In early August, the International Civil Service Commission convened in Vienna to determine a “simplified, modernized, fit-for-purpose” compensation package for the United Nations system. Instead, the independent expert body, established by the U.N. General Assembly, presented a “complicated, pieced-together package,” according to one source close to the matter who wished not to be named.
A review meant to modernize the compensation system has “bowed to political pressure from certain member states bent on cutting costs,” U.N. Staff Union President Barbara Tavora-Jainchill told Devex.
While the proposal is sprinkled with a few positive aspects — mostly the unchanged parts, she said — if approved it would hit single parents hard, as well as geographically mobile staff, staff in the field and those with working spouses who currently receive supplemental income by virtue of their children.
The proposed changes have generated plenty of internal buzz, and an online petition, “Protect U.N. humanitarian aid workers: Reject cuts to pay and family leave,” has more than 10,000 signatures. Human resources representatives from UNICEF, UNOPS and UNDP declined to comment to Devex on the proposal, although it’s widely known that chiefs of several agencies, including UNICEF, the World Food Program and UNHCR, have jointly voiced their concern that the pay changes are not “fit for purpose” in terms of meeting the U.N.’s ambitions for a more diverse staff and increased mobility.
