After
No Confidence
Vote, UN Staff
Won't Meet
Ban's
Malcorra,
DRC
Differences
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 17 –
In a telling
sign of
mismanagement,
UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra
cannot
even meet with
the leadership
of the Staff
Union unit
worst impacted
by
ill-preparation
for Hurricane
Sandy.
On
a resolution
of the Staff
of the
Publishing
Section,
e-mails
obtained
by Inner City
Press reflect
that Malcorra
was rebuffed
in a belated
attempt to
meet. This
followed a
January 24 Staff
Union wide
resolution
expressing “no
confidence” in
Ban Ki-moon.
While
related to
criticism of
Ban's decision
that 70% of
$100 million
in
budget cuts
must come from
personnel
costs or
salary, the
rift was
worsened by
Ban's reaction
to the
criticism.
Inner
City Press asked Ban
about the
opposition,
and in the
course of a
lengthy and
heartfelt
January 22
answer, Ban
used the word
“selfish” for
UN
staff in New
York.
The next day
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesperson's
office if they
wanted to
amend or
explain the
characterization.
No, they said,
Ban's
stands behind
it.
Days
later the “no
confidence”
resolution was
passed. Now on
a
resolution of
the Staff of
the Publishing
Section, being
moved from
their jobs
apparently
permanently
using water
damage from
Hurricane
Sandy as a
pretext for
moves taking
place before
the storm,
Malcorra
can't even get
a meeting.
Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesman
about the
following
leaked e-mail
chain:
From:
Staff
Representative,
Unit 5 @UNHQ
To: Susana
Malcorra/NY/UNO@UNHQ
Date:
06/02/2013
02:10 PM
Subject:
Resolution of
the Staff of
Publishing
Section, DGACM
Dear
Ms. Malcorra,
I
will not be
attending your
meeting today
with the 44th
Staff Council
staff
representatives.
I believe
there is an
obligation by
the staff
representatives
to ensure the
will of the
staff is
communicated.
Please see the
attached
resolution.
And then
From:
Susana
Malcorra/NY/UNO
To: Staff
Representative,
Unit 5 @UNHQ
Date:
06/02/2013
03:01 PM
Subject: Re:
Resolution of
the
Staff of
Publishing
Section, DGACM
I
regret that
you will not
be able to
make it this
afternoon. I
have
received the
Resolution and
have some
comments to
make.
Regards,
Susana
Malcorra, Chef
de Cabinet
Executive
Office of the
Secretary-General
[attachment
"PS
Staff Res
02042013.doc"
deleted by
Susana
Malcorra/NY/UNO]
[We
will have more
on this
deleted
attachment and
others.] While
the
spokesman
responded to
other parts of
the question
-- including
explaining
that he had
replied in at
longest two
hours to a
wire
service where
he used to
work -- no
response at
all was given
to this
(mis)
management
issue.
The less
than two hours
response was
on the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
framework
agreement,
about which
Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
asked not only
the
Spokesperson's
Office
but also
Malcorra
herself. Like
they say, no
confidence.
Watch this
site.
, 
