UN's Ban Hit With Staff "No Confidence" Vote, on Asbestos, G to P, Tamil Protest

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press
www.innercitypress.com/ban09june3presser061609.html

A UN GC City, June 16 -- Reeling from low grades from the Economist and questions of viability in the Financial Times, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday was hit with a vote of "no confidence" from the UN Staff Union regarding implementation of the Capital Master Plan and the management of human resources.

The resolution criticizes Ban and his team for relocating staff to "swing space buildings before the security risk assessments were done," for the manner of asbestos removal and for stifling meritocracy and "career advancement including the leap from G to P" -- from general to professional staff.

Each of these issues has been festering for months, and most can be attributed back to the UN Department of Management, headed by Angela Kane. Ms. Kane herself has acknowledged a failure to communicate about the postponement of the National Competitive Exam, but similar issues exist around the G to P exam.

The resolution was voted for by over 200 staff members at a meeting on June 16, with no opposition, one abstention. According to one attendee, "the mood was one of distrust, of Angela Kane, Michael Adlerstein and Ban Ki-moon. It was stated again and again that Management is not acting in a responsible, safe or appropriate manner."

CMP chief Michael Adlerstein first said the security risk assessments were done, then referred all questions to the Department of Safety and Security, whose Bruno Henn "no commented" the issue.

Ms. Angela Kane, beyond an icy relationship with the UN Staff Union, has lashed out at the press, specifically and generally, first proposing for the first time in the history of UN Headquarters to charge journalists money to cover it, then trying to subject whistleblowers to exposure. The pretext is an open office plan which the resolution notes was "never negotiated with the staff representatives."

Ms. Kane has complained that the UN's responses are not published, while telling the Press that she has no time to answer questions.

The Economist magazine gave Mr. Ban a failing grade of two out of ten on management. When Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban for his response, his statement was passionate, but largely laid the blame elsewhere. But this new "no confidence" vote does not bode well.

Additionally, as Inner City Press previously reported, Ban may be subject to a rare street protest on the night of June 17, when he and Bill Clinton are slated to receive a "global humanitarian award" at the St. Regis Hotel. Tamils who watched the bloodbath on the beach in Northern Sri Lanka and the UN withholding casualty figures and satellite photos blame Ban.

While the Security Council and members not only from China and Russia, but also for lack of true commitment to protection of civilians by the UK, France and US, share much of the blame, it is Ban who is targeted for protest, as his advisors know. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban09june3presser061609.html

In UN's Caste System, Talent Is Wasted by Nepotism, G's Called "Just a Clerk" and Offered No Protection

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1caste022608.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 26 -- "The UN is like a caste system," an over-qualified General Service staff member told Inner City Press. "If you come into the system near the bottom, they make it nearly impossible to rise" to the Professional grade. On Tuesday one of the few opportunities came, when the so-called G to P exam was administered. Some 200 General Service staff take the test, vying to ten or so Professional posts. The process is far from transparent, and there are no appeals.

Throughout the UN system, one finds General Service staff and security officers with graduate degrees, who often are more knowledgeable that the people who supervise them. It all depends on how and at what level a person came into the system, and who they know. Inner City Press knows a security officer with a masters degree in international affairs, who is told he cannot rise. Meanwhile there are directors of offices with less academic credentials, and less knowledge.

The UN's caste system is more than bureaucratic, it was become a culture. A UN official to whom questions about a technician's death were directed remarked, "It's only a clerk." Questions were left unanswered, because the technician was not a staff member of the Secretariat, but rather of something called the International Computing Center, administered by the World Health Organization which has also refused questions. This ICC, it turns out, does not defend those who work for it. One ICC technician, faced with sexual harassment by a high UN official, was told by the UN in New York that nothing could be done, to reach over the Atlantic to the ICC. There, the answer was that the ICC does not process, or apparently favor, such complaints.

When Ban Ki-moon took over at Secretary General more than a year ago, he promised to bring not only transparency but also modern management methods, mobility for staff. So far, it has not happened. The previous Deputy Secretary General was confronted with leaked statistics, which showed the system's waste of talent. One of the complaints was that those hired at the G level were not told they could not rise, that they could not even take to G to P test until they had wiled away five years. What was the response? To make G level entrants sign a waiver that they knew they would be trapped, even in some cases committing not to seek to rise. This archaic caste system continues; the reforms promised by Ban Ki-moon have yet to be seen.

Footnotes: Mr. Ban himself was last seen launching a campaign to end violence against women, handing out little white whistles on key chains, to blow if and when violence approaches. One wag in the crowd said, at last, Ban's UN is finally encouraging whistleblowers. We'll see.

People who took this week's G to P exam tell Inner City Press that on the Public Information test, there was a question about bloggers, a question that in the real world the UN has yet to answer, or is answering negatively...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1caste022608.html