At UN, of Beepers and Bed Bugs in the Albano Building, Electronic Sign In

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- Months after Inner City Press exclusively reported that bed bugs had been found in portions of the UN's office space in the Albano Building on 46th Street, and the UN belated confirmed it, the UN has found that there are bugs on almost all floors of the building. A notice was sent out on May 7, provided to Inner City Press by a whistleblower, that

"Dear Focal points, Please be advised that the report came back from the exterminator on the bed bug follow up inspection. The exterminator reported that the dog found problems on almost all floors. The reports says 90% of the building had problems. The exterminator will be fumigating the building on Saturday 08 May 2010 from 9:00am -9:00pm. No staff are allowed in the building while it is being fumigated. All staff are safe to return to the building on Sunday morning. Sorry for the short notice. If you have any questions please feel free to call me. Thanks, Brian Hogan."

The Albano Building houses, among other things, the UN's Text Processing Units. These are about to be subject to an electronic sign in system promoted by Assistant Secretary General Franz Baumann, who tells Inner City Press that when he was at the UN in Vienna, staff had no problem with this system. Here the Staff Union -- both factions -- have opposed by swipe in. But Baumann is pushing forward, as explained in this recent Q & A:

Inner City Press: Can you confirm or deny you have ordered the text processing unit to implement electronic sign-in, despite opposition to it?

ASG Baumann: Nothing has been ordered. But DGACM will introduce the kind of state-of-the art electronic time and attendance keeping system which has been successfully implemented at UNOV/UNODC since 2003 to much acclaim from staff, including the Staff Union there. So, stay tuned. In the meantime, we are discussing details with the staff and the staff representatives of DGACM.



UN's Ban swears in Baumann, staff shown, bugs not


Inner City Press also asked Baumann about another controversy within the Text Processing Unit(s)

Inner City Press: Can you confirm and explain that you now expect all of this in Text Processing Unit to have (and pay for) their own cell phones, to replace the beeper system you have discontinued?

ASG Baumann: There is not one Text Processing Unit, but six. Staff in these, as in other parts of DGACM, are expected on occasion to be on stand-by - and are compensated for this. During such stand-by periods, staff have to be reachable, whether on their home-phone or, if they choose to be away from home, by other means. It is not a contractual requirement - or a sensible assumption in this day and age - for the Organization to pay for this reachability. Pagers are a - like Morse Code or Telex - a very outdated technology, yet expensive to administer, and their use has indeed been decided to be discontinued by the DGACM Departmental Management Group on the advice of its ICTC Committed.

Several DGACM staff complain that they do not have a cell phone, and should not be required by the UN to get one at their own expense, while others even having one do not view this as a legitimate demand by the UN as employer. But so it goes.

Footnote: The most independent judge in the UN's internal justice system has been pressured not to seek re-appointment, Inner City Press is told. Judge Adams, who has issued findings of contempt against the administration of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his USG Shaaban Shaaban and others, will hear his last case for the UN on May 12. We hope to be there.