The vice-President of ISAU and Executive Secretary of UNISERV (United Nations International Civil Servants Federation), Mr Ryad BOUHADEF, participated at the 90th session of the ICSC held at the Palace of Nations, Geneva, from 12 to 21 October 2020. You will find below the UNISERV’s speech.
Mr. Chair, Members of the Commission, Ladies and Gentlemen,
UNISERV fully supports the statements made previously by the other staff federations, FICSA and CCISUA, and wishes to add the following.
We would like to take this opportunity to especially thank the Chair, Vice Chair and the ICSC for the special measures to stabilize NTP during the COVID pandemic.
UNISERV thanks the Secretariat for making this session possible during all the current constraints. We understand the problematic situation, but as we have already missed one Session it was key that this one went ahead with all concerned parties being in the same time zone. It would have delayed far too many important matters even more.
UNISERV wishes to acknowledge the tremendous hardships the current pandemic has placed on the world population as well as our staff, in particular staff serving in the field. Many of whom have had to not only deal with the “normal” hardships in their work environment but also the fear and uncertainty for the health of their families and loved ones whom they have been separated from for extended periods due to the global travel restrictions. These too are issues that have had a huge impact on mental health and wellbeing.
UNISERV still has grave concerns over the vast number of staff members on precarious contracts often referred to as “non-staff”, a description we find demeaning, in the system.
UNISERV has noted that the HLCM wishes to add another contract type for reasons of “agility”. This is a proposal UNISERV is vehemently against as it considers bureaucratic working practices and organizational design the major impediments to an agile workforce. We believe it is time to address these principles and practices, as in the long run, they will have a negative impact on the notion of an equal and one UN, and the desire to be an employer of choice.
The JIU Report A/70/685 – Seventieth session – stated that,
The current situation is that United Nations system organizations have a dual workforce: one with full rights and entitlements and another with no or limited entitlements, working in the same organization. This is in line with neither international labor principles nor the values promoted by the United Nations. While United Nations system officials have acknowledged that the present significant use of non-staff is not a good practice, they put forward two important reasons for the use of non-staff contracts instead of staff contracts: lower cost and greater flexibility. The Inspectors would like to clarify that United Nations system organizations should not assume that the need for practical solutions overrides the obligations of the organizations to practice what they preach and what good labor practices require”.
With the latest rejection of an end-of-service grant, for fixed-term staff whose contracts are not renewed, now is not the time to inject another contract with likely fewer protections than the ones we currently have, all of which have previously been agreed upon by the Commission.As we are all aware many staff members could lose their jobs as their current contracts,“could be progressively replaced” as stated in CEB/2020/HLCM/13. This same document states in Para 20a, “Putting people first by investing in and enabling our workforce”. This is something that we can support in making the UN the first-choice employer it should be.
UNISERV strongly believes that a staff member’s pension contributions should be portable, all staff grades and levels should be taken into account, allowing recruitment of a workforce with less experience requirements to join the organizations, restrictive regulations and bureaucracy reduced, all of which we believe can be done within the current contractual frameworks.
We politely ask the ICSC and the organizations to consider the effect of the contractual changes being discussed on the mental health of the staff that serves. (We are now in the month of mental health awareness).
While the ICSC notes that all the current contract types, Temporary, Fixed Term and Continuous are the agreed ones, not all contract types need to be implemented by the organizations and the organization could implement any combination thereof nevertheless, the use of staff contract types outside the framework should be restricted and adhered to. Of note is that continuing contracts are being used less and less by the various organizations and becoming as rare as a Unicorn.
As we increase the use of the term “employer of choice”, let us not forget parental leave and the positive step this would be towards allowing coparenting. In the last session, we discussed this at length, however, the working group never materialized. UNISERV politely requests the Commission to move forward with this as fast as possible, allowing the Organizations to demonstrate themselves as a modern, forward thinking employer. These changes may in time lead to further improvements in gender balance.
UNISERV looks forward to a solution to the Post Adjustment rules and methodologies leaving a fare, transparent and simplified system that staff members can clearly understand. At the moment this is extremely difficult to explain to our colleagues. The working group, although much effort was put into finding a solution to suit all, failed to come to a unanimous position on all points but agreed on a package that could suit all parties, including changes to the 10-point rule. The common view was that we need to have a system that stabilizes NTP, (New Take Home Pay), for all, but at this time all parties have not agreed on what methodology would give this solution.
It is of concern to us that the ongoing situation of disparity of purchasing power of professional staff in Geneva still exists and currently remains within the legal framework. Our concerns go further though, no matter what the outcomes, there was and will remain a period of time when colleagues were in receipt of differing PA. Even after an agreed methodology is implemented, a survey completed and new PAI set, this will not necessarily be the end, as some rules could still lead to disparity depending on what the survey results are. We look forward to hearing the Commissions solutions to this problem as we move forward throughout the session.
With regard to the GS salary survey methodology, UNISERV believes that the Fleming principle in its current formulation is still valid and it complies with article 101 of the UN charter with reference to the necessity of securing the “highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity”. We request the ICSC Secretariat to Identify and establish the appropriate parameters for any future pilots, which are in line with the principle. We believe, the current categorization of duty stations has satisfactorily functioned over the years and maintaining that would be the best course of action.
Referencing the monitoring of implementation of decisions and recommendations of the ICSC and the GA we wish to point out that the issuing of continuing contracts still has not been fully carried out by various organizations, as per the GA resolution of 2008, and their use is getting less. The more stable a contract is the more likelihood of a less stressed workforce. We also wish to reiterate the importance and continued use of contracts from the current framework.
Since 2011 the children’s allowance level has not been addressed and agreed at the GA, we look forward to the Commission’s deliberations on this subject and a recommendation for the upward movement of this allowance. We feel that after this lengthy period of time there is no acceptable manner to change any methodology that would in effect freeze or lower this allowance. After nine years this should be raised as soon as possible. With the reforms of the United Nations and its intent to attract and retain staff members, whilst aiming at gender parity, this area is of extreme importance.
Danger pay is an integral part of the compensation for staff members working in environments that it is certified meet the criteria for this payment. UNISERV strongly believes that this payment should go up in line with the recommendations in the respective document R.10 which we will discuss during the session.
UNISERV wishes to remind everyone that the UN Common System bears a moral responsibility not only towards the world we serve, but also towards their most valuable asset, its staff.
We look forward to a highly productive Session and welcome a collaborative and effective effort by all parties. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
