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STU/65th Council/14/023
25 March 2014

GENERAL COMMENTS BY STU

ON THE PROPOSED ABOLITIONS OF OCCUPIED POSTS IN THE FIELD

On 17 March 2014, the UNESCO Staff Union (STU) finalized its comments on the proposed abolition of occupied posts in the field, which included general observations and specific comments by post as to the validity of the reasons  given to justify abolition.

HRM's slowness in providing STU with the necessary documents

As was the case for Headquarters, STU received an incomplete file from HRM for its comments on the proposed abolition of occupied posts in the field. It had to insist in order to obtain the minimum information necessary, transmitted piece by piece, without taking into account the deadline set for the submission of comments.

STU did not receive all the documents requested, so we did not have an overall view of the situation of posts at Headquarters and in the field, nor were we able to verify the relevance of some of the proposals.

Discrepancies between list of posts to be abolished provided by HRM and the organizational charts of Field Offices

The HRM list comprised 34 posts in the field, distributed by sector/region/office. On comparing this list with the situation of posts on the organizational charts of offices, STU noted discrepancies in several of them (Beirut, Cairo, Kingston, Bangkok, Santiago, Apia, etc.) as to the number, functional title and grade of the posts to be abolished. 

Examples

As regards the Office in Cairo, HRM’s list mentions only three posts to be abolished (1 G-5,  1 G-4  and 1 G-2) as against nine posts indicated on the Office’s organizational charts (2 P-4, 1 NO-B, 1 NO-A, 1 G-5, 2 G-4 and 2 G-2).

For the Office in Kingston, HRM’s list mentions the abolition of one G-5 post whereas the organizational chart mentions two G-4 posts and one P-3 post.

Abolition of local posts and no redeployment offer

Of the 34 posts to be abolished (HRM list), 31 are local posts (1 NO-A, 3 NO-B, 1 NO-D, 2 G-7, 8 G-5, 5 G-4, 6 G-3, 4 G-2, 1 G-1). The distribution of these local posts by sector and by region is as follows:

• ED : 1 NO-B (Asia)
• SHS : 1 NO-A and 1 NO-B (Africa)
• BFM/BFC: 28.

This is the geographical distribution: Asia (11 posts), Africa (8 posts), Latin America and the Caribbean (8 posts), Arab States (4 posts).

There is no offer of redeployment for the field offices where local posts are proposed for abolition, which means that the incumbent of an abolished post is made redundant.

Nevertheless, STU is convinced that with political will and some effort, most of the local posts could be maintained. 

Savings from one international D-1, D-2 or ADG post could fund several local posts. For instance, a sum equivalent to the standard costs of an ADG post at Headquarters ($531,000) could fund the eight posts proposed for abolition in Africa ($498,000).

Arbitrary abolition of posts in administrative units and refusal of the CFO (DIR/BFM) to communicate to STU Memo BFM/2013/145.

The reasons given to justify the proposed abolition of posts in AO units are purely arbitrary and could target staff members who the Administration would like to get rid of for other reasons.

STU has showed in its specific comments on the proposed abolition of 28 AO and support posts the inconsistencies, contradictions and arbitrary nature of these proposals.

STU is determined to defend the rights of staff whose posts are proposed for abolition.

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