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At
UN, Food Workers Abruptly Told
of Layoffs, Swine Flu and Drugs Gag Order
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee
of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 --
With the diplomacy for which the United Nations is
known, its food service workers in New York were abruptly told Monday
that
layoffs begin on August 2. The UN headquarters is scheduled to be
emptied and
repaired,
by a contractor Skanska being sued for asbestos, and its cafeteria
is to be
cut in two, consolidated with the more upscale Delegates' Dining Room.
One worker,
staring at the day's offerings of chicken legs and corn, complained to
Inner
City Press that while "Obama is trying to save jobs, Ban Ki-moon is
eliminating them."
The notice was by the UN's contractor Aramark. Its
cleaning contractor
has not given similar notices, as there will still be a need to clear
the UN's
so-called swing spaces on Madison Avenue and 47th Street and Second
Avenue and
42nd and 46th Streets.
As Inner City Press has reported, the move is called
into question by
the Department of Safety
and Security's failure to produce risk assessments for
the swing space locations. Capital Master Plan chief Michael
Adlerstein is now
said to be blaming the head of the UN's New York security for not
preparing the
plans.
UN's Ban and Adlerstein, with Skanska, layoff
notices not shown
Adlerstein will hold a meeting with staff on May
7, but the contractors
being unceremoniously told of lay-offs are not expected to be invited.
Footnotes: The UN's
pandemic expert
David Navarro, in an uncharacteristically testy press conference on
Monday,
refused to state whether any UN staff have tested positive to swine or
H1N1
flu. Inner City Press asked him to comment on irregularities
in
"pharmaceutical controls," including with regard to Tamiflu as well
as Daizepam, in the UN Medical Service, but he declined.
The stated
purpose of
his briefing was so Ban Ki-moon won't be answered flu-related questions
at his
May 5 press conference. But now that seemed inevitable.
The role of the
pork industry in the UN World Health Organization's decision to change
the name of Swine Flu is not yet fully known. Apparently poultry groups
didn't have as much clout, as it is still called Bird Flu. On a recent
WHO press conference call, Inner City Press repeatedly pushed 0-1 to
get in line to ask a question, but wasn't called on. Next time, then.
Watch this site.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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