It seems UN management are bringing forward plans that, if implemented, will rip up long-established, secure standards of employment and replace them with a model that follows much of the ethos and practices of the ‘gig’ economy.
On Tuesday 29th September, UN management will hold a meeting to look at their report on the ‘Future of the United Nations System Workforce’. The reports contains much to alarm us.
Instead of understanding the importance of stable, secure contracts of employment to staff during these difficult times, the report recommends a drive to ‘a more agile model contractual modality’, a move that we believe is designed to move staff to short, limited duration contracts. One crucial section of the report speaks of a new model contract supporting “a more agile organisation that can rapidly adapt to changing needs and opportunities and scale up and down as needed”.
