LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL
The following letter from
Secretary General Miguel Angel Rodriguez was received by the Staff
Committee on the afternoon of 13 October 2004.
In the initial meetings with
the Staff Committee and in his address to the entire staff, Dr. Rodriguez
alluded to changes in the structure of the Secretariat, including a
proposal to freeze salaries until 2007. The Staff Committee had requested a
more detailed proposal about the salary freezes; it has waited with
anticipation for a formal proposal regarding this and other policies of the
transition. The attached letter is the answer to the Staff Committee.
While the Committee waited
for the reply of Dr. Rodriguez, the administration has been engaged in
radically restructuring the General Secretariat, dismissing most of the
office directors and through Executive Order 04-1, making administrative
and legal changes in the Secretariat that affect the entire staff and with
results that may be in breach of the employment contracts that the OAS has
with the staff of the Secretariat. It was clear from the questions and
concerns expressed in a Special Staff General Assembly last week that the
staff of the Organization is restive and anxious.
The Staff Committee is
studying the implications of the policies set forth in this letter. On
Monday the Committee will meet with Ambassador Luigi Einaudi, Acting
Secretary General, to discuss these and some other issues of concern to the
entire staff.
We will inform the staff
about the results of the meeting with the Acting Secretary General and will
convene a Staff Assembly, which has been declared in Permanent Session, as
soon as we consider it is necessary.
James Patrick Kiernan
Vice President
http://www.staff.oas.org/documents/LetterSG.pdf
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