Two Amnesty offices are facing strikes next week over proposed redundancies in the UK as part of plans to refocus the human rights organisation’s structure towards countries where abuses occur.
More than 400 staff in total are expected to go on a 24-hour strike on Tuesday, with 300 striking at the International Secretariat and a further 145 set to strike at the Amnesty International UK (AIUK) offices. Next week’s industrial action is the third such action at AIUK in as many months, following strikes last month and in September.
Workers are striking over the issue of redundancies, with up to 40 jobs at AIUK in danger as a result of restructuring. Unite the union is claiming that the International Secretariat has ceased negotiations over proposed new terms of redundancy, and alleges that the organisation is attempting to bulldoze through new contracts with weaker redundancy packages before embarking on lay-offs.
The Secretariat, however, said it is simply wrong to say management is not talking to the union. “Some staff at Amnesty International's International Secretariat do not believe that the management team are respecting agreed processes in the implementation of change. This has come to a head over the renegotiation of redundancy agreements which we are working hard to resolve,” the organisation said.
“Management at the IS gave notice that it would like to revise redundancy policies more than one year ago. Proposals have been tabled and last week these were rejected by the union despite extensive consultation in negotiations that have lasted more than 11 months.”
This week Unite members of the International Secretariat passed a vote of no confidence in Secretary General Shalil Shetty and called for the entire senior management team to resign. Union members at AIUK have already issued a similar call for top-level resignations and have further demanded an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the “crisis”.
Union representative Alan Scott said that while the two industrial disputes are separate, they are “linked by poor management decisions”.
Amnesty refocuses away from London centre
Amnesty is undergoing a restructure as part of efforts to put more resources on the ground in countries where human rights violations occur. This transition, dubbed by Amnesty the ‘Moving closer to the ground’ project, will mean that Amnesty International UK, which has a steady income, will be expected to make greater contributions to the Secretariat, and the Secretariat will be less London-based. Some of the 500 people currently working at the London International Secretariat will be redeployed to ten regional hubs. As part of this change towards supporting resources outside the UK, AIUK is instituting £2.5m worth of cuts to its own operations.
A statement from Amnesty characterised the changes as “essential” and emphasised that decisions about the refocusing project, including the increase of contributions by various Amnesty national sections, have been taken democratically at the International Council Meeting.
“We cannot change the decisions taken by our democratic structures and neither would we want to,” a spokeswoman said. “While we understand the strength of feeling of staff, we are already seeing Amnesty International having significant impact in India, Brazil and elsewhere. We want to see this impact growing, while maintaining an effective and influential campaigning presence here in the UK.”
