Amid UNTV Lay Offs, UN Says Its Up to Contractor, Like Garment Industry; Of TeamPeople Skeleton Crew, EZTV & Banning Dissent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 27 -- Two days before long time UN sound engineers and camera operators stand to lose their jobs, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about Ban's labor practices and new and mounting criticism of them.

Del Buey declined to respond to the critical letter of the ITUC federation of unions, with 176 million members, which Inner City Press put online yesterday. On the situation of the audio visual technicians, he said he'd supply an answer. And now he has:

Subject: Your question on TV services at the UN
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] org
Date: Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 2:39 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding the contract for Audiovisual Services at the UN, we have the following to say:

Following a standard procurement solicitation process, a new contract for Broadcast and Audiovisual Services at UN Headquarters in New York has been awarded to TeamPeople, a media talent staffing company based in Virginia. TeamPeople has broad experience in providing technical staffing to broadcasters, media operations, video production companies and conference facilities in the US and the UK. TeamPeople will assume full operational responsibilities on 1 July, and the contract will run for a period of two years with options to extend.

The new contractor has sole responsibility for supplying the technicians, i.e. sound engineers, camera operators and studio technicians. The UN's contract is with the contractor only and the UN is not involved in the contractor's hiring processes.

  Not only does this sound suspiciously like a clothing company saying it is not responsible for its contractors, like the one's whose factory recently collapsed in Bangladesh -- it ignores the question of the quality of the broadcasts.

  Already on Thursday when Iraq's foreign minister Zebari spoke, there was no boom microphone operator. Inner City Press shouted out its question about the $11 billion Iraq still owes Kuwait -- but still on the webcast, trying to transcribe it, questions could barely be heard.

  And it stands to get worse. TeamPeople has told those it has interviewed that it plans to go to a “skeleton crew” through August. They will be doing trainings this weekend -- the two days before they become entirely responsible for UNTV productions.

  Meanwhile on the UN's new “EZTV” system, already not working at BBC, Al Jazeera English, TV5 Monde, MSNBC and all local stations. The UN says it wants the news out, but of late makes things difficult for reporters, and even threatens them with the suspension or withdrawal of accreditation for aligning with and hanging the sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access, pushing for more access, to hold the UN to its stated principles. Watch this site.

  

At UN, ITUC Labor Confederation of 176 Million Slams Ban Ki-moon's Walk Out on Staff in Mexico City, Like Ban on Dissent

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 26 – The “crisis” in labor relations in the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, which Inner City Press profiled on June 16, has been noticed by a major international labor confederation with 176 million members.

  The Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation has today written to Ban Ki-moon expressing “shock” at his decisions, which they say are “especially disconcerting given that the UN is meant to set a positive example for the world’s governments, based on respect for fundamental human rights.”

  Inner City Press has obtained the ITUC letter and puts it online here. It refers to Ban's Secretariat's walk out of the Mexico City meetings, and does not accept him blaming it on the General Assembly.

  The ITUC letter states that “labor-management relations within the UN system have long been in a state of crisis. This previously came to a head in 2011, when major budget cuts were announced without prior consultations with staff representatives about the decision or its effects. The establishment of a new Staff-Management Committee (SMC), meant to strengthen staff management relations and bring the procedures of the UN more into line with those of the UN Charter and ILO Conventions, was a step in the right direction. 

"However, the SMC II, which took place this month in Mexico City, is evidence of an ongoing crisis within the UN. We understand that one of the central agenda items was proposed changes to the Secretary-General's Bulletin (SGB) which would strip the staff of negotiating rights.”

  Just as the UN is not living up to the principles espoused by its International Labor Organization, the UN's talk about freedom of the press and of association is called into question by its recent attempts to outlaw even a single sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access, which is pressing for more media access and, relatedly, for better treatment of the the audio visual workers the UN uses. Watch this site.

  

At UN, Tour Guides Go On Strike, World Body's Labor Double Standards Protested

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN: 11 am exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/unguides120607.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- The visitors' lobby at the UN was filled with complaints Thursday morning, as people seeking tours confronted a "Closed" sign, "No guided tours today." The guides, who work at the UN but are technically not UN staff, had for months sought to negotiate with UN management but were rebuffed. Finally Thursday they called in sick en masse. The supervisor behind the tour counter, questioned by Inner City Press, said "We have no staff today."

"And tomorrow?"

"We hope so."

UN Staff Union sources contacted by Inner City Press predict that the job action will continue on Friday. The tour guides had asked that the union be allowed to attend a meeting they requested with management, but the request was denied. An appeal to the Under-Secretary General for Management Alicia Barcena on November 29, from the president of the UN staff union, was never responded to. Inner City Press' request for Ms. Barcena's comment on Thursday morning was taken down by a receptionist but Ms. Barcena, in a meeting, was not immediately available for comment.

A German tourist who came expected to see the UN, Thomas Grieskamp, told Inner City Press that while he was inconvenienced and would not be able to see the UN, he supported the guides' right to strike. "They have to fight for that rights," he said, questioning their treatment given, among other things, the dues that Germany pays to the UN.

Visitors to the UN take over 436,000 guided tours a year, with a satisfaction rate near 100%, according to a position paper prepared by the union. The UN charges adults $13 for each tour. The guides, however, are kept at 30 hours a week, to remain technically part-time, a strategy similar to that of Wal-Mart and other embattled retailers. Additionally, according to the position paper, the guides are "not guaranteed adequate long-term sick leave. The result has often been the onset of far more serious illness due to a lack of sufficient recovery. The service contract does not afford consideration for pregnant women." A situation in this regard, described as "heart-wrenching" by several guides, played a role in triggering the job action.

Another looming issue is that when the UN Headquarters closes for renovations, the tour guides will all be out of work, as they currently understand it. They have asked to be represented, even if only informally, by the UN staff union, but management has refused.

One guide who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation told Inner City Press, "They ask us to be the public face of the UN, then they treat us like this. It's hypocrisy and a scandal they world should know about." And on Thursday, there were no tours. Developing.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unguides120607.html