UN Staff Unions' letter to SG ALARMS!

This morning we received an open letter to the Secretary-General on "United Nations Staff Unions" letterhead (as if such an entity exists?!). The letter details several complaints and invites the SG to a video-conference, but there were several statements in the letter that aroused our surprise and shock in some cases!

Here are our comments:

Point 1-- confirms what we have known all along, that the management is "bypassing" staff representatives. This is very bad, but we feel is primarily the fault of staff representatives' "leaders" and not the management! If we are going to wait to be "invited" by the management to talk -- we are going to be waiting a very LONG, LONG time. Good staff union leaders MAKE themselves invited! Maybe the current "leaders" should step-down and give their place to younger and more dynamic representatives?

Points 2 and 3 -- UN being a "non-commercial" organization, should not be managed as a company! In fact, UN is an international civil service entity and should be managed using international best practice in civil service administration. "University" comes to mind when we think of the UN's organizational setting. And in this connection, Staff Alliance's proposal to reform the UN's promotion system based on seniority is very relevant. Our proposal presupposes changing the "management" paradigm in the United Nations and would resolve problems related to accountability, among others. Please check our "issues" note on this proposal which is currently being worked on.

Point 4 -- No need to ask anybody's permission! The right to "speak" of staff unions, including the Field Staff Union is given in the General Assembly resolution 128 of 1947!

TIME FOR CHANGE!!