Michael Thomas

Presidente Electo 2013-2014

EDUCATION: 

Michael holds a law degree from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom, and he is an active member of the New York Bar Association. He also holds an LLM from American University, together with a certificate in Business and Financial Regulation.   

EXPERIENCE: 

Michael is a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, and he joined the OAS General Secretariat in late 2000, as an attorney in the Department of Legal Services. In his 13 years with the OAS, he has worked on a variety of issues, including one year working as a Specialist for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For the past 9 years he has worked as an attorney in the Department of Legal Cooperation, within the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, where he works on matters related largely to the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (MESICIC).  Prior to first serving on the Staff Committee in 2004, Michael assisted the Staff Association in the joint preparation, together with other staff members and the Administration, of a policy against workplace harassment. In 2009, he, together with other members of a sub-committee, assisted in the review and editing of the Statutes of the Staff Association.  From 2010 to 2011, he also served as Vice-President of the Staff Association, and he again served on the Staff Committee from 2012 to 2013.   

 STATEMENT:   

Many efforts have been made by the OAS Staff Association in recent years, including attempts to bring the GS/OAS in line with other institutions, through the recognition for GS/OAS staff of the benefits that are now commonplace in other institutions and OAS member States, such as paternity leave, domestic partnerships, telecommuting and others.    At the same time, as we have all witnessed, the immediate struggle we now face is not to gain additional benefits that might make our work, and thus, that of the organization more efficient, such as focusing on internal recruitment or allowing telecommuting – The struggle is more basic: Our acquired rights need to be respected.  Principal among these is the right to smart parity with the United Nations, a right that many staff members fought to obtain almost two decades ago.  The OAS Administrative Tribunal has ruled on this issue in the past, and has noted that the salary system is a legal obligation binding on the OAS and a right of the staff, and may be replaced only through agreement between the OAS and the staff.      Similarly, the existing rules in force at the General Secretariat also need to be respected, and this requires timely competitions to fill posts, regular competitions for continuing contracts, and a functioning performance evaluation system, as well as transparency in all of these and other areas.    I will continue the work that has been carried on by recent Staff Committees in seeking to protect the welfare and workplace dignity of the staff of the General Secretariat.  I will concern myself with the continued advocacy of issues that are of vital interest to the staff, such as what has now become the informal annual reduction in force process, improving workplace stability, career development and mobility, and increased transparency.