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Meeting with
the President of the Staff Association, Mr. René Gutiérrez.*
On November 23, 2009, during its second working session, the members of
the Administrative Tribunal received the visit of the President of the
OAS Staff Association, Mr. René Gutiérrez.
This meeting took place because of the interest on the part of the
members of the Administrative Tribunal in learning about the
impressions the organization’s staff had of it. In this respect, Mr.
Gutiérrez said that one of the reasons for the current significant
decline in the flow of complaints received by the Tribunal, compared to
previous years, was the requirement of a security equal to a month’s
salary of a staff member at the P-4 level, for the admission of a
complaint as established by the Administrative Tribunal’s Statute and
Rules of Procedure.
Although in fact the security is no longer required for the admission
of a complaint, nevertheless the members of the Tribunal took note of
this situation to reaffirm their position regarding the necessity of
eliminating this requirement both in the Statute and the Rules of
Procedure
Mr. Gutiérrez also expressed his concern regarding the significant
reduction in the budget allocated to the Administrative Tribunal for
2010, compared with the amounts allocated in prior years. Mr. Gutiérrez
suggested to the judges that, in a resolution, they call on the office
of the Secretary General of the OAS to arrange that, for 2011, the
funds assigned to financing the position of Secretary of the Tribunal
be returned to the Tribunal’s annual budget and thus guarantee its
independence. In this regard, Mr. Gutiérrez said that the independence
that an organ of this importance must necessarily have responds not
only to its place as an autonomous organ within the structure of the
General Secretariat, but also to its need of having the financial
resources necessary for its own staff.
Mr. René Gutiérrez spoke of the importance of the Administrative
Tribunal for the stability of the organization’s personnel, because it
is the last instance in the resolution of labor disputes. However, he
said, some staff members sometimes feel insecure about coming before
the Tribunal to solve their disputes because of their lack of knowledge
about the role of this organ within the OAS and the uncertainty they
feel regarding the effects of filing a complaint before the Tribunal on
their labor contracts. In this respect, Mr. Gutiérrez recommended that
an informative meeting be convened by members of the Staff Committee
and of the Administrative Tribunal so that the staff members of the
organization can learn about the tools at their disposal to defend
their rights. This initiative was welcomed by the members of the
Administrative Tribunal, who will set an appropriate date for this
meeting.
The
president of the Staff Association also availed himself of the
opportunity provided by this meeting to talk about the usefulness of
having an ombudsman in the organization, and said that the
establishment of this position as an intermediary separate from the
personnel and the administration, would without a doubt contribute to
the more effective solution of internal labor conflicts in instances
prior to the Tribunal’s intervention.
* (OEA/Ser.G
CP/doc.4472/10 ANNUAL REPORT OF
THE Administrative Tribunal (tribad) TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY) |
