UN
Job
Reductions
Target Lower
Levels, Kane
Memo
Says Can Cut
Permanent
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 17,
updated Oct 18
-- As the UN
reacts to
calls to cut
its budget,
its "post
reductions"
are
disproportionately
directed as
lower level
staff, who
accuse
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
his
administration
of a lack of
transparency
and even
honesty.
Inner
City Press
has obtained a
copy of a
member from
Ban's top
Management
official
Angela Kane
which tells
Departments to
start
preparing for
cuts, even
before the UN
General
Assembly
considers
them, and
provides for
the
termination of
staff with
"permanent"
contracts.
Click here
to
view.
But
in an October
17 response to
questions
Inner City
Press asked
back on
October 7
about 41
planned post
eliminations
in the UN's
Publishing
Section,
the
UN states
that
"The
post
reductions in
the New York
Printing
Section are
contained in
the
Secretary
General’s
proposed
programme
budget for the
biennium
2012-2013.
They are
expected to be
achieved
through
attrition and
other
management
measures, i.e.
without
involuntary
redundancies."
Contrast
this with
Kane's
internal memo,
stating that
"I
am
writing
regarding the
abolition of
posts proposed
in your
department/office
for the
biennium
2012-2013. As
you know, the
final
decision on
any abolition
of post(s)
rests with the
General
Assembly. In
the event that
the General
Assembly does
approve the
Secretary-General's
proposals,
certain
preparatory
work should be
undertaken by
each
department/office
with regard to
the staff that
will be
affected by
the abolition
of their
respective
posts... staff
members
who hold
permanent
appointments
must be given
three (3)
months written
notice of
termination of
their
appointment."
The
UN's
response-after-ten-day
is also
inconsistent
with even the
UN's
pro-management
write up of
the underlying
meeting, which
states that
"The
Secretary-General's
final budget
proposal
assumes that
37 TC posts
and 4 GS posts
will be
abolished in
the PS...
processing of
publications
currently
processed on
offset
machines will
be
outsourced...
The 2012-2013
model implies
that 81 posts
need to be
abolished."
One
of the
addressees,
Narendra
Nandoe, is
said to be
"sabotaging"
the
Publishing
unit by
refusing to
order supplies
or allow small
errors
to be fixed.
So it goes at
this UN.
Kane,
SG & DSG,
requested (c) UN
Photo but
caption
analysis not
shown. For now
The
UN's
response-after-ten-day begins with the UN's
officially
garbled
transcription
of Press
questions,
followed by a
differently
prepared
transcription
of the UN
spokesman,
with all "uhs"
removed.
(Some within
the chain of
command say
that UN staff
have been
ordered to
make it so.)
So here is a
"clean up" of
the transcript
of the October
7 noon
briefing:
Inner
City
Press:
yesterday,
people working
in UN
publishing
were told that
41 of those
cuts will come
from their
department —
37 posts and 4
trades and
crafts. I
wanted you to
confirm if
that’s true,
and they
wonder, and I
also in turn
wonder,
whether this
idea of
totally
phasing out
publication
and laying
those people
off is
something
that’s been
checked with
Member States
in terms of
them using
things like
the Journal,
and the
various things
that are
printed by
the UN,
including
reports. Is it
true that 30
per cent of
the cuts
are in one
division and
why is that
the case?
Spokesperson:
I’d have to
check on the
details of
what is a
budget
submission
and a budget
submission
that goes to
the Member
States and is
approved by
Member States.
If I have
anything else
further, then
obviously we
can let you
know, but I
think that’s
an important
factor here.
Inner
City
Press: I don’t
know whether
they are
called
lay-offs or
post
eliminations,
will these,
before they’re
implemented,
require the
approval of
the Fifth
Committee?
Spokesperson:
I need to
check. But if
it’s a budget
submission,
then a budget
submission
needs the
approval of
Member States.
Inner
City
Press: they
were told, I
don’t think it
was said in
either in
the Fifth or
ACABQ, I think
it was said by
the UN
Secretariat to
publishing
people.
Spokesperson:
As I say, I
need to check.
Then
for ten days,
the UN did not
provide a
response. But
documents came
in. Watch this
site.
Footnote:
meanwhile
the rest of
"Kane's reign"
bears marks of
decline, down
to the
smallest and
most simple
things. Monday
delegates
groused that
they couldn't
even print,
with the
computer
printer on the
North Lawn's
second floor
left again
without paper.
When the hours
of the UN
cafeteria were
cut, they put
potato
chip and soda
machines in
the lobby for
the other
hours. Now
these
machines have
been moved
inside the
cafeteria:
locked up in
the
off-hours the
machines were
supposed to
serve.
Likewise
the small bar
purportedly
filling in for
the
closed-down
Delegates'
Lounge is
rarely open.
"Ban Ki-moon
and Angela
Kane have
sucked," a
well placed
commadic UN
staff source
said, "the
life out of
the UN."
Update
of Oct 18:
while UN
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said he
wouldn't
comment on a
"leaked memo"
-- even if it
contradicted
the public
answer he
alluded to --
one of the
problems
reported above
was acted on
the UN the
next day: the
potato chip
machine
(c) MRLee
Post
publication,
UN on Oct 18
moved soda and
chips back to
lobby. Thanks
, 
