The staff townhall on mobility, organized on 31 May in response to a draft staff-management proposal, turned out to be lively and informative.
During the session, a number of staff provided testimonies on how they had moved around the system or had attempted to do so and what the benefits and costs of these had been.
Also highlighted were imperfections with VINES, the difficulties of returning to home base, challenges for those with families, the need perhaps for a foreign-service style managed reassignment system and the desire among general service staff to have greater opportunities. The current vacancy management system was also criticised.
The output from that meeting has helped form the Council’s position at the annual global staff-management negotiations, SMCC, that are being held at the end of June.