|
REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 2003-2004 STAFF COMMITTEE
September-December 2003
This document contains a
summary of the activities of the 2003-2004 Staff Committee in
September-December 2003 and a few notices of interest to staff. As it went
to press, 28 members had joined or renewed their contribution to the Staff
Association. The Staff Committee would like to express its appreciation of
the economic support it receives and urges the rest of the staff to renew
their contribution.
http://staff.oas.org/english/howjoin_howdo.htm
Celebration of the 75th
Anniversary of the Staff Association
The celebration was held
on October 3 in the Hall of the Americas, attended by 385 staff members of
the General Secretariat and by special guest Dr. César Gaviria, the
Secretary General, who underscored the work done by the personnel of the
General Secretariat and the part played by the Staff Association in looking
after the interests of its members. Entertainment was provided by staff of
the General Secretariat and members of their families. At the end of the
party, a raffle was held of prizes donated by the Staff Committee and by a
group of colleagues. See
Staff News #27,
Staff News #27 Add.
The President thanked all
the members of the Committee for helping to organize the anniversary
celebrations and said he had heard very favorable comments on the party;
staff members considered it had been a huge success. Numerous members of
the Committee also reported hearing unanimously favorable comments from
staff about the celebrations.
Work of the
Subcommittee on Harassment in the Workplace
In August and September,
the Subcommittee, composed of Christina Cerna, Gabriel Gross, Mabel Mestre,
Gala Redington, Lina Sevillano, and Carlos Humud, met with colleagues from
other international organizations, including the President and Vice
President of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Staff Association and an
official of the Human Resources Department of the IDB, who told the
committee about the procedures in place in that institution to avoid
harassment in the workplace. The main concern expressed at those meetings
was with respect to the impunity of those committing the harassment and the
defenselessness of the victims and witnesses. The Subcommittee also met
with one of the mediators appointed by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) to try and resolve situations involving harassment occurring in that
institution. He pointed out that there was zero tolerance for such behavior
at the Fund and that directives are issued directly by the highest
authority in the institution. He said that this policy had originated with
a very serious case in the mid-1990s, which had ended with the dismissal of
a very senior staff member. Since then, the message had got through to all
Fund staff.
Final Report of the
Subcommittee on Harassment in the Workplace
Carlos Humud, a regular
member of this Subcommittee, presented a proposed policy on Psychological
Harassment in the Work Place drafted by the Subcommittee. He pointed out
that the first part of the document sets forth the general principles,
followed by a description of the policies used as a basis, bearing in mind
those already in place in other international organizations, especially
that of the International Labour Organization (ILO), since it is the most
complete. He pointed out that all the policies agree that harassment must
be punished and all recommend that a mediator be found to solve the
problem. If a problem is not solved at that level, it could pass to a
higher body, such as the “Ombudsman” used not so long ago, and from there
to the administrative organs contemplated in the Staff Rules.
The report also recommends
appointing mediators. The Committee agreed to contribute US$2,900 to ensure
that, following their appointment, such mediators receive training under
the Gender Equality Program, in coordination with the Secretariat of the
Inter-American Commission of Women and the Government of Canada, which
would also contribute funds for this purpose.
The Staff Committee
decided to remit the proposed policy on psychological harassment in the
workplace to the Secretary General, for his consideration, in order to
initiate a constructive dialogue on a topic that is of considerable concern
to many colleagues in the General Secretariat.
At a subsequent meeting,
the members of the subcommittee were thanked and congratulated by staff for
the report they had presented.
Response of the General
Secretariat to the report on harassment in the workplace
The President handed out
copies of the memorandum sent by the Chief of Staff, in which he
acknowledged receipt of the document entitled “Policy on Harassment in the
Workplace” and announced the establishment of a working group on harassment
composed, on the General Secretariat side, of Mr. William Berenson and Mr.
Oscar Menjívar, who would, when necessary, appoint persons to represent
them. For its part, the Staff Committee decided to appoint Carlos Humud and
Christina Cerna as members of the working group, with Lina Sevillano and
Michael Thomas as alternates. See
Staff News #36.
Working Group on
psychological harassment in the workplace
This group is being formed
mainly to agree on a policy that will subsequently be presented for
consideration by the Secretary General. Once that policy has been drawn up,
mediators are expected to be appointed. A team of six mediators has been
proposed, three appointed by the Secretary General and three by the Staff
Committee, who would be responsible for following up on the policy, in the
areas that concern them. Formal establishment of an “ombudsman” has also
been suggested.
Information was provided
on the first meeting on psychological harassment in the workplace. It was
explained that a working group had been formed by the Association and the
Administration, with William Berenson and Oscar Menjívar representing the
Administration. They named Luis Ferrand and Laura Harán as their
alternates. It was said that the purpose of the meeting had been to gauge
acceptance by the Administration of the mediators idea and of training for
them. The Administration has agreed in principle, stating that the subject
would be discussed in greater detail later, at a meeting to be attended by
Carmen Lomellin and Manuel Metz. It was also reported that a preliminary
discussion had taken place regarding the type of qualifications the
mediators should have and that everybody had agreed they should be
colleagues known for their integrity, impartiality, and honesty.
The Association’s proposal
is that, faced with a possible instance of psychological harassment, the
matter should initially be handled by independent mediators acting as
facilitators basically seeking reconciliation between the parties in
conflict. If the mediator is unable to solve the problem within a
reasonable period of time, the case would go to the “Ombudsman,” who would
attempt to resolve the issue through dialogue with the parties, followed by
a report to the Secretary General. Once those remedies have been exhausted,
the problem would be dealt with in accordance with the provisions contained
in the Staff Rules. Finally, it was suggested that, although the idea is
not included in the proposal, it would be worth considering having a
coordinator of the group of mediators to be established, whose job it would
be to have an overview of all the existing problems and to keep track of
the cases.
Payments in advance
The Committee reviewed the
status of payments by some members and staff of the permanent missions for
services provided by the Association and decided to adopt a new policy of
payments in advance. That policy applies to access to sports club
facilities, payments for domestic employee health insurance, and any other
service administered by the Staff Association.
Continuous contracts
The Committee took note of
complaints it has received regarding the way the continuous contract
process was handled. The Committee underscored the complaint that 80 people
had been summoned to take the language test, but then only 40 were
interviewed. The worst thing is that the 40 people who were not invited to
an interview were not told whether they are still being considered or not.
The Committee instructed the President to ask the Department of Human
Resource Services to issue a formal report in writing to those persons
informing them of the status of the process and their prospects within it.
The President said he would ask the Director of that department to explain
what was going on and to inform the staff who took part in the language
tests why they were not given an interview.
The President reported to
the Committee on the completion of the first continuous contract
competition and underscored the work done by the Department of Human
Resource Services and by the Committee on Selection and Promotion, chaired
by Ambassador Luigi R. Einaudi. He also remarked that the continuous
contract process had been lengthy and exhausting. It is to be hoped that
the experience acquired on this occasion will help to avoid a recurrence of
the same problems during the next continuous contract competition. These
problems included, for instance, using the same language evaluation test
for professional staff and general services staff.
The President commented on
the draft resolution pending approval, aimed at correcting the errors that
occurred in the first continuous contract competition. These corrections
are: a) Any member of staff whose mother tongue is one of the four official
languages of the Organization shall only be tested for one of the other
languages, and b) G-3 personnel working as drivers or as clerks in offices
of the General Secretariat in member states shall be exempt from the
language test requirement, for as long as they perform those jobs. See
Staff News #52.
COSTCO cards
The President briefly
described how this benefit was introduced last year for all contributing
members of the Association and said it had been a resounding success. The
President asked members of the Committee what they thought about the
possibility of continuing to offer the same benefit or else lowering the
contribution of the Staff Association. Following a brief discussion of the
matter, it was decided to keep to the same cost for new members. So the
cost was set at US$30.00 for new members and US$35 for members renewing for
a second year (Staff
News #28). It was agreed that October would be the only month for
signing-up for a card.
Period of silent
reflection
The President read the
Committee a note of thanks from Ambassador Roger Noriega, Permanent
Representative of the United States, for the announcement of a Period of
Silent Reflection on September 11. See
Staff News #22.
Administrative Tribunal
The President said he had
received a letter from the Secretary of the Administrative Tribunal
informing him that the Tribunal would be meeting from October 29 to 31. In
that connection, the Committee asked the President to arrange a meeting of
the whole Staff Committee with the members of the Administrative Tribunal
during their upcoming visit to Washington, D. C.
The meeting was to be held
on Tuesday, October 28 at 2:00 p.m. in the Columbus Room, to discuss the
following topics: (a) The evaluation system. The members of the Tribunal
would be informed of the results of the survey; (b) Continuous contracts;
(c) harassment in the workplace; and (d) congratulations to the
Administrative Tribunal for posting its information on the Internet. The
meeting could not materialize because of time constraints. However, a copy
of Staff News #36,
which contains information regarding two of the topics that were to have
been discussed, was left with the Tribunal Secretariat.
“Scotti-Cubas” painting
exhibit
The President pointed out
that this exhibit was taking place and urged Committee members to visit it.
The inauguration expenses were defrayed by the artists themselves, each of
whom will donate a picture to the Staff Association when the exhibit is
over. See Staff News
#25.
Silk screen printing
and guitar classes
The President said that
there were teachers available for guitar and silk screen printing classes.
The latter had to be cancelled for lack of participants. It was agreed to
pass on the name of the guitar teacher to those interested in guitar
classes (Staff News #35).
For further information, please call Corina Alvarez, ext. 6230.
Masseur
The President said he had
contacted the massage therapist of the Department of the Interior to see
whether he would agree to offer his services to OAS personnel. These
massages cost a dollar a minute. As with the guitar classes, it was agreed
to pass on the information that these services are available and to put
those interested in contact with the masseur. For further information,
please call Corina Alvarez at extension 6230 (Staff
News #26)
Survey on the
evaluation system
The Staff Committee
decided to entrust the task of tabulating the results of this survey to
Carlos Chalbaud, an intern at the Staff Association, under the supervision
of Carlos Humud and Gala Redington. A high percentage of staff members
replied to this survey, so that their responses are fairly representative.
Both the staff and the General Secretariat will be duly informed of the
survey findings (Staff
News #36).
Children’s Christmas
Party 2003
The Subcommittee in charge
of organizing this party asked, as it did last year, for a one thousand
dollar (US$1,000) allocation. The Committee agreed to this contribution.
The party was held on December 7 in the Hall of the Americas, sponsored by
the OAS Credit Union. The Staff Committee took note of the congratulations
from staff who attended the party with their children. Presents not
delivered at the party were donated to the “Clínica del Pueblo” in
Washington, D.C., which handed them out at its annual festivity, which the
President was invited to attend.
Solo Exhibit of
Paintings by Gabriel Gross
The Committee took note of
a request by the Art Group to help our colleague Gabriel Gross stage a solo
exhibit, scheduled for November 17 at 4 p.m. The idea, according to the
request, is to invite all the permanent missions to watch a video and visit
the three-picture exhibit. The Art Group would send out the invitations and
assist with the purchase of wine. The exhibit, entitled “Sequence and
Consequence,” was seen by staff of the General Secretariat and the
permanent missions.
Airline tickets raffle
at the Anniversary Party
The Committee was told
about the problems there had been with issuing the winning tickets. After
failing in his efforts to use the prize to travel, the winner decided to
raffle the ticket free of charge to the staff in his department. However,
the second winner was also unable to use the ticket for travel. The
President proposed that the Committee cover part of the fare in order to
protect the reputation of the Staff Association in the eyes of these staff
members.
The President explained
that efforts to claim the tickets that had been raffled were unsuccessful
due to a lack of communication between the Association and Solar Tours as
to the restrictions that applied to those fares. Given that the winners,
for obvious reasons, have waived their prizes, the Committee decided to
compensate them in part with an award certificate instead of the ticket.
Crafts Exhibit
The President reported
that the second crafts show of the Americas, run by the Staff Association,
was held on October 15 and made a US$557.25 profit, which will be deposited
in the Association’s Legal Assistance Fund account (Staff
News #24).
Christmas Bazaar
The Christmas bazaar,
organized by the Staff Association, took place on December 4 and 5. It made
a profit of US$1,643.25. That amount will be deposited in the Association’s
Legal Assistance Fund.
Legal Assistance Fund
The balance on this Fund
has increased thanks to voluntary contributions by some staff members and
the profits accruing from exhibits run by the Staff Association. The
initial amount at June 2002 was US$1,225.53, compared with the current
balance of US$6,477.63.
Terry Woods Award
The President of the Staff
Committee said that three people had been nominated as candidates for the
Terry Wood Award. Two of those nominations were received on time and
considered, while the third, being extempore, was not. Finally, one
candidate was chosen to receive the Leo S. Rowe award.
The purpose of the Terry
Woods Award is to pay tribute to outstanding work by a staff member that
benefits the staff of the Organization. Sara Meneses was the candidate
chosen by the Staff Committee, under the established parameters.
The Committee considered
it important in future elections to require a minimum number of signatures
nominating a candidate. The decision is taken by the members of the current
Staff Committee, who may not therefore nominate candidates. The Committee
decided to modify the form used to put forward candidacies, to allow
sufficient space for the signatures of personnel supporting a nomination.
Advisory Committee on
Employee Parking
The Staff Committee
instructed the Joint Advisory Committee on Employee Parking to review the
updated waiting list provided by the Administration. It is important to
compare this latest list with the previous one and to check that the
information is accurate. It is a known fact that injustices have been
committed with respect to placement on this waiting list for parking lot
vacancies.
Retirement and Pension
Fund/Technical Secretary
The President informed the
Committee that Daniel Vilariño was elected, from a panel of six candidates,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Retirement and Pension Fund. Since Daniel
Vilariño is the alternate representative of the staff to the Retirement and
Pension Fund, he will have to be replaced in that function. Given that the
Statutes do not contemplate special elections to cover the post of
alternate representative, the Committee agreed to appoint the President of
the Staff Association alternate representative until the next elections
scheduled for June 2004.
Messages
The President referred to
the difference between messages sent as “General Announcements” and those
sent by the Staff Association. It is considered necessary to explain to
staff the difference between these two types of announcement. The former
may be used by all areas of the General Secretariat and are the
responsibility of the information technology area of the Department of
Technology and Facility Services (DTFS). They have a 75 Kb limit and do not
allow any mention of prices. It was agreed that Staff Association
announcements would be restricted to messages issued by the Association.
Other announcements by the various areas will be transmitted via General
Announcements. Permission for them must therefore be obtained from
DTFS/ITD.
Financial seminars
The Credit Union has once
again begun offering these seminars for staff, so that the 2003-2004 Staff
Committee will not schedule additional seminars on this subject as of
January 2004.
Management Study by
Deloitte & Touche
The President reported
that the final version of this Management Study had, finally, been
distributed. He also said that the Committee on Administrative and
Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) and the General Committee (CG) had been
commissioned to review the Study. A circular was sent to staff, informing
them that any staff member interested in consulting this Study could do so
in the offices of the Staff Association. For further information, please
see Staff News 47, 47 Add.
The President told the
Committee members that in reviewing the report presented by Deloitte &
Touche he had ascertained that many of the Staff Association’s
recommendations had been incorporated in the document: a matter of some
importance for the staff of the Organization. He said that a joint
committee might be installed to implement the report and that it would
include representatives of the General Secretariat.
Awards Ceremony
The President told the
Committee that the Department of Human Resource Services had chosen
December 16 as the date for presentation of awards to the staff of the
General Secretariat. The Committee stressed the inappropriateness of this
date, given that many people would be away on leave. Since the date had
already been announced, however, it was suggested that a request be filed
for the awards ceremony to be held in April.
OAS Gift Shop
In order to publicize the
products being sold by the Staff Association, it was suggested that they be
posted on our web site. It was agreed to commence sales on December 4, the
day of the inauguration of the Christmas Bazaar. Anyone interested in
purchasing products from the Association may visit our offices in GSB-838-A
from Monday through Friday, after 2:30 p.m.
Christmas Wish List
program
For the second consecutive
year, this program was a great success. 350 boys and girls received
presents donated by the staff of the General Secretariat working in the
three General Secretariat buildings. The program was organized by our
colleague Mahta Mahdavi, of the Secretary General’s office. Thank you
letters from the beneficiary institutions have been delivered to the
offices of the Association.
Salary increase
Some staff members have
asked for an explanation of the percentages applied in recently announced
salary increases. The Staff Committee would like to remind members that the
salaries of General Secretariat staff currently in effect are the same as
those that apply for the General Secretariat of the United Nations. The net
basic salary scales in force correspond to those paid by the UN General
Secretariat in the corresponding post, which are based on the salary scales
recommended by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), with post
adjustments adopted by the UN Secretariat. At the last OAS General
Assembly, resolution AG/RES. 1974 instructed the Permanent Council to
approve a system to establish and periodically adjust salaries of staff
members in countries where the United Nations does not circulate salary
scales or post adjustments. We understand that the General Secretariat is
working on this matter.
For further information,
please refer to Article 37 of the General Standards to Govern the
Operations of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American
States.
|
