Meeting with the Assistant Secretary General
On the
afternoon of Thursday, November 10, 2006, a delegation from the Staff
Committee met with the Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Albert Ramdin,
and his Chief of Staff, Ms. Sherry Tross. The meeting was in further
response to a presentation made by the Assistant Secretary General during
the installation of the new Staff Committee on July 18, 2006 and to bring to
his attention urgent concerns of a number of staff members and contractors
in the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
The Staff
Committee delegation included President Rene L. Gutierrez, Vice President,
Magaly Rothe, members Luis Batlle and Bruce Rickerson, and alternate member
Enrique H. Vidal
The Assistant
Secretary General welcomed the delegation and reiterated his positive
attitude towards the staff of the General Secretariat. During the meeting,
he stated on several occasions his willingness to collaborate closely with
the staff, adding that this is also the position of the Secretary General,
Jose Miguel Insulza.
President
Gutierrez thanked Ambassador Ramdin for his hospitality and mentioned a
number of matters that are of great concern to the staff. These included:
workplace harassment by supervisors, failure by senior staff to keep the
promise of the Secretary General to have produced a list of those eligible
for Continuing Contracts as well as completing the long-delayed round of
selection for these posts before the end of 2006, and the benefits of
renewing the Career Service, as other organizations found essential
following a decision to end it.
In response,
Ambassador Ramdin expressed surprise that Executive Order 05-07, Prohibition
against Workplace Harassment, of April 11, 2005 had never been translated
into Spanish and circulated in English and Spanish to the General
Secretariat. He said that he would discuss the matter with the Secretary
General and, assuming that the Secretary General would not want to change
the Executive Order, the Assistant Secretary General made a commitment to
translate it.
Ambassador
Ramdin said that he believes that reinstituting the Career Service would be
extremely helpful, adding “if you want to build a strong Organization people
need to be committed and have security.” He added that, until the Career
Service could be recreated, the Continuing Contract procedures should be
followed, as previously indicated by the Secretary General.
In response
to a question from the delegation, the Assistant Secretary General expressed
surprise that no policy has yet been announced regarding the status of
persons whose “long-term” or other contracts are scheduled to expire on
December 31, 2006. He noted the concern of the Staff Committee that this
matter and other personnel uncertainty must be addressed immediately, and he
promised to take this up with the Secretary General at the earliest
opportunity, in keeping with his view that staff needs to feel a greater
sense of security.
Regarding the
theme of workplace harassment, Ambassador Ramdin said that he had some
concerns of his own. The entire group discussed recent indications of
intimidation of employees as well as documented instances of unilateral
decisions by supervisors against long-time, productive employees which had
been approved and announced by the Department of Human Resources. The
Assistant Secretary General indicated that retreating from imprudent
decisions can have very negative results.
The Staff
Committee delegation added that it appears that many personnel, policy, and
budget decisions appear to be taken by very small groups in secret. The
Assistant Secretary General stated that if this is the perception of staff,
it contradicts the desire of the Secretary General and himself to project a
transparent image.
The Staff
delegation urged the Assistant Secretary General to participate and ask
questions about secret processes and decisions. President Gutierrez
especially expressed concern that the Standing Committee on personnel
policies and rules had not been reconstituted formally, although changes are
being considered in the Staff Rules and the General Standards, among other
area. The delegation noted that the exclusion of early, effective
participation by the Staff Association and its appointees fueled the
perception of anti-transparency and anti-participatory decision-making and
that further hasty decisions,
such as those recently announced,
would be seen for what they are.
Ambassador
Ramdin said that the Secretary General was aware of these kinds of issues,
but that he would remind him of them in person. “We want an open
environment,” he stated, “and we want your help [the staff] to strengthen
capacity and transparency.”
President
Gutierrez commented that, in his opinion, Human Resources is the most
important area and that the loss of experienced persons through retirement
and transfer resulted in lots of changes. The delegation strongly advocated
that, if revisions to position descriptions or position audits were being
considered, that outside experts with deep expertise in the United Nations
system should be retained for such purposes. He added that the planning for
any of these possibilities should already include representatives of the
Staff Association. A decision-making process that would result in changes
to the Staff Rules, the General Standards, reliance on the UN system, and
exclusion of effective participation by the representatives of the Staff
Association from the beginning of any discussions would be extremely
questionable, as has been the case in recent personnel decisions.
Without
commenting on all of the previous items, Ambassador Ramdin expressed the
hope that such matters “would be taken care of.”
The Staff
Committee mentioned that there are rumors of a convoluted budget process
that is being tried with several areas of the OAS and specifically asked
that the Assistant Secretary General learn as much as possible about the
practical aspects that have gone into this planning, which did not include
representatives of the Staff Association. The delegation in general thought
that recent mistakes have been a “wake up call” for staff, which could be
remedied by much greater communication and cooperation.
Before the
meeting ended, a member of the delegation noted that the recent decision was
only reversed because the person in question was able to get swift,
effective assistance from the member states. “What would happen for those
of us who might be targets of additional imprudent decisions, but who may
not be able to rely on a member state to intervene?” he said.
The meeting
ended, as it had begun, on a very positive note. The Staff Committee
welcomed the positive words of the Assistant Secretary General and the
Secretary General and offered their expertise and energy to utilize wise
policies and procedures. At the same time, the Staff Committee noted that
it was very late in the calendar year – therefore action would be needed
immediately.
Ambassador
Ramdin echoed the positive theme and said that he believes that additional
opportunities should also be found so that the elected officials of the
Organization can interact with staff less formally, as well as having
opportunities for the staff to get to know each other better. He
particularly noted the possibility of social, emotional and cultural
activities that would demonstrate the commitment to high levels of staff
appreciation and participation in the OAS.
Finally, the
Assistant Secretary General said that his door was open to staff at any time
and, further, designated Ms. Tross to be the point of contact in his office.