After
Ban Calls NY
Staff
"Selfish,"
Union Votes No
Confidence In
Him
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 24,
updated with resolution
here --
Two days after
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon told
the Press that
UN
staff in New
York who
oppose his
proposals are
"selfish,"
the Staff
Union on
Thursday
afternoon
adopted a
resolution of
"no confidence
in the
Secretary
General and
his senior
management
officials."
The
Emergency
meeting was
initially
listed as
closed to the
media. But
after several
staff members
petitioned the
Union
president,
Inner City
Press was
invited in and
was the only
media to
witness the
debate and
vote.
The
president
began by
quoting Ban
Ki-moon's
accusation of
selfishness,
made in
response to
Inner City
Press'
question about
his mobility
proposal and
$100 million
in budget
cuts, only 30%
of which can
be "non-post."
Click
here for
Inner City
Press story,
and the
transcript.
Even
in an era of
austerity in
many
countries, few
elected
leaders would
publicly call
those opposing
budget cuts
and changes in
terms of
service
"selfish."
Those who did
would be voted
out of office.
But there is
not that
accountability
mechanism in
the UN, as
more than one
staff member
argued to
Inenr City
Press.
On
January 23,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey if Ban
had any second
thoughts about
the word
"selfish." No,
Del Buey
replied, Ban
"stands firmly
behind it." Story here.
Later
on January 23
as Ban Ki-moon
passed by the
table in front
of the
Security
Council where
Inner City
Press was
reporting on
the Council's
Middle East
debate, Ban
told Inner
City Press,
enigmatical
but not
unfriendly, "I
read you
article."
Now he
will
presumably
read the Staff
Union's
resolution of
no confidence,
adopted by a
vote of 186 in
favor, 45
against with
ten
abstentions.
The
resolution
slams the $100
million
proposed
budget cut.
For the
record, Ban's
office has
told Inner
City Press
that it was
the General
Assembly which
required this
cut. But the
GA did not
specify that
70% of the cut
would have to
come from
"posts,' or
staff.
Likely
to catch Ban's
attention, the
resolution
criticizes
excessive
travel
spending by
Ban "and his
entourage,
including his
spouse."
Another
reference to
Ban being a
"hatchet man"
was voted out
of the
resolution.
Left
in the
resolution,
despite a bid
to remove it,
was criticism
of waste in
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
the Department
of Field
Support.
From
the floor of
the debate,
Ban's
Wikipedia page
was read out
loud, complete
with the
moniker
"slippery eel"
and a penchant
for dodging
questions.
Ban's head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
however is
much worse: he
directed his
spokesman to
seize the UNTV
microphone so
that Inner
City Press could not ask a question about DPKO's
work in
Eastern Congo.
Video here.
These
Ban
Adminstration
refusals to
answer or be
open are being
called into
question by
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
on behalf of
which Inner
City Press at
Ban's January
22 press
conference
asked for more
meetings to be
open, before
asking about
mobility and
budget cuts.
Ban's
Department of
Public
Information
has adopted a
range of
approaches the
FUNCA and its
push for
transparency
and due
process:
indulgence,
opposition,
stonewalling.
Most recently,
DPI
is trying to
prevent FUNCA
from posting
any fliers in
the Dag
Hammarskhold
Library
building.
But FUNCA will
perservere.
As
will the Staff
Union. While
some argued
that
expressing "no
confidence"
meant Ban will
no longer
speak with
them, others
said he
hasn't,
anyway. But
where else
would Ban
speak, about
his staff
reforms? Watch
this site.
Update
of January 29:
the Staff
Union finally
put out the
resolution,
five days
after the vote
and the story
above and
after Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman said
he hadn't seen
the
resolution.
Well, now: resolution
here
, 
