Mass layoffs at a UN-backed health programme in Geneva reveal the human cost of an aid system under financial pressure, where workers can be cast aside with little warning and no safety net, despite efforts by organisations to ease the blow.
Some 30 workers at the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva clocked out for the last time on 31 July. On that mid-summer Thursday, the office was quiet, with most staff out on holiday. The international workers received just one month’s notice after Washington’s policy shifts forced the UN-backed health programme to let go of one-third of its staff, throwing many into financial and legal uncertainty in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
The abrupt dismissals have put the workers in a precarious position, with just one month’s salary and no severance or unemployment benefits to cushion the blow. On top of that, most staff, as non-EU or non-EFTA citizens, have only two – at most three – months to sort out their residency status or leave the country. Most affected staff are employed under flexible consultancy contracts – known as Individual Contractor Agreements – that offer fewer benefits, including no relocation support beyond a plane ticket.
“I have colleagues who’ve been on these consultancy contracts for over five years. Now they’re being forced to leave the country with nothing. Some are borrowing money just to afford the move home,” said one of the staffers, who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions. Most Swiss property management companies require a three-month termination notice, and have refused early lease exits, according to the employee.
In a letter addressed last month to Stop TB Partnership and its parent organisation, the UN Office for Project Services (Unops), seen by Geneva Solutions, 18 affected staff appealed for a “compassionate response”, asking for their notice period to be extended to three months, “in light of the sudden and wide-scale nature of this action”.
The authors drew comparisons to a December 2023 round of layoffs at Unops offices in Copenhagen, where a similar request for extended notice was granted. This time, however, the plea was rejected due to “donor constraints”.
‘Roles no longer aligned’
In 2024, the Stop TB Partnership’s budget rose to $200 million, about a third of which came from Washington. After initially freezing all foreign aid grants including the partnership’s, the US finally agreed to resume support for the health initiative – but under new conditions.
“The scope of work has shifted to a focus primarily on the delivery of life-saving interventions for people affected by TB,” Lucica Ditiu, the partnership’s executive director, told Geneva Solutions by email. “This includes the provision of diagnostics and medicines, the introduction and rollout of new tools, deployment of locally based technical assistance and support to local partners for implementation of essential services.”
That means that “certain roles are no longer aligned with current programmatic priorities”, she added.
While the request for an extension was denied, some steps have been taken to help ease the blow. Ditiu said that the affected staff were provided with “a one-time lump-sum payment to relieve the financial burden of terminating Geneva lease agreements”. The sum amounted to about CHF 6,000, according to sources, on the condition that they left Switzerland by 31 July and didn’t apply for the two-month extension to remain in Switzerland.
Eloise Le Magnen, a Unops staff representative at the Staff Association, which represents Unops, UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA, and has been supporting discussions from Copenhagen, confirmed that this and other measures had been agreed following discussions with leadership, who she said had shown “a lot of goodwill”.
Staff were also reportedly added to a Unops rehiring list, giving them priority access to job openings for the next year – a rare concession as the Stop TB programme is normally excluded, given its status as a hosted independent project. A focal point has been appointed in Geneva to oversee the implementation of these measures, according to Le Magnen.
A wider crisis in sight
Originally meant for short-term, project-based work, non-staff contracts have increasingly become the norm, renewed for years on end. As of late 2022, these types of contracts – including consultants, UN volunteers and interns – made up about 43 per cent of the total global body’s workforce, according to a UN internal review. That figure exceeded 90 per cent at Unops. While offering flexibility for the employer and employee, such contracts generally mean less job security, no pension and unemployment benefits and no access to UN internal justice mechanisms.
“The Staff Association wants to strengthen protections for contractors and level the playing field, but it doesn’t seem like it is going in that direction,” Le Magnen said, referring to the UN’s budget crisis and looming reforms.
As the UN moves to cut expenses to contend with dwindling donor support, staff worry that this trend will only continue to grow, with those in precarious arrangements among the first to go.
Ian Richards, head of the UN Staff Union in Geneva, says the lack of visibility around looming job cuts is a wider concern across the UN system. “There has to be clear communication on how comparative reviews (of mandates) are being done, what the timelines are, so that people can plan.”
Staff have voiced significant discontent with the methods of UN chief António Guterres to shrink the organisation through its flagship UN80 reform initiative, which would lead to about 20 per cent of jobs being cut.
A survey of 3,850 UN workers conducted by the Coordinating Committee for International Staff Unions and Associations, the international federation of UN system staff unions, found that 72 per cent of respondents “do not feel that the proposed post cuts and relocations are based on a sound rationale” while 60 per cent “do not believe senior management understands staff concerns and needs”.
The survey released on Wednesday also revealed that about half of the respondents don’t have confidence in Guterres and his reform tsar, Guy Ryder. At an extraordinary general assembly held last week by the UN Staff Council Union in Geneva, some 600 staff members who attended passed a no-confidence vote on both Guterres and Ryder, signalling growing pushback.
Guterres is set to brief member states on Friday about the UN80 initiative’s review of the UN system and how it could be rearranged to cope with diminished resources.
Swiss ‘window dressing’
The wave of layoffs has also put pressure on Swiss and Geneva authorities to step in. The canton has pledged CHF10 million to support NGOs retain workers and has set up a CHF50 million fund over the next five years to help international organisations navigate the financial crisis. The federal authorities also pledged CHF 269 million to support international Geneva over the next four years. But so far, little concrete assistance has materialised.
For the Stop TB Partnership staff member, these announcements are “window dressing”. “The canton is patting itself on the back for holding an information session just to tell us things that we already knew,” they said. “After years of living here, I get a two-month permit to stay in Switzerland and find another job, which is a major challenge outside of the UN given Swiss restrictions on hiring non-EU citizens.”
Read more: Lost your job in international Geneva? Here’s what you need to know
The health worker lamented that there were no efforts to address the real concerns of individuals, like rent affordability, making it easier to obtain a residence permit or negotiating flexibility with apartment building managers. “For those of us financially stable and willing to keep contributing to Geneva’s economy – paying rent, eating in restaurants, spending locally – it feels like a missed opportunity. With more flexibility, we could stay, job hunt and continue adding value to this city we’ve called home.”
Their message was simple: “What happened to us – we don’t want that to happen to others. It’s been a nightmare.”
link