Employees of Amnesty International UK who are members of trade union Unite are to stage a second day of strike action tomorrow in protest over the organisation’s cost-cutting.
Unite says the strike has been triggered by the continuing refusal by Amnesty International UK’s (AIUK) senior management to enter into “constructive talks” over plans to release more funds to Amnesty's international headquarters.
The trade union says that the need to save £2.5m in order to balance next year’s budget will cause job losses amongst AIUK’s 204 staff.
Staff will be picketing Amnesty's office, the Human Rights Action Centre in central London, on Wednesday 10 October.
Employees of Amnesty International UK first took strike action on 12 September.
Cuts ‘could see death of Amnesty in UK’
Unite regional officer, Alan Scott said that its members have no confidence in the AIUK management.
“We call on the management to enter into meaningful talks with our members," he said. "At this rate, Amnesty's management is going to be responsible for the death of AIUK as a campaigning organisation.
“Staff fear that lasting damage will be caused to Amnesty’s human rights work because of senior management’s headlong rush into this huge cost-cutting exercise, which is being implemented with the misguided blessing of AIUK’s board," he added.
Scott said that these measures are being taken despite there being no financial crisis in the UK section of the charity, demonstrated by it just posting two per cent year-on-year growth.
“Amnesty UK's income has continued to grow, which is unusual in this sector especially in the midst of one of the worst recessions ever,” Scott continued.
Amnesty 'to keep redundancies to a minimum'
AIUK confirmed that its cost-savings programme is in order to make a larger financial contribution to the global Amnesty movement.
The charity released its own statement in reaction to the upcoming strike which it says is "over redundancies which we have said we expect to be necessary - and over not renegotiating this financial contribution".
The contribution AIUK must provide to the international organisation and the speed at which this should rise to support work in the global south is set by the highest decision-making body of the Amnesty movement, the International Council Meeting (ICM). "The board of AIUK will abide by ICM decisions," the charity advised.
"We entirely respect the right of our staff to take strike action but regret that they feel the need to do so, particularly as the action is over how much money Amnesty International UK should contribute to increasing human rights work in the global South. That’s something we cannot and wouldn’t want to change," the statement reads.
"Industrial action will not change this but we will remain in contact with union officials on this matter and on other substantive questions raised in the process of reducing costs at AIUK. We have been and will continue to work to keep redundancies to a minimum."
