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Staff Boycotts Housing to Protest Management Refusal to Waive Discrimination

July 25, 1947
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Members of the United Nations Secretariat staff today voted to boycott housing in Peter Cooper Village and the Fresh Meadow ##using project unless the Metropolitan Life Insurance company, owner of both units, lives its right to refuse U.N. tenants on racial grounds.

All but 50 of some 1,050 U.N. employees today approved a resolution condemning the Metropolitan’s discriminatory practice and calling upon U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie to notify the member nations of their action. The resolution, ##opted at an outdoor meeting here, pointed out that the housing policy was in opposition to the U.N. charter. At a press conference this morning, Acting Secretary-General Adrian Pelt said he was awaiting the decision of the staff before making final arrangements with the company.

At a meeting of the Economic and Social Council, Cuban representative Dr. ##illermo Belt called on the body to adjourn and observe the mass meeting. The Council complied, after over-riding the objections of the U.S. delegate, who protested that the procedure would be “highly irregular.”

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