UN Pension Fund: Increasing authoritarianism threatens the Fund's sustainability, 23 July 2022

 Increasing authoritarianism threatens the Fund's sustainability

 

As the saying goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant. But for exposure to have an impact, the perpetrators must have a sense of shame. In the case of many of the people surrounding the UN Pension Fund, there’s no sign of it. The Fund is increasingly surrounded by people with an authoritarian bent. Add incompetence to the mix, and it’s a toxic brew that jeopardizes the Fund’s sustainability.

 

Thanks to the CCISUA (Coordinating Committee for International Staff Unions and Associations) leadership for standing up for the interests of Fund members and for their success in pushing back against unnecessary outsourcing of the Fund’s investments. Their advocacy has apparently triggered the ire of members of the Pension Board who launched a barefaced and characteristic attempt to silence and intimidate them. In the following two articles, read the exchange of letters between the Board Chair and the CCISUA President  and the commentary on the issue by Michelle Rockcliffe, CCISUA Adviser on Pension..

 

“UN Staff News: Updated information on the outsourcing of the fixed-income portfolio of the Pension Fund”

https://unogstaffunion.org/un-pension-fund-agrees-to-cut-back-on-outsourcing/?fbclid=IwAR0o7Y5D8gxUBGmyjQv9_BZ4r6LuBq_lY0PgMKhvRI4BnAb0Qy87YOUfbvU

“The UN Pension Board’s unethical Ethics Policy,” by Michelle Rockcliffe.

http://unpension.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-un-pension-boards-unethical-ethics.html

 

It’s a fact that self-interest, vindictiveness, and raw ambition have often characterized the actions of many surrounding our fund. Some are questioning what the thwarted ambitions of one of the Pension Bureau’s members, who fought unsuccessfully for the position of CCISUA president after her stint as president of the NY Staff Union, may have had to do with the Board’s assault on CCISUA for advocating for the interests of Fund members. Sadly, our interests as Fund members too often fall afoul of petty politics.

 

Michelle Rockcliffe also exposes shameless double-speak and non-transparency in the Fund’s sharing of outdated investment information on its website, in the following article: 

 

In “Is OIM Transparency Improving?”  

http://unpension.blogspot.com/2022/07/un-pension-fund-is-oim-investment.html

 

Further, in “Egregiousness, hubris, and a violation of the AFICS/NY-Bylaws” Michelle, recently elected to the membership of the AFICS/NY Governing Board, describes the refusal by the AFICS/NY (Association of Former International Civil Servants) governing board, in violation of its bylaws, to allow her to participate in its pension committee, while courting and hand-picking controversial persons (non governing board members!) to join the committee. It matters on many levels, not least because the AFICS/NY pension committee is a stepping stone to membership on the FAFICS delegation to the Pension Board.

http://unpension.blogspot.com/2022/07/un-pension-egregiousness-hubris-and.html

 

See article on the topic titled “What happens when rights are violated within the UN” published by The Citizen: 

https://www.thecitizen.in/gender/what-happens-when-rights-are-violated-within-the-un-286235?infinitescroll=1&fbclid=IwAR3T2guC2uHT9DvjXdonPSqq8DfNvPA3P61gKKCRHja5Ylde5b-rVApCWjQ

 

See also my recent article on the topic:

http://unpension.blogspot.com/2022/05/un-pension-fund-stacking-decks-11-may.html

 

I first made the call in 2019 for UN retirees to suspend paying membership dues in response to non-transparency and undemocratic practices of the purported retiree umbrella organization, FAFICS. The 25 per cent of retirees who are members of the 60 associations of FAFICS must withhold our membership dues until that organization which impacts the operations of all AFICS associations world-wide and wields undue influence on our pension, reforms its practices.

 Please keep informed on important pension issues by visiting the blog and sharing information widely with active and retired UN staff.

The UN Pension Board's unethical ethics policy, by Michelle Rockcliffe, 20 July 2022

Michelle Rockcliffe

July 20  · 

The UN Pension Board’s unethical Ethics Policy (see below)

The letter (Version 5 no less) https://unogstaffunion.org/wp-content/uploads/CCISUA-Letter.v5.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1T6ECEe0lKSIuGTlsvpDSsG1hGDyBXvslYfSKhPbn4tOUzyYRgslHcsmM sent by the Pension Board Chair to CCISUA at the behest of the “Bureau” - four (4) board members who make up a small contrived “elite” group of pension board members is evidence of the egregious plan to expel both observers and duly elected members who take seriously their fiduciary duty to their constituents and who express independent views. As stated in the CCISUA response, this is nothing less than censorship.

https://unogstaffunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2022-07-11-Letter-to-the-Pension-Board-Chair.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3j1X9iY600MEafYyIirYl8sbplccNobQe3Z3dokBk5XFQMzwLKjZd78s0

Similar to the ethics rules mentioned in the Chair’s letter, terms of reference of the Chair annexed to the Pension Board Regulations in 2020 and 2021 have been expressly created to censor and stifle debate in the Pension Board creating a 4 member Bureau who work closely with 3 non-defined “spokespersons” effectively reducing the Board to 7 members and stifling any dissenting voices. This is contrary to best practices in public pension funds where all board members have an equal voice.

Notably, the poorly defined confidentiality statement was a brainchild created between 2015/16 almost 70 years after the Fund was established, but clearly reflecting the authoritarian leaning of the pension administration from that point going forward.

If we the shareholders of the UNJSPF understand that pension board meetings should be attended by all stakeholders (participants, retirees, survivors and taxpayers) as is customary in our peer public pension funds, then we would realize how ludicrous this letter is. (Listen for just 6 minutes starting at minute 44:00 of this peer pension fund meeting)

It is about time that the GA makes a change and opens up Pension Board meetings to all stakeholders; then the Board might become more focused on substance instead of trying year after year how to make themselves the exclusive owners of what should be public information. 

Ethics Policy: https://www.unjspf.org/wp-content/plugins/pdfjs-viewer-shortcode/pdfjs/web/viewer.php?file=%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F05%2FUNJSPF-Regulations-Current.pdf&fbclid=IwAR3ScBjudIvDeGOagzFHcUsQ4q44y7zJbsIYNPy9yXPCv6X0reU7OqIOC2M#Appendix12

UN Pension Fund: Is (OIM) Investment Transparency Improving? by Michelle Rockcliffe. 18 July 2022

  

Michelle Rockcliffe

July 18   · 

IS OIM TRANSPARENCY IMPROVING?

At last! Today 18 July the UNJSPF front page was updated from reporting that the Market Value (MV) of the Fund was $ 91 Billion which was the value on 31st December 2021.

https://www.unjspf.org/?fbclid=IwAR1nI4xd3vimOospLRUCBrR074CnLukWCw5g9oRrvo_t8B5zX2lOmaqisr4

But still the MV currently displayed is $87 billion, the approximate value on 31 March 2022. Just wondering why the value wasn’t updated to $78 billion – which is the value as of 30 June 2022 according to the Investments page.

https://www.unjspf.org/the-fund/historical-fund-performance/?fbclid=IwAR18Uz1AMgiU36YpUCcPUoe0-2xqg4V29PfazVcYsUTJQolOTQOgGDBkYLM

At the writing of this post, while the display shows Investment Performance Versus Benchmark by Asset Class as of 31 March 2022 –clicking on the “Chart Data” reveals that the underlying data is as of September 2021.

Are we – the beneficiaries/shareholders- supposed to be satisfied with empty assurances that belie the actual information being posted?

Isn’t it time for the lack of transparency in our UNJSPF to be corrected? The promises began more than 2 years ago.

UN Pension Fund: Updated information on the outsourcing of the fixed-income portfolio, 15 July 2022

  

"UN staff news

July 15 at 4:56 AM  · 

Updated information on the outsourcing of the fixed-income portfolio of the Pension Fund

Thanks to all those who signed CCISUA petition against the outsourcing of the fixed-income portfolio of the Pension Fund. CCISUA was able to reduce the percentage of the asset management outsourced from 18% to between 5 and 7%. The situation will be reassessed in March, with the hope that our money will be back to where it should be.

For more information, please read the following communication: 

 

https://unogstaffunion.org/un-pension-fund-agrees-to-cut-back-on-outsourcing/?fbclid=IwAR0o7Y5D8gxUBGmyjQv9_BZ4r6LuBq_lY0PgMKhvRI4BnAb0Qy87YOUfbvU

UN Pension: "Egregiousness, hubris, and a violation of the AFICS/NY bylaws", by Michelle Rockcliffe, 5 July 2022

 

Michelle Rockcliffe

July 5  

Egregiousness, hubris, and a violation of the AFICS/NY-Bylaws

Today, the Pension Committee of AFICS/NY was scheduled to have a meeting - as it does each month on the first Tuesday.

Having been duly elected to the Governing Board of AFICS/NY in June 2022 to serve until 2025 last week I requested an invitation to the Pension Committee meeting in line with Article VI paragraph 2 of the By-laws which states that while standing committee members (volunteers) are “appointed” by the President, “Governing Board members may be members of any committee.”

https://www.un.org/other/afics/content/governing-board-1?fbclid=IwAR2NSTpohJtXDJqdbDrLUSLgO52lhz8SJQbezCxj70feOqXmPfEjwQaPQPg

The refusal to allow me to attend a meeting was apparently based on a “firstdraft” proposal on rules of procedure the Pension Committee -- and is egregious, and unlawful and undoubtedly discriminatory and while I have not seen this draft, it can obviously never be ratified by the Governing Board.

It is disappointing that there has been no official or open discussion on this issue within AFICS and very little feedback on the emails (or surely I would have been included right?)

It should be noted that while the Governing Board information on the AFICS website was updated in June, the membership of the Pension Committee which was apparently reformed several months ago has not yet been updated. Perhaps due to the blow to the reputation AFICS/NY would take in view of the new members mentioned in the recent article on the UN Pension Blog. https://unpension.blogspot.com/2022/05/un-pension-fund-stacking-decks-11-may.html?fbclid=IwAR0Iz40-r3KOMOjjZ9s7SLHHj6yzUI_KOhVhouptqQQXfIsPT7sB48ym-m0

It’s Deja Vu all over again, same actors, new stage.

"What happens when rights are violated within the United Nations", 2 July 2022.

 

"What happens when rights are violated within the United Nations?", The Citizen· 

"The UN’s much-talked about ‘zero-tolerance policy’ on sexual harassment has become a matter of ridicule with the recent appointment of Kingston Rhodes to the pension committee of the Association of Former International Civil Servants, a charter member of FAFICS (Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants), and thus represented in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board….

Rhodes, who earlier served as the Chairman of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), which regulates salaries and working conditions for staff members across the UN was in 2017, accused of sexual harassment by four women, including Sri Lankan UN staffer Shihana Mohamed….

Rhodes resigned two weeks before he was due to retire in December 201 [2018]. Presumably, there was some pressure because the allegations were found to be credible. But he wasn’t fired as he should have been. He was allowed to resign. Shockingly now almost four years later, he’s back in this affiliated organization. Though not exactly a UN agency, they take care of the pensions of former staff…"

Read the full article here: 

 

https://www.thecitizen.in/gender/what-happens-when-rights-are-violated-within-the-un-286235?infinitescroll=1&fbclid=IwAR3T2guC2uHT9DvjXdonPSqq8DfNvPA3P61gKKCRHja5Ylde5b-rVApCWjQ