May First

International workers day

Maria Dweggah

For the third year in the row, the WHO Staff Association marked May 1st by organizing a buffet lunch for the Staff. The talented group New Taste provided the entertainment and Eurest generously offered the wine. After lunch, a couple of glasses of Côte du Rhone and some good music, a small group of us walked down to the Palais des Nations and met up with staff of other Organizations and together we marched down to the Pont Mt Blanc to join other Geneva based unions and ended up at the Parc des Bastions.

As in other years, the ITU Staff Union held its traditional May 1^st gourmet feast for the ITU staff.

Unlike the two previous years where we marched in the rain, this year it was a beautiful spring day that accompanied us. We were but a handful who gathered at the Palais. A newspaper reporter from the Tribune approached me and asked why such a low turn out this year. I was a bit embarrassed and mentioned that it was a combination of many factors — simple disinterest, lack of planning, low motivation, fear, current events, misinformation, who knows? But we were there and that is what mattered.