UN Union: 'No Confidence' in Annan
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-10 08:54

The UN Staff Union overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday expressing no confidence in Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his top management team over a new proposal to radically overhaul UN operations.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, center, and Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, right, listen as General Assembly President Jan Eliason speaks during a High-level meeting to launch the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), organized by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Thursday, March 9, 2006 at UN headquarters in New York. [AP]

The union, which represents over 5,000 staff at UN headquarters, said it was dismayed at many proposals in Annan's blueprint, especially the call to consider outsourcing a variety of UN services from translations to billing.

It said the disappearance of permanent appointments and a new policy on job mobility without job security implied a "fundament attack against the international civil service."

In the resolution, the union expressed "solidarity with those staff who are being targeted in the current report, understanding that, in the future, all staff may be at risk."

It also expressed "a statement of no confidence in the secretary-general and his senior management team."

Asked to respond to the resolution, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, "We fully understand that these are unsettling times for the staff but we encourage all staff whether in New York or around the world to read the report fully."