Sales manager quits in protest

Dagens Nyheter/December 3, 2002
By Juan Flores and Nuri Kino

The struggle for power within Swedish UFF (Humana) gets tougher. The employees' attempt to make the organization more democratic failed. The Teachers Group has now thrown out the employee representative from the board of directors.

Dan Wallin worked as sales manager at UFF but quitted due to the mismanagement of the finances.

Before the annual meeting last spring the UFF employees in shops, flea markets and sorting centres had decided that they would vote a board of their own through in Swedish UFF. Almost everyone signed a proclamation that the management didn't have their vote of confidence.

Then the alarm went out to all the members of the Teachers Group all over the world: "TG's power is challenged at Swedish UFF". Only hours before the annual meeting was to be held, their applications for membership gushed in.

The fax machine was overloaded by proxies. People who had never visited Swedish UFF and who don't know the first thing about our working situation were allowed to decide which persons should be on the board. The Teachers Group always claimed that Swedish UFF is democratic and independent, and now it was suddenly evident that this isn't true, says Jenny-Ann Myrberg, regional manager for UFF's operation in Skåne.

The result was that the Teachers Group kept their majority share at the board. One representative was voted in by the UFF employees, though, Mona Axelsson. But she has now been suspended for reasons that nobody in the UFF board agrees to explain to DN.

To Mona Axelsson the decision came as a complete shock:

I had to quit with immediate effect without any real explanation, she says. However, according to information presented to DN, one of the reasons for the suspension was that the Teachers Group suspects that Mona Axelsson forwarded information about UFF to DN.

The sales manager Dan Wallin, who has been one of the driving forces behind the vote of no confidence, quitted himself in protest of the way the finances were managed.

I consider it a crime to give away money that you don't have. The Teachers Group gets the UFF management to set up impossible goals, and despite the fact that the goals can't be met, the money has to be sent to the head office at all costs, Dan Wallin says.

He describes how those in control of the accounts, as soon as any money was received, money which should have been used for paying delayed house rents, instead was sent to other accounts, against the explicit orders of Wallin.

The statement that UFF would be an independent Swedish organization is something Wallin just snorts at.

It is the members of the Teachers Group who have the power at all boards and who are appointed managing directors of the organizations.

The annual report shows that UFF in 2001 payed more than 6 millions SEK to the head office despite huge debts. Since all Humana organizations in different countries pay to a common account it is however difficult to follow the trail of the money to see if it really is used for aid purposes. This is something that board member Annika Kleveman wants to change. She was elected to the board last spring and does not have any connections to the Teachers Group. --At the moment money is being transferred all over the world and it is impossible to get a clear picture of where it ends up. We also lack every possibility to follow up on how the aid projects use and distribute the funds. What I want is that we in the future should be able to see how much a project leader gets paid and what qualifications that person has to earn that specific salary, she says.

The fact that the international network of Humana organizations is part of the detained sect leader Amdi Petersen's empire - and is controlled by him directly - is confirmed by a Danish preliminary investigation of the movement's top members. The police have mapped out the command order of the organization and found a strictly hierarchical, almost military, structure with five ranks of command, in which Amdi Petersen and his girl friend Kirsten Larsen hold the top position, number one. All Humana boards all over the world include at least one member of the Teachers Group of the second rank together with one of the fourth rank. Since the Teachers Group holds the majority in all Humana boards, they can carry out the orders of Amdi Petersen.