The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Monday criticised a workers’ union decision to stage work stoppages today, calling on staff not to deny refugees access to services, the Jordan Times reports today.
Staff unions in the agency’s five fields of operation (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank) will carry out regional strikes today, claiming that UNRWA went back on a promise to raise employees’ retirement compensation benefits.
The stoppage has been called just as a UN committee holds its annual review of UNRWA’s work. A funding shortfall for UNRWA risks suspension of many of its essential services before the end of the year according to UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Karen Koning AbuZayd.
UNRWA subject of industrial action throughout this year
The PalPress news agency reports today that John Geng, the director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, sent a letter to his Gaza staff saying “he was saddened and disappointed” by their stoppage, and pointed out that UNRWA workers were better paid than Palestinian public servants employed in Gaza.
Today’s stoppages are part of an on-going dispute which has hampered the work of UNRWA for most of this year. Read earlier report on this website.
UNRWA has been the subject of strikes, stoppages and protests in February, March, April, May and September this year. Today’s stoppages come after union threats to carry out a series of mass protests in response to the relief agency’s decision not to improve its end-of-service compensation system.
Union claims UNRWA has gone back on promises to improve severance pay
Unionists demand that retiring employees receive severance pay equivalent to two months’ salary for each year of service rather than the current amount of one month per year.
According to worker representatives, UNRWA Commissioner General Karen AbuZayd agreed last month to a proposal entailing moderate increases of retirement benefits staggered over several years, a claim the agency has repeatedly denied.
UNRWA labels stoppages as counterproductive and disruptive
Sami Mshasha, UNRWA’s chief of public information office and spokesperson, described the planned work stoppages as “counterproductive, disruptive and sending all the wrong messages to refugees, donors and to the staff themselves”.
“UNRWA regrets the staff union’s decision to suspend services in a staggered fashion to protest the alleged failure to meet a promise to improve end-of-service benefits for staff,” Mshasha said in an e-mail sent to The Jordan Times yesterday.
Agency in financial difficulties
Staff union demands come at a period during which the agency is facing financial difficulties, struggling to meet the basic needs of refugees while burdened with a widening budget deficit, he added.
According to UNRWA official figures, the salaries of the agency’s 30,000 employees are above the average salaries of the host countries’ public sector employees, he noted.
30,000 UNRWA employees
“UNRWA’s comprehensive health insurance to staff, the Provident Fund and end-of-service benefits plus an annual salary increase is considered to be one of the most competitive in the region amongst public sector employers,” Mshasha said.
Some 30,000 UNRWA employees provide health, social and educational services to 4.5 million Palestinian refugees living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.