As
UN Moves for
5% Cut, Staff
Say Not
Consulted on
Job Loss and
Offshoring,
Cite US
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 9 --
The week
before the
UN's General
Debate,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra told
other
department
heads to
prepare to cut
five percent
of costs, and
to move or
outsource
jobs,
according to a
UN Staff Union
message to
Malcorra
obtained by
Inner City
Press, which
is putting
the message
and reply
online here.
Malcorra
replied
to the Staff
Union the next
day (September
21, 2012) that
yes, "we have
brought
together all
Senior
Leadership to
discuss the
strategic
framework
within which
we will be
working. That
is the meeting
you
refer to in
your email to
Secretary-General.
We had a very
constructive
exchange with
Senior
Advisors from
New York and
all
overseas
locations."
But
not apparently
Staff Union
Representatives,
who have
complained to
Ban, Malcora,
Kim Won-soo of
Change
Management,
Yukio Takasu
of Management
and Catherine
Pollard of
Human
Resources that
"this would
mean that the
budget for
Executive
Offices in
departments,
the entire
Department of
Management,
UNOG [Geneva],
UNOV
[Vienna], UNON
[Nairobi] and
administrative
units in
Regional
Commissions
will be cut by
5%."
Other
Staff Union
sources
describe 10%
of jobs to be
outsourced,
and 10% to
be "offshored"
-- they say,
perhaps
self-servingly,
that it
is strange
that the US
Administration
is supporting
these changes
that would
result in a
loss of jobs
in the United
States and, in
many
cases, for
Americans.
Yesterday
Inner
City Press reported,
also
exclusively,
on moves to
reduce jobs
in the UN
Publishing
Section in
part by not
ordering
supplies for
the
GOSS printing
machines and,
workers there
tell Inner
City Press,
increasingly
doing printing
jobs "off the
books" so that
the UN appears
more paperless
than it is.
These cuts are
larger, and
will be the
subject of an
upcoming video
conference --
and more
reporting by
Inner City
Press. Watch
this site.
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