The Socialist 17 October 2012 Build a 24-hour General Strike  We want a 24-hour general strike! Southampton anti-cuts councillors form new council group Meetings after 20th October TUC demonstration Academies: march to defend education on 20 October Stop the gas price hike - Nationalise the utilities! Osborne's 'shares' plan threatens rights Unions must build the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Poll tax: When organised mass action defeated the Tories Youth Fight for Jobs fortnight of action 13-28 October Fight for a socialist and internationalist alternative to the crisis-ridden EU Solidarity with Miners in South Africa US elections: And the winner is... Wall Street! Pakistan: Workers die as profit put before safety Hands off our NHS! - Victory in Gloucestershire Stop the far right from 'uniting' on 27 October Stop health robbery in Sherwood Forest Invest in caring - we're worth it! Amnesty International staff take strike action Bus drivers: We need shorter hours! Hospital staff in Stockton and Hartlepool threatened with worse terms and conditions The Socialist - Help us build it with the 20-20-20 plan! Fight back against austerity - support the Socialist Party New sales of the Socialist in Kenilworth |
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Home | The Socialist 17 October 2012 | Join the Socialist Party  Placard at Amnesty International, 10.10.12 , photo Judy Beishon (Click to enlarge) Amnesty International staff take strike action"Workers' Rights = Human Rights", read the placards outside the Amnesty International offices in Shoreditch, London. Unite members at Amnesty International UK (AIUK) exercised those rights when striking and picketing all day on 10 October against the threat of a large-scale cost-cutting programme and compulsory redundancies. By lunchtime around 80 strikers and supporters had assembled. Among the support messages sent to the strikers was one from Wisconsin workers, who noted that Amnesty had supported trade union rights in the Wisconsin struggle.  Amnesty International Action Centre, 10.10.12 , photo Judy Beishon (Click to enlarge) This second one-day strike - the first was on 12 September - showed management that workers in the office were not prepared to accept an estimated £2.5 million cuts when income to Amnesty UK is rising, which is unusual in the not-for-profit sector during the recession. However, management is using the excuse of increased costs to Amnesty's International Secretariat - where workers are also believed to be preparing industrial action - to seek job losses amongst the 204 members of staff in AIUK.  Striker at Amnesty International, 10.10.12 , photo Judy Beishon (Click to enlarge) Unite regional officer Alan Scott 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". Daniela Manske, one of the Unite reps in the AIUK Shoreditch headquarters, said that since the first strike, no meaningful negotiations have taken place and the scale of redundancies will not be known until 25 October. The strike was well supported, with Unite having about 70% membership in the office, and only senior managers and human resources staff went into work. Messages of support can be sent to Unite members at union@amnesty.org.uk and donations to the campaign can be made payable to: 'TGWU ACTS 1/524 Central London Branch' with the words 'Amnesty International UK Strike Fund' on the back and sent to the Unite reps at AIUK's offices c/o The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA. Kevin Parslow Unite members at Amnesty International take a second day of strike action, 10.10.12 , photo by Judy Beishon (Click to enlarge) . This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 10 October 2012 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist. In this issue Fighting the cuts
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