UN
Issued Staff Downsizing Draft,
While WIPO's Gurry Doles Out
$2000 Bonuses in Geneva
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Downsize
exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
May 10 – With UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres once
again out of town, after a
brief return for a Lusophone
garden party his UN Security hindered
Inner City Press from
covering, now Guterres' team
is circulating an
Administrative Instruction
about staff downsizing. Inner
City Press has obtained the
draft and put it exclusively
online on Patreon, here.
On May 10 Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about it for
the second time - and about
the incongruity of the UN
World Intellectual Property
Organization's Francis Gurry
simultaneously giving $2,000
bonuses to nearly all WIPO
staff. (Gurry has also
retaliated against
whistleblowers, and helped on
North Korea's cyanide
patents.) From the May 10 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: a number of
States have complained that,
at WIPO, Mr. Gurry has given a
$2,000 bonus to virtually all
employees, which I'm sure is a
nice thing, but I wanted… I'd
asked you a couple of days ago
about this plan to downsize
here at Headquarters,
including six months… a leave
without pay for some if they
don't find another post.
So, how… how do you square the
two? And does the
Secretary-General think it was
a good move by WIPO…
Spokesman: They're two…
two… two…
Inner City Press: …to pay
$2,000…
Spokesman: …two separate
things. I think the
document you refer to was a
draft that was circulated
within… with the Staff Council
Coordination Committee.
It is not finalized. It
is not pegged to any specific
downsizing. It is just
to lay out… to lay out
policy. But, as I said,
it's a complete draft, and it
was not circulated by Ms.
Beagle.
On your second question, I
think the… we've been very
clear that WIPO did not
consult the Secretary-General,
or did not inform the
Secretary-General. He
was not aware of this.
They have no need to consult
him because, in fact, the
Secretary-General has no
authority over WIPO, which is…
has its own… has its own
governing body that sits in
Geneva." Here are three
sample paragraphs from the
draft Administrative
Instruction that Dujarric says
is NOT from Jan Beagle:
“4.12 Staff in
the General Service and
related categories and
National Officers in
posts subject to local
recruitment shall be retained
on suitable positions
available within their entity
at their duty station only, as
per staff rule 9.6 (f).
4.13 Staff in the
Field Service and Professional
or higher categories or
internationally recruited
staff in the General service
and related categories
will be retained on
available suitable positions
within their entity (both
within and outside their
current duty station).
4.14 When a
suitable position is found
which is not immediately
available but expected to
become available within six
months, for example as a
result of a retirement or
resumed funding, staff members
may be assigned against
temporary funding (when
available in the entity) or
placed on special leave
without pay for that period
with the agreement of staff
members, with the
understanding that they will
subsequently be assigned to
the position.”
Leave
without pay. This comes as
Guterres is separately
proposing to move hundreds of
UN jobs out of New York to
Mexico City, Budapest and
Nairobi, which Inner City
Press is also exclusively
covering here.
There are references to a Ban
Ki-moon “Secretary General's
Bulletin” of 2009 as a basis
for the draft Administrative
Instruction on downsizing.
This seems like a leap. This
too: while the draft refers to
integrity, the Guardian has
reported that Beagle while at
UNAIDS, along with Luiz
Loures, was subject to a
detailed complaint of
harassment from Sima Newell, here.
On May 8, after exclusively
publishing the above, Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Can I ask
you about downsizing?
There's an administrative
instruction put out by Jan
Beagle. Inner City Press
has obtained and published it,
and it seems to be saying that
people will be put on six
months' special leave without
pay. It seems to be a
major initiative by the
Guterres Administration to
reduce the staff size.
And I guess I wanted to know,
since it's… at least as I've
obtained it, it's called a
draft.
Spokesman: I… you've…
Inner
City
Press: What's
the plan?
Spokesman: You've
obtained it. I have
not. So, let me obtain
it, read it, and respond.
Inner City Press:
And I'm sure you've seen The
Guardian article about Jan
Beagle having been herself
subject to harassment
complaint at UNAIDS (Joint
United Nations Programme
against HIV/AIDS) before she
was promoted by
Guterres. I've seen that
you're quoted that she was
vetted. Does that mean
that, despite other now
second-guess… second-guessing
or second runs at
investigations at UNAIDS that
was somehow a more…
Spokesman: First of all,
Ms. Beagle's work as
Under-Secretary-General for
Management is extremely
appreciated by the
Secretary-General. She's
doing a very difficult job and
a very good job. She was
fully vetted when she was
hired. She's done a
great job at UNAIDS and has
been recognized as a leader in
transforming organizations and
ensuring that organizations
are more inclusive and more
representative. I'm not
aware of any plan to re-open
the investigation that you
refer to, and I will leave it
at that." We'll have more on
this. Watch this site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2018 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
