UNITED
NATIONS, April
4 -- Fifty
days after the
UN Staff Union
voted “no
confidence” in
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, Ban's
outgoing chief
of the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Management
Jean-Jacques
Graisse can't
even get a
meeting with
his staff.
On
March 28,
Graisse wrote
to Staff Union
leaders as
well as Ban
officials
Susana
Malcorra,
Catherine
Pollard and
Franz Baumann,
asking for an
“emergency”
meeting on
April 3. He
said it
concerned the
“force
majeure”
event of
Hurricane
Sandy, which
allowed the UN
to move on
plans to
kill off
publishing
jobs.
On
April 2,
Graisse's
office asked,
“May we
propose to
meet for an
emergency
DGACM
staff-management
consultation
on Friday, 5th
April,
from 10 to 12
in the
morning, in
room S-1517,
to discuss the
current
temporary
situation
resulting from
the impact of
storm Sandy
with
regards to the
Publishing
Section staff?
Our invitation
to President
of the Staff
Union to
participate in
the meeting if
she finds it
acceptable and
useful remains
open.”
After
some back and
forth, he was
told that some
in the Union,
due to the
no confidence
vote of
January 24,
would decline
to meet with
him. And
this turned
out to be
true:
As
stated
previously we
intend to
abide by the
vote of no
confidence
taken by the
EGM of the
staff. It will
be up to the
staff to
mandate
us to meet
with the
management.
Just
to remind all
of our fellow
DGACM we
initiated a
dialogue with
Mr.
Graisse when
he first came
subsequent to
that meeting
and the
subsequent
meeting that
included Mr.
Baumann, we
went back and
forth
on the issue
of the meeting
record being
falsified and
our position
being
misrepresented.
Despite
repeated
attempts to
have this
corrected by
them and their
refusal, this
matter is now
before MEU.
The illegal
actions by Mr.
Baumann to
restructure
the Publishing
Section
without
mandate and
the pretext of
a vague plan
in an Annex
of a budget
proposal was
the subject of
tribunal
orders of
Suspension
of Action and
Interim
Relief. To
remind you,
the Tribunal
in Order
No. 77
(NY/2013) of
27 March 2013
"order[ed] the
Respondent to
suspend the
implementation
of the
decision to
conduct a
recruitment
exercise via
Inspira, or by
any other
means
whatsoever,
for 19 new
posts in the
Publishing
Section,
DGACM, for a
period of 60
days from
the date of
this Order or
pending a
final
determination
of the
substantive
merits of the
application,
if sooner, or
until such
further Order
as may be
deemed
appropriate by
the Tribunal".
It
is our
position that
DGACM has
continually
acted without
regard to
any mandates,
rules, or
staff rights.
Let us not
waste anymore
time
meeting with a
management in
which the
staff has no
confidence and
continue to
show bad faith
to us. In
calling for
the meeting,
Mr.
Graisse stated
that "[t]he
urgency is
dictated by
the fact that
a number of PS
staff
currently have
no meaningful
work
assignments -
a situation
unacceptable
to them as
well to the
management and
Member
States." This
is not a cause
for
staff-management
consultation,
but an
indictment of
the
incompetency
and failure of
the management
of DGACM.
The
DGACM
management
must show that
it is sincere
in
establishing
proper
relations or
willing to
mend their
ways and work
to rebuilding
trust
and the
confidence of
the staff.
Regrettably, I
don't see this
happening with
the DGACM
management of
Mr. Graisse,
Mr. Baumann,
Mr.
Olafsson, Ms.
Chiulli, Mr.
Nanadoe and
Mr. Shpiniov.
And
there you have
it. But will
it be
different with
Graisse
replaced by
Gettu? There's
talk of
businesses in
Addis.
Meanwhile Ban
himself has
been in San
Marina,
Andorra and
Monaco.
Ban USG for
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
openly refuses
to answer
Press questions
about spreading
cholera and
rapes by the UN's
partners.
Ban's
Department of
Public
Information raided
the Press'
office, while
the president
of the UN's
Censorship
Alliance Pam
Falk of CBS
took photos.
Now DPI won't
even give the
names of those
allowed by it
to enter. So
it goes at the
UN. Watch
this site.
, 
