UNITED
NATIONS, April
5 -- Is it any
wonder that
the UN can't
mediate in the
Middle East,
Congo or the
Koreas, if it
can't even
speak to its
own
staff?
After
the UN Staff
Union voted
“no
confidence” in
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, his
outgoing head
of the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Management
Jean-Jacques
Graisse has
been trying to
meet
with the
Publishing
Section.
From
the third
sub-basement
they had
complained,
with evidence,
that the
UN intended to
eliminate
their jobs.
Then when
Hurricane
Sandy hit,
the UN took
advantage. Now
this.
After
that Unit,
Unit 5, said
again, “no
confidence,”
Graisse on
April
4 sent this
out:
Earlier
this
week, I
invited the
DGACM staff
representatives
and the
President of
the New York
Staff Union to
meet with
DGACM
management
tomorrow,
Friday, 5
April to
discuss the
matters
related to the
Publishing
Section.
Regrettably,
the
representatives
of Unit 5
(Publishing
Section),
declined my
invitation,
and, as a
consequence,
so did the
other DGACM
staff
representatives.
Therefore,
I
invite you to
a general
staff meeting
tomorrow at 3
p.m. in room
NLB-7. All
DGACM staff
representatives,
President of
the New York
Staff Union as
well as
officials of
the Department
of Management
are
hereby also
invited.
Inner
City Press
went and
staked-out the
meeting. Some
from Unit 5
went
in, but there
was tension in
the air.
While
they were
inside, Inner
City Press
covered the
beginning of a
meeting of the
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions with
a
European-heavy
group of big
wigs in from
the UN's
mission in
Cote
d'Ivoire. We
hope to have
more on that.
Suddenly
the
Unit 5 crew
came out. We
walked out,
they told
Inner City
Press.
“No
confidence.”
And so it goes
at the UN.
Footnote:
If Ban's
spokesperson's
office hadn't
hit the new
low of
refusing to
even take
questions,
perhaps this
interim report
could have had
more.
, 
