At UN,
Broken
Machines &
Staff "With
Hair on Fire,"
Technology
Blamed, Cuts
&
Off-Shoring
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 8 --
The protests
of austerity
in Spain,
Greece and
Portugal are
echoed at the
UN in a fight
between
workers in its
Publishing
Section and
Assistant
Secretary
General Franz
Baumann. On
October 4, the
Publishing
Section staff
went a letter
of complaint
to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, a
copy of which
Inner City
Press
obtained,
stating in
part that
"We
are just in
the second
week of the
67th session
of General
Assembly
and already
there is a
large number
of outstanding
printing jobs,
which reached
506 on the
first day of
the General
Debate... We
believe that
the magnitude
and scope of
the delays in
production of
mandated
parliamentary
documents is a
crisis
dictated by a
policy
aimed at
strangling off
publishing at
the United
Nations"
On
October 5,
Inner City
Press asked
ASG Baumann
for his
comment. To
his
credit, he did
respond
beginning:
Thanks
as usual for
checking back.
The facts do
not support
Mr. Smith's
contentions.
It would go
too far –
although it
would easily
be
possible – to
refute every
single one of
his
assertions.
Here are
a few:
"Our
Publishing
Section
processes on
average about
100 jobs per
day. Just
before the
beginning of
this year’s
General
Debate, the
number rose
to over 500.
There are no
outstanding
printing jobs.
No document
was
issued late.
Supplies are
in stock or
being procured
on a
just-in-time
basis."
There's
more, but to
move beyond
he-said,
she-said
journalism,
Inner City
Press has not
only sought
the Publishing
Section
staff's
reply, but
accepted their
invitation to
actually view
the machines
at
issue.
As of October
8, the large
offset
printing
Rockwell GOSS
machines
cannot work:
there are no
plates. There
have also been
shortages of
sleeves,
blankets, even
ink and water
solution.
Printing on
the GOSS
machines is
supposedly
being replaced
by
OCE digital
machines. But
on October 8,
two OCE
machines were
broken.
Jobs were, the
staff said,
backed up. We
do the best we
can, one
said, our hair
catches on
fire, but the
management
doesn't
listen.
They're trying
to reduce us
to a Kinko's
operation,
another
said. (Fed Ex
seems to have
killed that
brand name
off.)
The goal, he
continued, is
to eliminate
the Trades and
Craft
staff
category,
which they
claim cost
$140,000 each.
"That's not
true - and how
about how much
each
Professional
costs?"
Baumann
concluded
philosophically:
"In
2010, we
replaced
off-set
technology
with digital
printers,
which need far
fewer staff.
Instead of the
140 staff
members we had
in the
Publishing
Section, we
need about
35... Just as
the telephone
rendered the
Morse code
obsolete, the
photocopier
the carbon
paper or the
internet the
paper
phone
directory, the
UN's printed
documents are
a thing of the
past. We will
always print a
few, but only
a few."
The
staff say that
some 53 member
states asked
for more
documents in
print form,
but have not
been responded
to.
They say
that what
printing
remains being
shifted away
from the
Committees --
click here for
October 8
coverage of
the Fourth
Committee, by
Inner
City Press --
leaving a
shortage of
documents.
There is UN
labor strife
beyond the
Publishing
Division:
chief of
staff Susana
Malcorra had
been meeting
with
department
heads about a
coming five
percent across
the board cut,
and the Change
Management
team, revving
up for a big
video
conference,
talks of ten
percent
outsourcing,
ten percent
"off-shoring"
-- a buzzword
in
this political
season.
There
are
philosophical
differences,
and more
documents, but
the facts
should be
established.
We'll have
more on this -
watch this
site.
, 
