Showing posts with label amnesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amnesty. Show all posts

Thursday 1 September 2022

UK: META (formerly Facebook) ACCUSED OF BREACHING WORKERS’ RIGHTS OVER DISMISSAL OF CLEANER WHO ORGANISED PROTESTS AT LONDON OFFICE

Amnesty International has accused Meta of breaching its own employment guidelines and commitments on labour rights and has called on the tech giant (formerly known as Facebook) to undertake an urgent investigation into the 2021 dismissal of a trade union representative who organised protests against poor working conditions in its offices. 

 

The call comes as Amnesty published a 23-page report - Meta, workers’ rights matter! The case of a trade union organiser dismissed after trying to improve working conditions for cleaners - which outlines the evidence in the case and the organisation’s concerns and recommendations.

 

Amnesty’s report comes ahead of an Employment Tribunal hearing next week (7 September) in which a former cleaner of Meta’s offices and trade union representative is seeking justice for his claim that he was targeted because of his trade union activities that led to his unfair dismissal.

 

Guillermo Camacho, a father of two from Bolivia, was a contracted cleaner and trade union representative who had cleaned Meta’s offices for almost seven years prior to his dismissal, with an unblemished record. In summer 2021, after cleaners denounced an increasingly excessive workload, he led and organised protests against the poor working conditions at Meta’s London office on Brock Street. Following the protests Camacho was first suspended from his job last August, and then dismissed entirely in October under the pretext of inadequate performance.

 

The protests were prompted by a reduction in the number of cleaners which in turn led to an excessive workload for the remaining workers at Meta’s offices, which had a major physical and psychological impact on them. In mid-2021, the number of cleaners at Meta’s worksite in London dropped from 24 to 20. Simultaneously, the size of the area to be cleaned increased from five floors to 14 floors, a near-threefold increase.

 

The cleaning of Meta’s buildings is undertaken by outsourced staff employed by the Churchill Group (Churchill), which in turn has a contract with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to which Meta outsources the management of its offices in London. Camacho has filed a complaint to the London Central Employment Tribunal against Churchill - as direct employer - for an award of compensation for unfair dismissal, detriment and victimisation due to trade union membership and/or activities.

 

In his capacity as the cleaners’ trade union representative with the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU), Camacho helped organise protests outside Meta’s offices on Fridays denouncing the excessive workload and calling for fair working conditions. 

 

Just days after the second protest was organised in August 2021, he was suspended and put on “gardening leave” after Meta and JLL requested Camacho’s removal from Meta’s building. He believes his suspension was therefore a result of what is known as ‘third party pressure’ - when a customer or client exercises pressure for a worker to be dismissed.

An investigation was opened against Camacho to evaluate the adequacy of his work as a cleaners’ supervisor and it focused on Meta staff’s allegations regarding unfilled soap dispensers, substandard cleaning of some areas, and inadequate stocking of some items leading to property damage. In the course of the investigation, Camacho rebutted the allegations, and also challenged management over the inadequate staffing levels, which had caused difficulties in cleaning to the required standards. 

 

In September 2021, Camacho was informed that the investigation was closed, and no further disciplinary action would be required. However, despite this, the decision to remove him remained in force and Camacho was ultimately dismissed from his job at Meta’s offices.

Camacho’s dismissal has created a chilling effect on the ability and confidence of his fellow workers to collectively bargain for better working conditions. 

 

Catrinel Motoc, Amnesty’s Senior Campaigner, said:

We live in a society where all too often workers who dare to speak out against injustices in the workplace find themselves in the firing line.  

 

This is a David and Goliath story, where a huge, global behemoth of a company has simply washed its hands of any responsibility to the people who work on the frontlines of its offices.

 

Meta is very keen to distance itself from this unpleasant episode, but the buck must stop with them. You can outsource a cleaning account, but not the accountability for how cleaners are treated.

 

Meta should live up to the values it claims it wants to uphold and to the commitments it has made to respect workers’ right to organise. That must start with an urgent investigation into what happened in this case and a radical overhaul of its processes to ensure that its commitment to respect workers’ rights extends to both in-house and outsourced workers.

 

No worker should fear or face reprisals when speaking up and demanding better working conditions.

Alberto Durango, General Secretary of CAIWU, said:

Guillermo’s treatment is all too familiar to us. It’s a blatant and classic tactic to intimidate other workers by making a brutal example of a trade union leader. Third-party pressure disproportionately impacts precarious workers who are too often outsourced and allows the employer to hide behind their client as workers’ rights are eroded.

Our members who still work at Meta’s offices tell us they continue to live under the cloud of Guillermo’s dismissal and the implicit threat that they too could be dismissed for speaking out.

We need to see real change and that should start with an apology and compensation for Guillermo. Employers should have to justify the dismissal of their employee in a fair and transparent way and not supress the rights of workers to collectively bargain for fair working conditions.

Amnesty’s campaign

 

Amnesty is calling on Meta to take responsibility for how its personnel are treated and to

 

1.    Respect the right of its workers to speak out and bargain collectively for better conditions

2.    Apologise to Guillermo for his treatment and provide him with adequate compensation

 

Take action here: www.amnesty.org.uk/CleanUpFacebook

 

Protest outside Meta’s London office

Date/ Time: Friday 2 September at 5pm

Address: 10 Brock St, London NW1 3FG

What: Protest in solidarity with Guillermo Camacho. People will be outside Meta’s London office holding placards and chanting ‘Workers’ rights matter, Meta!’ 

 

The 23-page briefing, Meta, workers’ rights matter! The case of a trade union organiser dismissed after trying to improve working conditions for cleaners, which outlines the evidence in the case and Amnesty’s concerns and recommendations, is available on request.

 

 

Tuesday 11 October 2016

LET THEM IN! Bring suitcases and travel bags to Liverpool Street station 6pm Friday

From Brent Stop the War

Shamim Rahman from Amnesty International LINK  nd Lucy Cox, a local teacher LINK,   spoke to our meeting last night about War and Refugees.

More information HERE:   https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Refugees%2C-migrants-and-asylum

We agreed to support this initiative on Friday: 

Support Lord Alf Dubbs' campaign call to support his amendment to demand refugee children in Calais be allowed into the UK! They are about to bulldoze the camp!

Bring suitcases and travel bags for protest / photo event this Friday, 14 October, 6pm, at the Kindertransport statue, Broad Street exit, outside Liverpool Station.

Alf Dubbs' was one of 10,000 Jewish Kindertransport children who came to UK in 1938-9 as a result of pressure campaigners put on the government. Lives saved then. Let's do it now.

LET THE CHILDREN IN!

#standuptoracism #stopracism2016 #letthechildrenin

AMNESTY

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Refugees Welcome 2016 - March on Saturday Park Lane to Parliament Square


Click on Image to enlarge

From Amnesty International

Why are we marching?

Women, men and children around the world are fleeing war, persecution and torture.
They have been forced into the hands of smugglers and onto dangerous journeys across the sea in rickety old boats and dinghies. Many have lost their lives. Those who have made it often find themselves stranded in makeshift camps in train stations, ports or by the roadside.
And still, politicians across Europe fail to provide safe and legal routes for people to seek asylum.
Meanwhile, ordinary people have responded with extraordinary displays of humanity and generosity. They've been moved to act after seeing thousands of people drowning in the Mediterranean, the continuing misery of camps in places like Calais, and images of the brutal conflicts across the world.
We need to tell the Prime Minister Theresa May that we want to help.
The UK government must do more - let's call on them to:
  • Lead the way towards a more human global response to the millions fleeing conflict
  • Offer safe passage to the UK for more people who have been forced to flee their homes
  • Do more to help refugees in the UK rebuild their lives

Join us

Date: Saturday 17 September 2016

Start: We will be gathering from 11.30am outside Green Park station, south side. Amnesty staff and volunteers will be there to meet you - look out for the Amnesty placards!
We will then head to Park Lane to join the march meeting point at 12.45 on the southbound carriageway on Park Lane. From there the march will begin to move towards Parliament Square, with music and speeches taking place there at around 3pm until 5pm.
The nearest tube stations are Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch.

Finish: The route will take us to Parliament Square, where there will be speeches and performances.


Monday 6 October 2014

After the Tricycle: Can Arts Organisations say 'No' to Embassy Funding?

TUESDAY OCTOBER 7TH - 7PM 17-25 NEW INN YARD EC2A 3EA

Amnesty has sent the following invitation which will be of interest to readers involved in the debate over the Tricycle Theatre's refusal of Israeli Government funding (via the Embassy) and the subsequent events.

Do artists and arts organisations have the right to say ‘no’ when governments with negative human rights records try to co-opt culture in the service of their public relations strategies? 

Please join the discussion – After the Tricycle: Can arts organisations say ‘no’ to embassy funding?

In August 2014, during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the Tricycle Theatre asked the UK Jewish Film Festival to forego Israeli embassy funding. The festival refused, walked away from the Tricycle, and briefed the press that the theatre was boycotting a Jewish festival. The theatre came under sustained attack: campaigns to de-fund the theatre, denunciations by liberal newspaper columnists, even intervention by the Secretary of State for Culture himself.

Do we have to accept that the kind of backlash the Tricycle experienced is inevitable as far as funding by a powerful state is concerned, and make sure we never follow where this theatre led?
Panel chair: Kamila Shamsie, novelist.

Speakers: April De Angelis and Tanika Gupta playwrights, Antony Lerman writer & commentator, and Ofer Neiman of the Israeli group Boycott from Within.

Panel discussion. Free entry, but reservation is recommended.
There will be a drinks reception afterwards.
When: Tuesday 7th October, 19:00 – 21:00. Doors open 18:30
Where: Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London. EC2A 3EA.

Amnesty Human Rights Centre map

Friday 3 October 2014

After the Tricycle: Can arts organisations say ‘no’ to embassy funding?

Amnesty has sent the following invitation which will be of interest to readers involved in the debate over the Tricycle Theatre's refusal of Israeli Government funding (via the Embassy) and the subsequent events.

Do artists and arts organisations have the right to say ‘no’ when governments with negative human rights records try to co-opt culture in the service of their public relations strategies? 

Please join the discussion – After the Tricycle: Can arts organisations say ‘no’ to embassy funding?
In August 2014, during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the Tricycle Theatre asked the UK Jewish Film Festival to forego Israeli embassy funding. The festival refused, walked away from the Tricycle, and briefed the press that the theatre was boycotting a Jewish festival. The theatre came under sustained attack: campaigns to de-fund the theatre, denunciations by liberal newspaper columnists, even intervention by the Secretary of State for Culture himself.

Do we have to accept that the kind of backlash the Tricycle experienced is inevitable as far as funding by a powerful state is concerned, and make sure we never follow where this theatre led?
Panel chair: Kamila Shamsie, novelist.

Speakers: April De Angelis and Tanika Gupta playwrights, Antony Lerman writer & commentator, and Ofer Neiman of the Israeli group Boycott from Within.

Panel discussion. Free entry, but reservation is recommended.
There will be a drinks reception afterwards.
When: Tuesday 7th October, 19:00 – 21:00. Doors open 18:30
Where: Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London. EC2A 3EA.
Amnesty Human Rights Centre map

Friday 31 August 2012

Sign petition for student amnesty at Metropolitan University


This Coalition government is making a pig's ear of education policy with the news this week that a number of free schools that have been rushed through now not opening in September, leaving children without a school place, and the collective punishment of students for administrative problems at London Metropolitan University.

A petition has been launched on the latter issue which states:
We believe that it is completely contrary to natural justice that students should be punished for problems emanating from their University.

We therefore demand that the UK Border Agency agree to an immediate amnesty for the international students at London Metropolitan University affected by the Agency's decision to revoke the University's ‘Highly Trusted Status’. This would enable them to continue their studies while the problems at London Met were addressed.

We believe that the UKBA's decision is a disproportionate reaction to a situation that could be addressed without the recourse to such drastic action. The UKBA's decision punishes thousands of students who are entirely innocent of any alleged immigration breaches and sends a disastrous message to the rest of the world that UK higher education is not accessible to international students. Its actions threaten the immediate futures of thousands of London Metropolitan students, as well as the future of the University, and casts a huge shadow over the very valuable contribution that international students make to the culture and sustainability of UK higher education.

Sign the petition HERE