Mr Chairperson,
Mr Director-General,
Members of the Governing Body,
Dear colleagues and all of you here today, in this room or online,
It is an honour that I cannot take lightly to be able once again to speak on behalf of all my colleagues, as Chairperson of a Staff Union that represents more than two-thirds of ILO staff. This meeting that you give us twice a year is a unique opportunity to share our feelings and perspectives on the subjects you have on the agenda for this Body.
Members of the Governing Body, as I prepared this speech, I hesitated for a long time about the main feelings I wanted to share with you today on behalf of my colleagues.
Confusion, powerlessness, indecision, weariness, disappointment; but also determination, enthusiasm, hope, inspiration.
And yes, in the end, too confused, I decided to give you all these feelings – with their inconsistencies and richness at the same time. After all, human beings are complex and it seems that sometimes making no choice is the best option, to keep all avenues open and everything still possible.
Powerlessness as international civil servants, bearers of the conviction that social justice and peace are intrinsically linked, but that peace is receding leaving us powerless to promote respect for international standards and human rights, the foundations on which our organization was created. The ILO is certainly not a humanitarian agency, and we feel powerless while our colleagues in other United Nations agencies and other international non-governmental organizations deal with emergencies, even losing too many lives in the process.
I would like to call for a moment of silence in tribute to all the United Nations colleagues who have lost their lives in the conflicts of recent months.
Nevertheless, our colleagues are experiencing the loss of family members, friends, homes and the destruction of their daily lives. The Staff Union cannot thank the Administration enough for its duty of care to all staff, and I would also like to thank the Director-General for listening to us in order to find relevant and necessary solutions to help all staff. We are indeed powerless in the face of this destruction, but it is essential that we remain present to preserve human rights in the workplace, and to be able to respond to the demands of our constituents. Whether in Moscow, Kyiv, Sudan, Myanmar, Jerusalem, Beirut or Haiti – and the list could be longer – we need to maintain our offices, and I would like to thank you for your support and gratitude to the colleagues who are “standing firm” and preparing to serve social justice.
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Governing Body, we too are often indecisive…
Undecided on what to do about the many documents on the agenda of this Body and their potential implications for ILO staff. Like many of you, I discovered most of these documents as they were published on the Governing Body website, surprised that it was not deemed necessary, at the very least, to inform the Staff Union, consulting it or negotiating the points that certainly have an impact on staff, as required by our Recognition and Procedural Agreement. The same applies to ILO operations in various countries – including the ILO’s support to the emergency response to the crisis in Lebanon. I hope that the number of subjects covered will not cause us to lose sight of the essentials in the decisions to be taken. By reading document PFA/3 “ILO-wide knowledge and innovation strategy: Updated strategy and implementation plan” on innovation, which you have just discussed, I was interested to note the statement – and I quote – that “innovation is stimulated by collaboration and networking, which foster creativity and the cross-fertilization of ideas within the framework of exchange spaces and sharing communities“, while at the same time learning that many of the consultations highlighted first and foremost (and I quote again) “the strong interest of staff in developing technical skills related to artificial intelligence (AI) and data analysis” and that finally “Integrating cultural change as part of capacity building not only ensures that staff have the right skills, but also encourages them to think critically and experiment with innovative solutions“. I’m still undecided about how these different perspectives are going to come together and work for staff, and how this Technical Advisory Committee on Innovation that I’ve heard about is going to work. On the other hand, collaboration and networking take time, energy and “mental space”, just as they do to learn new skills and master new challenges, so that we don’t allow ourselves to be dominated by automation and become machines, which may be highly efficient but lack the essential human element. And to allow the human element to flourish, you also need to feel valued, respected and secure in your career path.
And to do that, you need energy… But this energy seems to be lacking, giving way to weariness in the face of ever-increasing professional demands and a workload that never seems to diminish. With so much work to do, it’s exhausting to maintain quality too. And yet… this year ILO staff have been supporting official meetings with ever-increasing agendas, working night shifts – peaks were reached at this year’s ILC – and then another cycle of programme and budget preparation, with additional priorities that have to be absorbed on top of the previous ones, which are still a priority. Of course, resources do not keep pace with the increase in demand, which is indeed exponential in the four corners of the earth, showing in the end that ILO staff are always on hand to promote social justice and decent work, and that you continue to place your trust in us. However, there is no point in reiterating what seems to be a constant theme in the speeches of the Chairpersons of the Staff Union, calling for human and financial resources to be made available so that the staff who serve you can do so in dignified and respectful conditions, and with the appropriate institutional structures, especially as several ILO offices are opening around the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Governing Body, Director-General – I too am disappointed. I’m disappointed that you don’t have more decisions on the agenda of the Programme, Financial and Administrative Section concerning the changes needed to improve working conditions and the working environment. However, with our partners in dialogue, whom I would like to thank, we have not been “idle” – as the expression goes, even if for an ILO official this seems a paradox since we do not have an unemployment insurance mechanism – at least not yet. We would certainly have hoped to be able to move forward more quickly to renegotiate, for example, our collective agreement on violence and harassment at work or on new policies on health and safety at work within the ILO. The document presented to you for information concerning the PFA/INF/5 performance appraisal framework certainly makes it possible to clarify certain procedures in the assessment and approval chains. However, these changes do not bring any major modifications to the existing framework. The Staff Union is still waiting for an overhaul of the Reports Board procedures to improve the process of recognizing the work of our colleagues. Similarly, the Biennial Report on the Implementation of the ILO Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy (2020-23), on which the Staff Union was also consulted, does report progress, but work is still in progress on finalizing a new policy.
Mr Director-General, you recently expressed to us your impatience with the delay in the finalization of the negotiations underway concerning the harmonization of working conditions, regardless of the source of funding for contracts and greater mobility.
I can assure you that we are determined to finalize these negotiations and find solutions to the growing inequalities between members of staff. And I can safely say that this determination is shared by the Administration’s negotiating team, all of whose members I would like to thank, in particular my colleagues in the Human Resources, Finance and Program departments. Of course, it would be unthinkable for such reforms to call into question the principles of the independence of the international civil service and non-discrimination in all its forms. It is also unthinkable that in these negotiations we should not be driven by a desire to set an example for the world of work, and to bring to life internally what we preach in the fight against precariousness, in favour of job security, an essential element for better productivity and exemplary performance. The ILO must aim for excellence in working conditions, must be able to find creative and innovative solutions to ensure exemplary working conditions. So yes, we are determined to stay on course with negotiations based on shared interests, to give ourselves the means to achieve results that live up to expectations and ambitions, and to remain faithful to our principles and values.
Such internal reforms are of course essential if we are to implement the Strategic Plan and the Programme and Budget that you discussed yesterday. These documents give cause for hope. Indeed, the enthusiasm is there when you read that, and I quote, “A special effort will be made to strengthen the leadership of the ILO at the country level, through the provision of appropriate skills and resources. To this end, the capacities of ILO staff will be strengthened (to enable them to discern emerging trends, anticipate possible transformations and respond proactively)“, and secondly that “The promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as of a healthy, respectful and stimulating work environment, will remain at the heart of human resources policy, and will take the form in particular of policy development efforts, communication and behavioural change initiatives that are aligned with ILO and UN system strategies and commitments on geographical diversity, gender equality, disability inclusion, mental health and well-being, and measures to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse and all forms of workplace violence and harassment.” The Staff Union can only welcome these priorities and call with all our might for the appropriate means to be effectively allocated to ensure that these objectives are translated into concrete and forceful action.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Governing Body, when the newly elected Staff Union Committee took up its mandate last December, we met at a retreat in the land of Voltaire to set our objectives, and were inspired, among other things, by this quotation from the “Man of the Enlightenment”: “I have done a little good, and that is my best work”. Allow me to conclude this speech by calling on you to be a source of inspiration for us, the members of staff at your service. The subjects that are at the heart of your debates, whether it be the standard-setting processes underway on the care economy, biological risks, the platform economy, formalization or artificial intelligence, or defining a new social contract in favour of social justice and decent work as defined in the Strategic Plan, are inspiring themes that show the modernity of our century-old organization. So yes, inspire us to work together “to do a little good”.
Thank you for your attention
Séverine Deboos
Chairperson, Staff Union Committee