Almost half of the staff at Amnesty International’s Irish wing have been told they are to be laid off temporarily or have their hours cut next week as the organisation battles a financial crisis.
At a meeting of the workers on Wednesday, the executive director of Amnesty’s Irish wing, Stephen Bowen, is understood to have briefed staff on the situation and told them the organisation was not in a position to meet its full wage bill for September.
The organisation employs 29 people at its offices on Dublin’s Fleet Street and 11 are to be impacted by the cuts, with four laid off temporarily and seven others having to work significantly fewer hours than normal for the period involved.
Siptu’s Karen Smollen said the union, which represents most of the staff, had been working closely with management over a prolonged period, with the workers having agreed last year to take a 10 per cent cut to their hours and wages.
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Despite this, she said, Wednesday’s news was “very disappointing and a great shock to a very dedicated staff”.
She said the staff had been told the lay-offs are intended to be temporary while the organisation seeks to address its financial situation but it had been indicated a number of voluntary redundancies will be available. However, the organisation is not, she said, in a position to fund the redundancies itself at this point.
“Our members are devastated by the lay-off announcement, particularly the short notice given, while they struggle to make ends meet,” she said.
Ms Smollen said the union would continue to work with the organisation in whatever way it could but called on the board of the organisation to do everything required to safeguard the longer-term employment of Amnesty’s staff.
In a statement, Amnesty International Ireland said it had “made the difficult decision to place a number of staff on a temporary lay-off. This decision has not been taken lightly and, due to a temporary cash-flow crisis, is immediate in nature. The temporary lay-offs are part of a significant programme of transformation that has been adopted to secure the future of the human rights organisation here in Ireland.
“These temporary lay-offs and reduced working hours will affect 11 members of staff and will come into effect from September 6th.
“This decision is hugely regrettable but, having already made positive inroads on our path to recovery following a difficult few years financially, we will emerge from this period a stronger, more agile, more sustainable human rights organisation at a time when a fractious world needs our voice more than ever before.”
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