A storm is brewing inside the halls of the world's most prominent international organization, as UN staff have launched an unusual protest against a reform plan advanced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and spearheaded by Deputy Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder.
The initiative, dubbed UN80 to mark the UN's upcoming 80th anniversary, was designed to boost the organization's efficiency, cut redundancies, and strengthen public and member state confidence. Instead, it has ignited an unprecedented internal crisis of trust.
The reform plan rests on three main pillars: slashing bureaucracy and relocating roles to lower-cost countries, conducting a sweeping review of the thousands of mandates assigned to the UN, and reassessing the organization's structural framework. Ryder described the effort as a bid to "enhance the UN's relevance in an era of escalating crises and eroding public trust."
But many staffers believe the changes will come at their expense. A survey conducted by the UN Staff Coordinating Council found that 72% of respondents said the planned job cuts and outsourcing were unjustified, while 62% said they did not believe the reforms would improve organizational efficiency. Additionally, 73% voiced disapproval of the decision to spare senior leadership from the cuts.
Ian Richards, a senior staff member and former chair of the UN staff union, has publicly denounced the reform plan as "superficial," saying it merely repackages old mistakes. He criticized the reform document published by Ryder as heavy on "slick graphs and recycled statistics" but lacking real solutions. Richards also blamed UN leadership for creating the very mandate redundancies they now seek to eliminate.
"UN80 is nothing more than a scheme by Guterres to preemptively restructure the organization and deflect blame, an attempt to circumvent further 'Doge-like' budget cuts from Washington by creating the illusion of reform," said Dr. Eve Epstein, a former senior communications advisor to top UN officials and UN agencies. "It's very clear that the current state of the UN rests squarely on the shoulders of Secretary-General Guterres and his senior leadership team, not on external factors like US policies under President Trump."
The crisis peaked last week during an extraordinary general assembly of the UN staff union in Geneva, attended by some 600 employees. A no confidence motion was put forward in response to mounting frustration over the way the UN80 initiative is being advanced, and it passed without opposition. The resolution stated explicitly: "The staff has no confidence in the UN80 initiative, in UN Secretary-General António Guterres, or in Deputy Secretary-General Guy Ryder."
Employees argued that the reform process was being rushed and driven without genuine worker involvement, disproportionately harming junior staffers while top level roles remained protected or even extended. Critics said the changes would centralize power in UN headquarters, undermining operations on the ground and deepening the disconnect between leadership and staff.
This is the first no confidence vote against a sitting secretary-general since 2007, when a similar motion targeted then secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in New York.
"The UN80 initiative is being pushed in a state of panic, without learning from past failures, and unfairly blames staff while ignoring leadership shortcomings," the union said. "Rather than restoring confidence in multilateral institutions, this move risks deepening division and harming the very populations the UN is meant to serve."
While UN leaders tout the reform as forward looking and innovative, staffers feel abandoned, viewing the initiative as a cost saving maneuver at their expense. The decisive question now is whether UN member states, who hold the final say, will support the leadership's vision or side with the workforce.
