23 September 2015

Dear colleagues,

The Headquarters Committee will be meeting again tomorrow, Thursday 24 September 2015. AIPU and STU took note with concern of the document 189 COM/SIEGE/10 concerning "auxiliary services", including Restaurant services and the Commissary.

AIPU and STU are in particular astouned by the recommendation No. 5:

"The Headquarters Committee recommends, in the event of closure of the Commissary , that part of the balance of the Commissary Special Account, after settlement of all legal obligations, be used for the renovation of the UNESCO Restaurant Services."

Formulating this recommendation, the Headquarters Committee is forgetting that the funds of the Commissary are owned by the staff , and not by the Administration. The regulations of the Commissary indeed stipulate in article 12.6.A: "In the event of liquidation of the Commissary, the deposits paid by members shall constitute a first obligation on the fund." It is up to the staff, which opposes the closing of the Commissary, to decide what should be done with these funds. It is imperative that both the Headquarters Committee and the Administration be informed that it would be inadmissible and illegal for them to take the decision of outsourcing the Commissary.

AIPU and STU are also concerned by the recommendation No. 6:

"The Headquarters Committee Invites the Director-General to implement immediately the action plan for the partial outsourcing of the UNESCO Restaurant Services."

Partial outsourcing, as presented in the document 189 COM/SIEGE/3, would indeed be a threat to the employment of five of our colleagues , without representing any savings for the Organization.

Therefore, AIPU and STU are drawing the attention of the Member States, guardians of the best interests of the Organization, to the recommendations made by the Headquarters Committee. In addition to exposing colleagues to terminations and constituting a violation of the regulation of the Commissary , these recommendations go against the interests of the Organization , which is to protect its staff and its ongoing operating services.

AIPU and STU urge the Member States to reject these recommendations pending an in-depth review of "auxiliary services" (Commissary and Restaurant) to be entrusted to the External Auditors of the Organization.