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Amnesty International's Turkey branch, which fights for human rights worldwide and works to end violations, has laid off one-third of its employees. In the branch, which has 24 employees,eight people have been let go, two of them being institution managers. The institution cited "restructuring" as the reason.
The employees criticized the layoffs, attributing them to "union-related" reasons, as Amnesty International had withdrawn from collective bargaining negotiations with the DİSK Sosyal-İş Union on June 7.
Furthermore, Amnesty International rejected the union's request for a meeting regarding the layoffs. Selma Kanbur Yılmaz, the President of the Board of Directors of the Turkish branch, stated in her response to the union, "Since the restructuring is a process conducted with our international secretariat and regional office, we regret to inform you that it is not possible for us to have a meeting with your union."
Kanbur-Yılmaz added in her response that they would take the utmost care to protect the legal rights of the employees who were laid off.
Employees are worried
"We do not find the process ethical," said the employees who spoke to bianet on condition of anonymity:
They believe that the purpose of Amnesty International (AI) is revealed with these layoffs. Accordingly, AI has first led to a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations and their withdrawal from the process. "There seems to be an intention to resolve the layoffs without a union," the employees say.
They add, "After the General Assembly in June when we invited Amnesty International back to the negotiating table, we disagreed on the issue of wage increases. Amnesty International did not agree to return to the table, but later, they gave us a nearly identical wage increase."
"If a collective bargaining agreement had been reached at that time, AI would have had to form a workplace committee and engage with the union in these current layoffs."
"Furthermore, they have rejected the union's request for a meeting as of today. In other words, two of them are managers, a total of 8 people have been laid off, and they cannot exercise any of their rights under the collective bargaining agreement."
"If Amnesty International were genuinely well-intentioned, they would have managed the process with the union. They would have invited the union, signed a collective bargaining agreement, and moved forward with the union involved."
"But they didn't do that. They carried out the process by individually informing the employees and aimed for the employees not to be aware of each other's situations. So, this decision and process do not appear to be well-intentioned, to be honest."
"They might indeed be going through a restructuring. We don't deny that. However, we do not find it correct or ethical to proceed with the process without a union. This is a kind of elimination, and the employees are paying the price for the management crisis."
Director: "Not related to the union"
Ruhat Sena Akşener, the Director of Amnesty International Turkey, insists that the layoffs are related to change and restructuring. "This is not just a process happening in Turkey," she says and adds that the planning is done by the regional office and the international secretariat.
"I do not find the interpretations that the layoffs are due to union-related reasons to be accurate," said Akşener. According to her, the layoffs are not a decision made solely by the Board of Directors of Amnesty International Turkey's branch. However, both the previous administration before the June General Assembly and the new administration are in agreement on this issue.