25 September 2013

The United Nations (UN) has taken the extraordinary measure of derecognising trade unions.

The decision was made by Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon on July 11 2013, despite the fact that the UN views being represented by a trade union as a human right.

In fact, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Mr Maina Kiai criticised the UK for weakening trade union rights earlier this year.

According to a campaign page on labourstartcampaigns.net, 65,000 staff are affected by the derecognition of the series of staff unions that represented UN workers. The Campaign highlights that 555 staff were attacked and 200 killed in the last ten years, with many personnel required to work in war zones and other dangerous locations.

However, Ban Ki-Moon has stated he will only "consult" staff unions on aspects such as safety, security and the welfare of but will no longer accept negotiation.

The Campaign page argued: "[The UN is] an organization supposed to uphold international human rights and labour rights conventions. If the UN stops applying these to its own staff, why should governments bother to uphold worker rights?"

Click here to send a letter to senior staff at the UN showing your support for the staff unions involved, which hope to persuade the Ban Ki-Moon to reverse his decision by the end of 2013.