UN STAFF UNION VOTES 'NO CONFIDENCE' IN ANNAN

by Thalif Deen

(IPS) UNITED NATIONS, -- For the first time in the 60-year history of the world body, the UN staff union has declared it has "no confidence in the secretary-general and his senior management team."

The decision to publicly and collectively censure Kofi Annan and his senior officials was taken at an emergency meeting Thursday of the UN Staff Union, which represents more than 5,000 workers in the Secretariat in New York.

The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of over 525 staff members backing the no-confidence motion, with two against and six abstentions.

The action against Annan was precipitated primarily by a 43-page report titled "Investing in the United Nations" released Tuesday which called for a radical restructuring of the world body -- including proposed lay-offs, a buy-out of staffers and outsourcing of jobs.

The resolution said the staff union was "dismayed at many of the proposals contained in the report" and was "deeply concerned that the report creates a new divide within the international civil service by arbitrarily characterizing certain vital international functions as non-core."

The union also accused Annan of reneging on a promise made last month when he assured that "no strategic decision had yet been taken on outsourcing/offshoring, while the report proposes cost-benefit reviews to be undertaken by specific dates."

The wide-ranging proposals detailed in Annan's report include a call for outsourcing some of the UN's internal services -- including translations, printing and payroll processes -- to cheaper offshore locations, possibly India, South Africa and Thailand, as contemplated by other UN agencies. The deadline for most of these proposed changes is September.

The proposed investments for these far-reaching changes amount to more than half a billion dollars, which must ultimately be sanctioned by the UN's administrative and budgetary committee and be provided by the 191 member states.

Asked for his comments, UN spokesman Farhan Haq told IPS: "We are aware of the concerns and fears expressed by the Staff Council."

Haq also said: "We are in continuous dialogue with staff members on a variety of issues and we are also getting staff inputs. We will keep track of the reform process and the legitimate concerns of the staff."

Last November, the staff union voted on a "no confidence" motion against senior management but spared Annan. "We not only have confidence in him (Annan), we support him fully," Staff Union President Rosemary Waters was quoted as saying in November.

She also said: "He is in a very difficult job under very difficult circumstances, but we continue to have hope that he is doing his best."

But since then, there has been a dramatic change, with an overwhelming majority of staffers lined up against Annan and his reform proposals.

At the emergency meeting Thursday, at least one staffer referred to Annan's "lack of integrity" and called for his resignation.

Annan, who has served two five-year terms as secretary-general, will complete his 10-year tenure in December this year.

The resolution says that there is a "disconnect between the proclamations and actions of the senior management team of the secretary-general, and what the secretary-general states and mandates."

Expressing "deep concern" about the possible consequences of the proposed restructuring, the staff union said there has been "no effort to establish personal accountability measures, and no one is being held accountable for the failed systems and processes indicated in the report and their enormous costs for this Organization."

Annan's report calls for the dismantling of two management systems: Galaxy and the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS).

"Until now, we were told these were wonderful systems," Waters told Annan at a town hall meeting Tuesday. "But your report says these systems are not working. Who is telling the truth?" asked Waters. "If these are failed systems, who will be held accountable for them?"

The IMIS, which was established in the late 1990s and is now a candidate for scrap, cost more than $73 million in initial investments.

The union appealed to the 191 member states not to be deceived "by this effort to distract their attention from real issues, such as a continuing lack of accountability and sound financial management in the United Nations."

Annan's reform plan was also virtually dismissed as a hoax because "it does not represent a management reform plan as mandated" by world leaders at the summit meeting in New York last September.

In his report, Annan said "the Organization's increasingly complex mandates require a new skills profile, to enable it to respond, in an integrated way, to new needs in areas as diverse as humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, electoral assistance, and drugs and crime."

Therefore, he said, "it needs to be able to recruit and retain leaders, managers and personnel capable of handling large, complete, multi-disciplinary operations with increasingly high budgets."

In its resolution, the Staff Union said it was "gravely dismayed that, according to the secretary-general's vision, the United Nations 'is no longer a conference-servicing organization."'

As one staff member told Annan at the town hall meeting Tuesday, the union believes there is a conspiracy to convert the United Nations, an inter-governmental body, into a U.S.-style corporation.

The resolution says "The staff views the Organization as the unique forum where all peoples of the world will continue to come together to discuss global issues, verbally and in writing, in all six official languages of the United Nations."