UNESCO staff taken hostage
Wednesday 6 November 2013
UNESCO staff taken hostage by the financial crisis
and an inefficient management
By being forced to present an income and expenditure plan of only $507 million for 2014-2015, the Director-General is about to restructure the Organization in a rush and probably to make some staff redundant. This unprecedented situation means that most staff do not know their own future, through no fault of their own. The following questions have been raised repeatedly on several occasions but have not been given clear and satisfactory answers:
- Where is the revised organigramme (organizational structure) of UNESCO?
- When will meaningful consultations with staff take place on how the operation is to take place?
- What objective criteria will the Administration use to determine precisely what staff are needed to work under the revised structure?
- What are the precise criteria for redeployment or possible termination of staff?
- What vacant posts does the Administration expect to have at its disposal for the redeployment of staff members whose posts are abolished?
- What institutional support mechanisms are in place to assist staff members to be redeployed?
- What solidarity measures does the Administration intend to put in place in order to minimize the impact on staff?
- How will bias and favouritism be avoided?
- Does the Administration intend to terminate staff members only to reinstate their posts at a lower grade (strictly illegal in the United Nations common system)?
- Does the Administration intend to terminate staff members only to replace them by individuals with non-established posts?
- Is the current Senior Management Team expected to carry out the reform, and if so what is the justification?
If you really want to downsize UNESCO,
why don’t you just say so?