Someone remind me why these people make so much money for doing absolutely nothing?
The Washington Times, August 4, 1998
U.N.'s generosity on pay questioned; Annan and deputy boast higher salaries than Clinton
ourworld.compuserve.com
The top two officials at the United Nations have much higher salaries than the president of the United States and, along with 25 other U.N. executives, are paid more than all other senior U.S. government officials, members of Congress and judges.
Based on data from the U.N. Information Center in Washington, the average annual salary of 3,622 professional employees on the payroll at U.N. headquarters in New York is $104,816. (~$380 million).
U.N. employees from foreign countries, called "expatriates," also enjoy lavish housing, education and vacation perquisites that Americans employed by the United Nations in the United States are barred from receiving.
The Washington Times surveyed U.N. salaries and perks in light of the organization's continuing complaints of a budgetary crisis due to Congress' refusal to pay U.S. dues. Critics in Congress say the United Nations is bloated with bureaucracy and is dragging its feet on budgetary and management reforms.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of Ghana is paid $293,480 a year - almost 50 percent more than President Clinton's salary of $200,000 - and Mr. Annan's Canadian deputy, Louise Frechette, makes $229,408.
Mr. Annan's perks include free housing and servants at a U.N.-owned mansion on Manhattan's posh Sutton Place, a chauffeur-driven car, free first-class air travel and 24-hour security protection.
The secretary-general gets an additional $25,000 every year for 'Personal entertainment expenses - the only perk less than Mr. Clinton, who receives $50,000 yearly allowance for personal entertaining.
"Nobody would do this job for the money," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard of Mr. Annan's salary.
But Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman, New York Republican and chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said the U.N. salaries and benefits "underscore what we've been .talking about."
"There's a need for internal reform, not only on salaries, but the overlapping agencies, the waste and the unnecessary over bloated bureaucracy with their excessive number of personnel," he said.
Salaries of the United Nation's 25 under-secretaries-general, including American-born budget and administrative chief Joseph E. Connor, also best the $175,400 yearly pay of Vice President Al Gore, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. The third-tier U.N. officials are paid $190,927 a year if they have dependents and $186,562 if they don't.
Even fourth-level U.N. employees - assistant secretaries-general - make about $20,000 more than U.S. Cabinet secretaries and party leaders in both chambers of Congress,_whose salaries are $151,800 a year. The United Nations pays its 18 assistant secretaries-general $173,898 if they have dependents and $170,128 if they don't.
Salaries of the 75 midlevel U.N. division directors - $158,519 with dependents and $147,970 without - are higher than the $136,700 paid to members of the U.S. Senate. and House of Representatives.
Perks for U.N. employees who are designated "expatriate" workers include:
Housing rental allowance from $15,908 to $27,753 per year for a maximum of seven years. The United Nations pays 80 percent of rental costs for the first four years, up to $1,600 a month for singles and $2,720 a month for married workers. For the next three years, the rental subsidy is reduced 20 percent each year.
Private-school tuition of up to $12,675 per child in New York and up to $9,750 per child outside the United States.
Vacation days accumulate at the rate of 2 1/2 days a month, with the United Nations paying travel costs of employees and their families back to their home countries for leave every two years. Employees can accumulate and be paid for 60 days of unused leave.
After five years of service, U.N. workers also are eligible for pensions, starting at age 55.
Currently, the secretary-general is eligible for a yearly pension of $106,727, according to U.N. documents, plus additional retirement pay for 30 years of prior U.N. employment. Mr. Annan's total pension eligibility could not be obtained.
In return for a 7.9 percent salary contribution to the U.N. pension fund, employees receive 10 percent to 60 percent of their highest three years' salary in retirement, based on total years of service. After death, a surviving spouse continues to receive half the pension amount for the rest of his or her life.
Joe B. Sills, director of the U.N. Washington office, defends the pay and perks, saying U.N. benefits haven't kept pace with compensation of government workers in countries other than the United States.When the United Nations was founded 53 years ago, its aim was to offer the most generous pay scale possible in order to lure civil servants from throughout the world, he said.
"The General Assembly decided that the comparator would be the member state with the best-paid civil service in 1945, which was the United States. It was based on the U.S. civil service level and about 15 percent [more] for New York VS. [living costs in] Washington."
Now, U.N. headquarters officials get a 29 percent salary add-on as a "post adjustment" for their New York assignment, according to U.N. numbers.
In recent years, the U.S. government pay scale has fallen behind other developed countries, said Mr. Sills, who served as U.N. spokesman for former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt.
"Now, the German and Japanese civil service is better paid, but [U.N.] member states won't let [the U.N. scale] be changed," he said. "If it was changed to the German scale, the U.N. staff would get a significant raise. Because their pay is so much higher, we have a problem recruiting German and Japanese nationals."
But the view that U.N. salaries should be even higher is not shared on Capitol Hill.
"There's a heightened sensitivity about the inadvisability of raising salaries, but it would appear that an entire bureaucracy gets more than the president, the Supreme Court, the majority and minority leaders and members of the House and Senate," said Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican and chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on international operations and human rights.
"Dare I say they're overpaid?" Mr. Smith said.
The lowest starting pay of a U.N. professional employee, called an "assistant officer," is $47,163 - comparable to the starting pay of a GS-12, step 1, in the U.S. civil service. The highest pay for a U.N. assistant officer with dependents, at step 10, is $63,513 - slightly more than a GS-12, step 10, who makes $61,199.
According to Mr. Sills, a U.N. computer system analyst earns an average take-home salary of $49,369 and a midlevel accountant is paid an average of $61,892.
But he emphasises, "U.N. salaries are not 'tax-free,' as some say." The United Nations deducts a "staff assessment" of 28 percent to 32 percent from an employee's salary "in lieu of taxes" and - except for the United States credits the deducted amount toward the assessed contribution of the employee's native country.
Mr. Annan's "staff assessment in lieu of taxes" is $75,206, which is mostly offset by his $65,207 cost-of-living "post adjustment." The secretary-general's take-home pay is $218,274 - still $18,274 higher than Mr. Clinton's salary before taxes.
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U. N - PERKS
In addition to generous salaries, United Nations employees enjoy lavish benefits:
POST ADJUSTMENT: U.N. staffers in New York get a 29 percent salary increase because of the city's higher living costs.
LUCRATIVE PENSIONS: After five years' employment, U.N. staffers may get a lump-sum pension payment or yearly annuity, at age 55, equal to 2 percent of. their highest three-year average salary for each year of service. That means most U.N. employees retiring with 20 or more years service will be pension millionaires or receive lifetime annuities equal to 40 percent to 60 percent of their highest salary. All staffers contribute 7.9 percent of their salary, while the U.N. kicks in another 15.8 percent. After death, a surviving spouse receives half the employee's pension amount for the remainder of his or her life.
RENTAL ALLOWANCE: For employees assigned outside their home country (called expatriate employees), housing subsidies range from $15,908 to $27,753 per year for a maximum of seven years. The U.N. pays 80 percent of rental costs for the first four years, up to $1,600 a month for singles and $2,720 a month for married workers. For the next three years, the rental subsidy is 60 percent, 40 percent, and 20 percent, respectively.
PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION: For expatriate staffers, the U.N. pays 75 percent of each child's tuition, up to $12,675 per child in New York and up to $9,750 per child outside the United States.
VACATIONS: The U.N. pays travel costs for employees and family members to return to their country of nationality every two years for leave. Staffers get 2 1/2 days vacation each month and can be paid for 60 days of accumulated unused leave when service ends.
REPATRIATION GRANT: At the end of service, expatriate staffers get repatriation grants as high as 7.7 percent of their current annual salary. |
