSC’s call for a more a consistent use of CCOG as the basis for a detailed review of consistency in job classifications across the Common System and within organisations themselves.
UNISERV recognises the immense work that the baseline cost of living surveys represents for the Cost-of-Living Division. We welcome the close coordination with local survey committees, as well as various measures taken to improve the surveys and subsequent data processing. However, we observe with concern that prices have increased considerably in New York since the price survey (July 2021) and expenditure survey (October 2021) and globally in recent months, with more price disruption likely. We look forward to a detailed discussion under the corresponding agenda item, including on contingency measures if inflation continues to rise.
UNISERV thanks the Secretariat for the reports on review of level for the hardship, mobility, and non-family service allowances respectively; and encourages the Commission to give them favourable consideration.
UNISERV appreciated the work carried out by the WG on the review of GS salary survey methodologies. We look forward to discussing the WG’s report and next steps under the corresponding agenda item.
UNISERV has paid close attention to the Secretary-General’s response, as Chair of the CEB (Chief Executives Board), to the General Assembly’s request for detailed proposals for a potential review of the jurisdictional setup of the United Nations Common System. We have serious misgivings about the approach taken, which incurs in a grave conflict of interest by entrusting the preparation of proposals to a working group of the organisations’ Legal Advisors, who also act as Counsel for the defendant in cases brought by staff members. It does not stand to reason that one party to judicial proceedings should be entrusted with designing a reform of the system, and any outcome of such a process will be tainted by a lack credibility in the eyes of the staff. Our scepticism only increased after a preliminary review of the Legal Advisors’ report. We look forward to sharing our views on the matter under agenda item 7.
Thank you very much.
