Fighting To Keep My Job: Case Study of a United Nations Retiree

Fighting to Keep My Job highlights an unpleasant episode during the authors 10-year career with the World Food Council. On 12 June 1989 the Executive Director of the Council notified him of his intention to terminate his employment by 31 December 1989. The author recalls his shock at the news. I was speechless. This was a letter from my boss. It was the last thing I had expected. What had I done? The author was at the time Chief of the Councils Liaison Office at United Nations Headquarters New York. No reason was given why such a drastic action was being taken against him beyond a vague allusion made to Mr. Annan Assistant Secretary-General Office of Human Resources Management (ASG-OHRM) that he had not been successful in representing the Council or the Councils interests. A moving narrative of the authors entire 35-year career the book recounts vividly the steps taken by him in his successful bid to save his job. The case is well-documented in correspondence between himself his legal counsel the ASG-OHRM and the Executive Director; and in the proceedings of the Joint Appeals Board. Pleading with his boss the author says: I know that I am in New York at your pleasure. I will continue to serve the Council loyally take criticism in a constructive spirit and always strive to do better.. But dropping my job is an entirely different proposition and I crave your understanding not to pursue it. But this fell on deaf ears. The Executive Directors single-minded aim was to be rid of him. In the ensuing struggle the author draws inspiration from memories of another successful fight he once had with his Permanent Secretary in Tanzania. He vows to himself: I will fight this one too. And I will win. And win he did. The author was reinstated returned to Rome and - ironically enough - was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Council on the expiry of the Executive Directors contract! Read on.