Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

This phrase  is from the words of Sri Chinmoy for the Inaugural Meditation of the Group almost 20 years previously on 14 April 1970. Adhiratha’s talk was well received by those present in the 2,500 seat auditorium. Excerpts form media coverage is below with a link to download the  complete speech.

Adhiratha Keefe in the G.A. Hall

A Rousing Speech At A UN Staff Protest Rally By A UNICEF Colleague

More than 2500 UN and UNICEF staff members held several meetings and rallies outside the UN building and inside the General Assembly hall in late March to protest moves that would, in effect, cut their recent cost-of- living allowances.

In response to staff concerns, Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar promised in a meeting with the staff to review the proposed pay scale and called for a special meeting of the joint Appeals Committee. The Committee’s recommendations, which were due after 7 May, have still not been made public.

General service staff, who are the ones most affected by the pay cut, say they may lose almost all of a 4.6 per cent cost of- living allowance they received last November because the International Civil Service Commission are being paid more than people doing similar work in other organizations.

The staff say a job comparison conducted by the ICSC was flawed, partly because it failed to recognize that some UN posts required academic qualifications.

On 27 March, the Administration called a meeting to which UNICEF DOP Director Fuad Kronfol was invited along with Andrew Joseph of UNDP and Luiz Gomez and Kofi Annan of the UN.

At one of the staff rallies held in the G .A. Hall UNICEF staff member Adhiratha Keefe delivered a speech he had written during his lunch break to the audience, which filled the 2500-seat – auditorium.  (Cont’d on p. 6)

As one UNICEF staff member wrote in a note to STAFF NEWS with the speech attached , .. Adhiratha got a standing ovation from the entire audience. He made all of us at UNICEF feel so proud!”  Here’s Adhiratha’s speech:

   Since we have the time now I felt I would share what I wrote during the lunch break. I raised my hand rather late in the discussion this morning because I felt I wanted to hear what others had to say especially the individuals who hold posts classified as general service. I held a few of those general service posts since I first started working here nearly seventeen years ago.

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Cartoon Inserted in Staff News Article

Is management style stressing staff?

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I am one of the small minority who have gone from G-2 to P-3 during that period. Some friends from my university days, who are outside the organization, might not think it so great to be at my level at my age after seventeen years – but that is not what I want to focus on.

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“The organization must not lose (its) idealists”

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   As earlier speakers noted, many come here with great idealism, many leave and many lose their idealism. Some find their own ways to cope with disillusionment and some are lucky to have support groups and friends whose kind words-or more often their example-inspire us to continue.

   But many deep down still believe in the reasons this organization was established. We stay because we want it to be a United Nations – a community of individuals from different cultures, nationalities and aspirations, but all joined together to bring about the vision set out in the charter. In our best times we are – as someone said earlier –  simple people who have come here to serve this vision. But as someone has said: “a bud is not a flower” *. And a seedling will never become a tree unless it grows and matures. So many of us are supporting this action because we see it as an effort to make the Administration of the United Nations address a problem not only of this issue and the results that have come out of the recent survey and proposed salary scale, but of the process whereby many decisions are made.

   It is symptomatic of a far deeper problem, and I think since our colleagues of the Press from the Correspondents’ Association were invited to attend this and many are here now, we should request them to use this opportunity to assist us in helping the wider audience to focus on the underlying issues.

   It is not a simple matter of the GS staff wanting a raise (or not wanting a cut in salary) . I have seen a number of employee attitude surveys over the years and it is always pointed out that individuals’ first major concerns are not what they are paid-beyond a certain reasonable level. It is rather how they are treated and what real and perceived potential for growth they sense in the institution or organization they work for.

   I perceive that the staff want the United Nations to set the example in all its activities – to be what it should be – and what many thought it was. Instead of justifying why it is not what it should be, the members of the administration should be coming up with concrete proposals and timetables for how the UN can become an organization where the development of its people is a main objective. If they believe that access to training opportunities is important- then this should become more of an issue with the Fifth Committee and other forums .

   If there were a real career development plan – with substantive resources placed in meaningful training programmes for all levels of staff and not just for present duties, but for the duties one or two levels above where they are now, so they could be prepared to be considered for these posts when they become vacant – if this were the case, then we could think the administration was sincere in their recent arguments.

   The organization must be ready for the changes in the world by attracting, training, retraining and retaining the best people it can, and not losing the idealists and those who speak out!

   We must work to change this institution and, where necessary, ourselves, so that the organization and we-its people can be more worthy of the hopes and wishes of all those who believe in the dream for this house.

   Let us begin here! Let us begin with the staff-for a real career civil service. Let us prepare for the future.

   The world expects it of us. The dream must progress and become the reality. Thank you.

– From United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)  Staff News  April – June 1990

* NOTE: “Bud is not a flower” From Sri Chinmoy’s talk  at the United Nations: Inauguration Meditation  April 14, 1970  “Today’s United Nations was yesterday’s perfecting Vision. Tomorrow’s United Nations is today’s fulfilling Realisation. Unity is not oneness. A bud is not a flower. Unity is the temple. Oneness is the shrine. The absence of unity is … Read more