By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 20 -- News of the labor problems of the UN under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has now spread beyond the UN.
Inner City Press has learned that the major union confederation AFL-CIO has written in protest to Ban, about Ban's proposed elimination of 17 union Broadcast Engineer jobs. Click here for the letter, which the NY AFL-CIO copied to Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Anthony Weiner.
Inner City Press has been covering the downward trend in Ban's relations with labor for some months, most recently publishing a leaked “mobility” memo from Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar to his chief of management Angela Kane and head of the UN Office of Human Resource Management Catherine Pollard, it is suggested that “40 percent of total recruitment in every Department every year be set aside for applicants external to the Department.”
Before that publication, Inner City Press asked Under Secretary General Angela Kane about the memo. She said, We think about a lot of things -- but when you write about them it makes trouble.
The trouble, though, come from affected UN staff themselves. The fourteen UN system unions in the SMCC have written to Ban, Nambiar and Kim Won-soo among others, citing the memo “now in the public domain,” asking Ban to “accept that your memo can and will no longer be a point of discussion of action.” Click here for that letter.
So with the Ban administration is under fire, how does it react?
Affected staff accused of posting a flyer about their plight were threatened with being fired. Ban's spokesman do not answer questions about the disputes: not Inner City Press' question months about the broadcast engineers, not more recent questions to lead spokesman Martin Nesirky about the elevator operator positions being pushed out of Union 32BJ, not yet this, on safety, from April 19:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask two questions about the building. One concerns air tests. Previously, the Staff Union was allowed to conduct air tests for asbestos and other toxins, and I am told that now either the Department of Management or the CMP [Capital Master Plan] has blocked any type of air tests. Can you either confirm or deny that, and explain why those tests are not allowed to be performed by those who work here?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq: No. I will check with the Capital Master Plan.
But 23 hours later, no information has been provided.
The CMP, however, was responsible for loud drilling and hammering while the Security Council met about Sudan on the morning of April 20.
Weeks ago, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson's office about a new ASG working in the Department of Safety & Security, questioning why that appointment had never been publicly announced. An answer was promised but never given.
Now this week the appointment has finally been announced, with the statement that General Assembly sign off on creating the ASG position had belatedly been obtained. But what does the GA and member states think about Ban's mounting problems with labor? Watch this site.