UNITED NATIONS STAFF ORGANIZATIONS ADDRESS FIFTH COMMITTEE

Press Release
GA/AB/3400

UNITED NATIONS STAFF ORGANIZATIONS ADDRESS FIFTH COMMITTEE

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continued its general debate on the human resources management issues this morning, it heard addresses by two representatives of staff organizations: the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Associations (FICSA)and the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations of the United Nations System (CCISUA).

Calling for a more equitable system of negotiations with staff, the President of the CCISUA, Mehri Madashahi, said that in the past 12 months, consultation had become a foreign term. The staff needed not only a verbal commitment, but the demonstrated assurance of their participation and concrete action by the architects of reform that showed it was a joint endeavour. Staff involvement must be based on communication, participation and agreement.

She also called for a more conducive arrangement for staff mobility and training and a transparent approach to the environmental problems besetting the Secretariat building. The CCISUA disagreed with the proposed abolition of permanent contracts, which were the bedrock of independence of the international civil service, and with the delegation of authority to programme managers unless a verifiable system of accountability was put in place.

The President of FICSA, Bernard P. Grandjean, agreed that United Nations staff did not feel implicated in the reform and did not trust the process. Reform had been proposed against the background of zero-growth and declining budgets and on the premise that a leaner United Nations was a more effective one. There was a limit, however, to how much “slimming down” was good for the Organization.

The time had come to reconsider the assumptions underlying the budget, he added. Remuneration for General Service staff had been “frozen” in many duty stations, whilst that of Professionals had declined in real terms. The human resources management report was silent on that issue. Reform was a costly endeavour with many of those costs up front. The FISCA urged the Committee to postpone its decision on the report pending the receipt of detailed supplementary information.

The representative of the Russian Federation said that while the Secretary- General’s report on human resources management referred to “significant progress” in carrying out the reform, that process was really “skidding along”, especially in the key areas of human resources management.

Fifth Committee - 1a - Presss Release GA/AB/3400 18th Meeting (AM) 2 November 2000

On the subject of improving the status of women in the Secretariat, he said that the gradual process planned earlier was being artificially pushed ahead, having become an end in itself. Competence, integrity and performance, rather than gender, were the main Charter principles for recruitment. The Office of Human Resources Management had even issued an administrative instruction that required giving preference to women not only in the process of recruitment, but also for promotion. That was biased, but this time on the other side.

Also this morning, the Chief of the Facilities Management Division of the Office of Central Support Services, Martin Bender, responded to concerns expressed previously about asbestos, electromagnetic fields and fire hazards in the building. Also speaking on this matter was the representative of Costa Rica.

The representative of the Philippines said that her country was withdrawing its candidate for the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) from the forthcoming elections.

The Committee will continue its work at 3 p.m. today, when it is scheduled to start its consideration of the agenda item on programme planning.

Fifth Committee - 3 - Press Release GA/AB/3400 18th Meeting (AM) 2 November 2000

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to continue its general discussion on human resources management issues. The Committee had before it numerous documents on this agenda item, including the report of the Secretary-General on human resources management report. (For background information, see Press Release GA/AB/3398 of 31 October.).

Statements

BERNARD P. GRANDJEAN, President of the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Associations (FICSA), said that that the Secretary-General’s report on human resources management reform was of major importance for the entire common system, and in particular the specialized agencies from which FICSA drew a majority of its membership. It should be the subject of broad consultation. While United Nations management had made a great effort to seek the support of staff for its proposals, the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA) considered those consultations unsatisfactory. The United Nations staff did not feel implicated in the reform and did not trust the process.

He said that reform was proposed against the background of the pressure of zero growth and declining budgets. The premise was that a leaner United Nations was a more effective one. There was a limit, however, to how much “slimming down” the Organization could take. The time had come to reconsider the assumptions underlying the budget. The Secretary-General’s report reflected the magnitude of the problem. For example, a total of 2,900 (500 regular budget and 2,400 extrabudgetary) posts were vacant. That meant that managers were stretching the dedication of staff to the limit and that essential services were not being rendered. Despite the fact that the Assembly acknowledged in 1989 that staff conditions were no longer competitive, staff had made only modest requests in recent years regarding their terms and conditions of service. The remuneration of General Service staff had been “frozen” in many duty stations, whilst that of Professionals and Directors had declined in real terms. The reform document was silent on that issue. The annex to the report on conditions of service was a bare third of a page and contained nothing concrete. The request to create a culture of adaptability and creativity and the request for versatile, multi-skilled and mobile staff could only come with a price tag.

The Secretary-General’s report should be commended for its diagnosis of the ailments from which the United Nations was suffering, he continued. However, the report tended to set out what its drafters thought delegates wanted to hear, rather than when they needed to know. The FICSA could support many of the measures that had been taken and that were proposed. The report, however, fell short of the objectives in certain areas. In the area of competencies and continuous learning, for example, no practical commitment had been made to learning. Contractual arrangements were a matter of major concern and unrest. The FICSA had tried hard to obtain a clear and unambiguous explanation of the nature and content of the proposed new category of “continuing appointment”. The FICSA had stated unequivocally that it wanted to contribute to dispelling unwarranted concern and misgiving. Yet, despite its efforts, it had not received a reply. The staff had a right to know, as did Member States. Furthermore, the report contained no costing. It left the impression that the reform process was cost-neutral and that it obviated the need to offer competitive salaries. That was not very realistic. Reform was a costly endeavour with many of the costs up front. The FICSA urged the Committee to postpone its decision on the document pending receipt of detailed supplementary information.

He went on to say that the proposed reform appeared to reduce the role of staff representatives in the crucial area of recruitment. Surely the issue of good governance and staff empowerment must be addressed in a more appropriate way. The cold -– or at best -- lukewarm reception given by staff to the reform proposals testified to that need. Fostering an environment that respected fundamental labour-management principles would attract forward-thinking staff. The United Nations must introduce more participatory approaches towards its staff. The FICSA made an urgent call for solidarity. Whilst the United Nations had a plethora of vacant posts and posts that would soon be vacated, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was laying off hundreds of staff as a result of downsizing and redeployment of its New York activities. The Committee was urged to instruct management to face the “internal reality” of 2,900 vacant posts, and to take advantage of the availability of a skilled workforce and honour the existence of a common system under the auspices of the United Nations. The staff wanted to see a more focused, proactive and effective plan of action.

MEHRI MADASHAHI, President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations of the United Nations System (CCISUA), drew attention to two conference room papers submitted by the CCISUA in connection with the items under consideration. One contained comments on the report of the Secretary-General on human resources reform, and the other addressed the report on the reform of internal justice system and offered a comprehensive proposal by the CCISUA for the establishment of a proper system of justice.

She went on to say that the staff of the United Nations would support change through reform to create a more effective, credible and relevant Organization. However, that could not be a one-sided effort. The staff needed not only a verbal commitment but the demonstrated assurance of that commitment, and concrete action by the architects of reform, to be sure it was a joint endeavour. It was necessary to move from a “stunt” mentality to a framework ensuring a solid, transparent and accountable process. Staff should be empowered and given an opportunity to work with the management in parity and harmony, in a spirit of open-mindedness. Staff involvement must be based on communication, participation and agreement. To that end, the International Labour Organization (ILO) had led the way by entering into a formal agreement with its staff, and that approach should be emulated by other organizations.

In the past 12 months, the CCISUA’s experience with respect to staff- management relations had been rather sobering, she continued. Consultation had become a foreign term, as the staff and its views had been labelled “the least common denominator” in the process of change. In its contacts with management, the CCISUA had disagreed with the proposed abolition of permanent contracts, which were the bedrock of independence of the international civil service, and with the delegation of authority to programme managers unless a verifiable system of accountability was put in place. There was also the question of the lack of a reliable and transparent system of justice. The current system was suffering from inexcusable problems and bottlenecks. She asked about the restructuring of the appointment and promotion machinery to do away with some of the meager safeguards negotiated by staff over the past few years.

The CCISUA had called for a more conducive arrangement for staff mobility and training, a more equitable system of negotiations and consultations with staff, and a transparent approach to resolving the environmental problems besetting the building of the Secretariat. The staff supported the position taken by the General Assembly in its resolutions 51/226 and 53/221 regarding the imperative to establish a well-designed mechanism of accountability, including internal monitoring and control procedures, before proceeding to delegating authority to programme managers. The staff did not believe that there was added value in creating the proposed Accountability Panel, given the fact that it would, in essence, operate within a convivial framework and rules.

Supporting the retention of permanent appointments, the CCISUA believed that they safeguarded the independence of international civil servants, and helped secure equitable geographic representation and equal representation of women. They also allowed the Organization to preserve a modicum of institutional memory, multilateral skills and professional loyalty. The new system of appointment and promotion proposed by the Secretary-General did not set out a clear-cut system of accountability. Under the proposed decentralized system, the function of setting policy directives, recruitment, and monitoring of rules and regulations, would be carried out by programme managers. There would be no room for aggrieved staff to challenge the decisions of programme managers. That might give rise to a new type of cronyism.

While acknowledging that mobility was an important factor in the career development, she said that the proposals before the Committee lacked compelling analysis and reasoning. The proper model for mobility in a multinational organization must be established against the background of the foreign service model. Creation of a conducive environment was crucial for staff movements. Promotion alone may not always compensate for predicaments of displacement, if families had to be left behind. Any reassignment must be accompanied by adequate preparatory work, including family care, training and counselling. The position that “staff did not own their post”, combined with the recent practice of not granting permanent appointments, had given rise to a feeling of dwindling job security. Many were concerned that, once implemented, the new proposals would lead to the elimination of individuals considered “undesirable” by programme managers.

United Nations was viewed as a beacon of best practice in many countries, she said. Yet, when it came to labour practice, the Organization was strangely absent from any best practices list for conciliation, mediation and conflict resolution. The new system of justice presented by the CCISUA envisioned prompt and fair consideration of all administrative and disciplinary cases, providing parties with competent and impartial decisions. Under the proposals, a cost- effective and simplified justice system would be created, and minimum qualifications for the membership in all bodies of the internal justice system would be established. She hoped that the Fifth Committee would review that issue thoroughly. The working environment in the United Nations buildings also deserved immediate attention. The Organization could no longer proceed in a non- transparent and piecemeal basis with regard to asbestos abatement. Health and fire hazards should be addressed systematically.

KIRILL V. FEDOROV (Russian Federation) said the Secretary-General’s report was timely, allowing delegations to make initial assessments of the proposed changes. However, some issues gave rise to doubts, including paragraph 3 of the Introduction which spoke about “significant progress” in carrying out reform. Having read the Secretary-General’s report, he had come to the conclusion that the reform “was skidding along” instead, especially in key areas of human resources management.

Turning to human resources planning, he said that at the end of 2000, there was still no information available that would allow him to believe that the process of establishment of the skills inventory database of all Secretariat staff members was soon to be completed. As for human resources forecasting, the Secretariat seemed to have little time for modeling and better assessing needs, at a time when the number of vacancies had reached 500 regular budget posts and 2,400 extrabudgetary posts. One could not determine from the report what specific measures the Office of Human Resources Management was undertaking to resolve the problem of the “ageing” of staff. He shared the conclusion of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in that regard.

Giving full responsibility to programme managers for the final decision on the selection of staff required that they comply with conditions of appointment on the basis of merit, paying due regard to the principles of geographical representation and gender balance, he said. Those were key elements for the Human Resources Office. If those conditions were violated, the case was referred to the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management. Regretfully, the documents before the Committee did not cite a high level of performance, competence and integrity among the main principles underlining the policy of the Organization in that respect. At present, the Organization faced the situation where the Human Resources Office, on the one hand, was not responsible for the staff recruitment, with its formal non-participation in the process emphasized, and, on the other, that same Office was the chief arbiter who took final decisions. He also asked for clarification of what the circumstances were where “no vacancy announcement was needed”.

Concerning mobility, he said that he stood for a full-scale implementation of that programme, suggesting that career progression should “depend, in part, on evidence of mobility”. Transfer of a staff member from one division to another or even from one professional group to another within the same field of service at the same duty station should not be classified as mobility. He saw field service as participation in peacekeeping operations. The issue of staff members’ return to Headquarters after peacekeeping operations was not yet completely clear. His delegation was interested in the new mechanisms for encouraging mobility, but it did not support conducting learning programmes towards that end. The concept of mobility should not become a substitute for transferring a staff member who had been remiss in his duties, for it could become a barrier for recruitment of new qualified Professionals.

His delegation had read with amazement that “as of January 2000, staff … promoted through the G to P exams … will be subject to a managed recruitment system”. Despite the General Assembly decision taken back in April 1999, the Secretariat continued to transfer General Service staff into the Professional category. In that connection, he requested official data with distribution by countries on promotions from G to P, as well as an explanation why internal announcements on vacancies for P-2 posts still appeared. It was necessary to cancel the appointments that circumvented the Assembly decision and start an investigation on the matter.

Turning to contractual arrangements, he said that the abandonment of permanent contracts was a logical requirement of the times. He also welcomed proposals on streamlining and decreasing the number of contract types. However, he wanted to know what separation benefits would be payable if separation was initiated by the Organization. Another question concerned the establishment of legally formulated simplified methods of dismissal for those who did not perform their duties. In 1998, his delegation had proposed that the ICSC and JIU prepare a comprehensive study on the gradual transfer to the system of non-career service, and now he wanted to reiterate that proposal. Some of the proposals on performance management provided for finding assignments that corresponded better with the skills of staff members. In other words, it was proposed that the Organization should tune to bad workers in order not to infringe upon their interests, and not vice versa. He also had some questions regarding the section on career development.

On the subject of improving the status of women in the Secretariat, he said that the gradual process planned earlier was being artificially pushed ahead, having become an end in itself. Some units had even “over-fulfilled” plans in that respect. For example, Human Resources employed 54.3 per cent women. Competence, integrity and performance, rather than gender, were the main Charter principles for recruitment. As far as he knew, the Office of Human Resources Management had even issued an administrative instruction that required that not only in the process of recruitment, but also in promotion, preference should be given to women. That was biased, but this time on the other side.

Other Matters

MARTIN BENDER, Chief of the Facilities Management Division, Office of Central Support Services, responding to queries posed by the representative of Costa Rica at an earlier meeting, said that no construction work was being done on the third floor. All of the work was concentrated on the fourth floor, especially in the location occupied by the United Nations Federal Credit Union. One of the control measures established by the administration in managing asbestos was the removal of asbestos from areas where it might be disturbed. With regard to the construction on the fourth floor, there had been no disturbance to any asbestos- containing materials, in spite of the abatement work done by a certified contractor. Air quality tests had been performed in the area. Sampling and testing of asbestos fibres conducted before, during and after the abatement measures found that asbestos was well below acceptable measures. Asbestos- containing materials had been widely used in the Headquarters complex at the time of its construction. A fundamental solution to the problem could only be reached once the capital master plan, as proposed by the Secretary-General, was implemented.

NAZARETH INCERA (Costa Rica) thanked Mr. Bender for his response. All of her questions, however, had not been answered. First of all, it had been said that when renovation work had been done on the fourth floor, there had been no disturbance of asbestos. However, she herself saw that there had been, and had spoken about it with one of the contractors. She wanted the name of the company, as well as copies of the contract for the renovation work. She was talking about the door on the fourth floor in the delegates corridor. That door, which was still open, had been cut into to lay carpeting. She had a sample of the door and a laboratory analysis. Cutting doors released asbestos into the air. It was a very disturbing situation.

She also wanted more information on the existence of electromagnetic fields, she said. Staff on one of the floors of the Secretariat -- she was not sure which -- had been removed only to be replaced by another group of staff. Did that mean there was no danger for the new group of staff, she asked. She asked what the rationale was for moving one group of staff only to replace it with another, and what the health repercussions were for that second group of staff?

Regarding the fire on the twenty-eighth floor last week, fortunately it had been small, she said. What was worrying, however, was that the firemen apparently could not get their trucks through the gates because of their weight. What would have happened if it had been a large fire? Would the garage roof have fallen in if a fire truck did come in? If firemen could not access the building, how many staff would die? Also, should there be a fire, where would the firemen connect water hoses. She had not seen fire hydrants. Where were they located? The building was old and fire codes were not up to date.

Mr. BENDER said that the asbestos abatement work conducted on the fourth floor had been performed by a licensed contractor. The air sampling was also done by an accepted contractor, licensed in the state of New York. Full reports of the results of the air quality testing done before, during and after the renovation had been transmitted to senior management as well as to the Joint Standing Committee on environmental issues and to the medical service. All were available and could be seen. During the alteration, none of the asbestos-containing materials used as insulation had been disturbed. Asbestos abatement procedures were followed. The abatement activity was fully supervised to ensure that proper measures were taken. The methods used included a complete seal. All of the work had been done within New York City Department of Environmental Protection procedures, including the disposal of the material in sealed and labeled waste bags.

As for the fourth floor delegates dining room, he said that he was not aware of that project. Nevertheless, air samplings were taken religiously, twice a year. Tests were conducted throughout the building. None of the readings of air samples could be construed as harmful.

Regarding fire safety, he said that there had been a smoke incident in the machine room on the twenty-eighth floor. The smoke came from within the vault. Con Edison was called immediately and they took care of the problem. There had been no harmful effects either to staff or to the building. There were Siamese fire connections at the front entrance on Forty-third Street where firefighters could connect hoses. The Secretariat itself had an in-house fire unit which attended to emergencies and was directly connected to the New York City Fire Department. There was quick communication between the two.

Ms. INCERA (Costa Rica) said that as to the fourth floor, she had not gotten an answer about the fourth floor door. She had seen the evidence. The air quality tests were conducted in the hallways and were not adequate as there were airdrafts. She did not wish to continue asking questions, because she would just get the same answer. It was a source of great concern that the situation was allowed to persist and that adequate measures had not been taken. Also, she

seriously hoped that there would not be a fire as it appeared that the garage roof would cave in.

MARY JO B. ARAGON (Philippines) informed the Committee that her Government had decided to withdraw its candidate for the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC). The notes regarding that decision had been already been transmitted.

* *** *