The arrangements for dealing with this week’s snow and ice at Central Park have been atrocious.
Amicus Health & Safety reps had raised questions about the arrangements for Central Park coping with winter conditions in an inspection report sent to the company at the end of October. We have continued to press the issue through various channels, focussing on the lack of adequate arrangements for gritting.
Many of you have been following the advice we gave in last week’s newsletter:
Please take extra care in icy conditions. If you are unfortunate enough to have a slip or fall, please report it to site facilities, whether or not you suffer an injury. If you do suffer any injury, insist on entering it in the accident book. In either case, please copy your H&S rep so we can keep an overview of the situation.
The company’s pitiful response led to a number of incidents and accidents yesterday, affecting both pedestrians and drivers.
Given that the company was so clearly warned of the problem, there would appear to be a very strong case for negligence and a failure in the company’s duty of care to protect the Health & Safety of employees.
Members who suffered any injury to person or property should get in touch to explore options for seeking compensation. Don’t forget that the free legal advice representation Amicus offers to its members isn’t just restricted to employment matters – details of all the legal services are on the union’s national web site.
Don’t be fobbed off by arguments about who is responsible between Fujitsu and their various sub-contractors or the landlord. Fujitsu is responsible for your safety at work.
Amicus would much rather work with companies to prevent accidents, but where an employer acts negligently, compensation claims can be part of the pressure to mend their ways.
The next meeting of the Greater Manchester IT Branch is:
6pm - 7:30pm, Thursday 1st December
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, M4 4AA
[near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
All branch members are welcome to attend.
As usual, some of us intend to go out for a meal after the meeting – the last of the year. If you’d like to come, please let us know how many places you’d like as soon as possible.
Amicus wrote to Roger Leek last month to request a “works conference” meeting over the company’s attempts to undermine employees’ rights at Central Park by breaking agreements on union recognition, redundancy and pay. A works conference is the final stage in the agreed procedure for resolving collective issues.
We are pleased to report that the meeting has now been organised for Wednesday 30th November.
Amicus will be represented by three of our local reps (Ian Allinson, Lynne Hodge and Sulayman Munir) and our full-time Regional Officer (Pat O’Regan).
The company will be represented by Ella Bennett (HR Director Core Services), Andrew Auty (Director of ADG), Howard Morgan (HR Manager) and Clive Reid (from the Engineering Employers Federation, the employers’ “trade union”).
We have expressed our concern that the company team may not be sufficiently senior:
“We are sure you are aware that one of the major barriers to resolving these issues in the past has been the appearance that the company's local negotiating team has been over-ruled, and that the decisions are being made by people behind the scenes without hearing the discussion or understanding the issues.”
If the issues are not resolved at the works conference, negotiations on the issues would be at an end. In July, the Manchester members’ meeting instructed reps how to progress the issues. It’s worth taking a look at the motion passed at the time.
As instructed, reps are working hard to resolve the issues through discussion, but have also begun preparations in case an industrial action ballot proves necessary. Whether a negotiated settlement proves possible depends on the company.
Inspections
Amicus Health & Safety reps have been working hard to improve the working environment for everyone working at Central Park.
The Health & Safety inspections on 26th October highlighted a wide range of issues. As well as many housekeeping issues, the inspections found some more serious concerns, such as fire exits being held shut with heavy buckets of stones. You can read the inspection reports for yourself here.
Though we are still waiting for a response from the company on the points raised, we have observed that some were quickly resolved.
Ice
The inspection report for the external areas had raised questions about gritting etc in anticipation of the cold weather. While we were awaiting a response (and the various companies involved debated liability), winter came. We can only assume that this unexpected event took the company by surprise – employees report no grit, cars skidding, slips and falls.
Please take extra care in icy conditions. If you are unfortunate enough to have a slip or fall, please report it to site facilities, whether or not you suffer an injury. If you do suffer any injury, insist on entering it in the accident book. In either case, please copy your H&S rep so we can keep an overview of the situation. We can only help you get problems dealt with if you report them.
Dealing with the root cause
The underlying cause of most of the safety issues remains a lack of proper Health & Safety management - clear responsibilities, processes and management with the authority to resolve problems promptly. These were among the key points highlighted in our letters to David Courtley and the fire brigade.
The Amicus H&S reps wrote to the company on 1st November to request the setting of a proper Health & Safety Committee. By law, the company now has to do this within three months. We hear via the UKCF that the company also wants to set up a Health & Safety Committee at Central Park, though we've had no response yet. We understand that the company wants Paul Croyden to chair the committee. This is welcome news - Paul is the Manager of Health & Safety Services for Fujitsu Services, and his involvement ought to help avoid some of the buck-passing that has plagued us in the past. We also understand that the company wants to use the Central Park committee as a pilot for other large sites, though it's hard to see how you can have an effective H&S Committee without the H&S reps that underpin it.
H&S reps
We're pleased to report that we have a new H&S rep - Colin Robinson. More volunteers are always welcome - please get in touch.
The company maintains lists of H&S reps here:
Training is an important issue for many employees – even more so when they need to be redeployed from their current job. Redeployment is a hot issue at Central Park right now as part of our efforts to protect employees as work leaves Fujitsu Manchester as a result of HMRC, Libra and Lloyds TSB changes.
Legislation in recent years has introduced the role of a “Union Learning Rep”. In the same way that Health & Safety Reps focus on health and safety, Union Learning Reps focus on training issues.
In the light of the various redeployment issues, Amicus suggested to the company that this would be an ideal time to introduce Union Learning Reps. We now have a college on our door step actually administering IT and other sorts of courses, a perfect partnership if we can get the ball rolling. The better the training opportunities available to employees, the wider the choices they have. Management saw this as a very positive move and have agreed.
What is a Union Learning Rep?
A Union Learning Rep is trained to offer guidance to members about the range of training and learning opportunities available. These opportunities can range from technical courses to language classes, from basic skills to career development training. Courses don’t have to be work-related, though we expect the initial focus to be on contributing to successful retraining and redeployment of employees.
What will a Union Learning Rep have to do?
Well, you'll get full training from Amicus on how to arrange courses, seek support and get funding. Members will be able to come to you and ask advice, you'll be able to point them in the right direction and even get them booked on courses! You'll also be legally entitled to paid time off for training and to carry out the role.
We're looking for members to volunteer for the new role. If you are interested, please contact your rep.
Members covered by the Manchester recognition agreement have been voting on an offer from the company. The offer was in response to the Amicus claim to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to force disclosure of Fujitsu's median pay figures for the various Professional Community roles.
Members were given three options:
1) Accept the company offer as it stands.
2) Reject the offer and take the case to a full CAC hearing as quickly as possible.
3) Go back to management and seek clarification and improvement in the offer before taking a final decision.
Only three members voted to accept the offer. A small majority voted for the third option - to “seek clarification and improvement”. Your reps will now go back to the company with this result.
Bear in mind that the CAC claim is only one of the avenues through which the union is helping employees to gain access to the pay scales. Amicus elsewhere in Fujitsu has also been helping members with complaints to the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act, as well as taking a case under the TUPE regulations on a related issue.
Please see the letter below, from the Amicus General Secretary, which explains changes in the law affecting Widows benefits for men widowed before April 2001, and gives instructions on what you need to do if this applies to you.
|
LEGAL/CS
31 October 2005 TO: ALL AMICUS OFFICERS Dear Colleague WIDOWS BENEFITS FOR MEN WIDOWED BEFORE APRIL 2001 Before 2001, Widow’s Payment and Widowed Mother’s Allowance was only available to women and the only justification given for denying the benefit to widowers was that the legislation did not allow for payments to be made to men. On 9 April 2001 the Government introduced new legislation so as to permit both men and women to claim Bereavement Benefits on the death of a spouse. Some Amicus members whose claims for Widow’s Benefit and Widowed Mother’s Allowance were refused prior to the change in the law, received support from the Union to challenge the decisions further in the European Court of Human Rights. The Court has recently decided that it was discriminatory and unlawful for men to be denied these benefits. Men whose spouses died before 9 April 2001 may now be eligible for a settlement if they tried to claim Widow’s Benefit or Widowed Mother’s Allowance at the time of their spouse’s death. In addition, men who have not previously made a claim, but whose spouse died before April 2001, can now do so, but will need to act quickly. They must provide written details of why they think they have a legitimate claim and why their claim is late. If you are aware of any members who lost their spouse prior to April 2001, you should advise them to lodge a claim for Widow’s Benefit or Widowed Mother’s Allowance at the local Job Centre Plus office, immediately, and in any case before Friday 4 November 2005. Claims for benefit will not be accepted after that date. If you have a specific case and require specific legal advice please do not hesitate to contact Legal Services, bearing in mind the date by which eligible members must submit claims. Yours fraternally |
We are asking all Amicus members employed by Fujitsu Services and based at MAN05/33/34/35 and HOM99 with an admin base at those sites to vote on the offer from the company that we circulated on 20th October.
Please read the offer and the attached information carefully before casting your vote. If you have questions, please contact one of the reps.
Votes must be received by 9am on Monday 14th November.
Amicus is presenting you with three options:
1) Accept the company offer as it stands.
2) Reject the offer and take the case to a full CAC hearing as quickly as possible.
3) Go back to management and seek clarification and improvement in the offer before taking a final decision.
...
What’s it about?
A hot issue across the company is the way employees are denied access to the median pay figures for each Professional Community role – what most employees refer to as “pay scales”. In the Manchester bargaining unit, the company were only prepared to provide this information to reps if they first agreed to keep it confidential from employees. Members decided to instruct reps not to accept these confidentiality restrictions and for Amicus to challenge this secrecy.
As a result, Amicus took a legal claim to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) in an attempt to force disclosure of the pay figures without confidentiality restrictions. As a consequence of this claim, there have been two “conciliation” meetings between Fujitsu management and Amicus. Following these meetings, the company has made an offer, which we have published on CafeVIK here.
Your vote will not directly affect your pay, but will affect how your pay is managed by the company and the part you can play in pay negotiations.
Please note that this arrangement would only apply to the Manchester bargaining unit. Amicus is also supporting attempts to ensure disclosure of pay information across the rest of the company, including a claim under the TUPE regulations relating to the staff who transferred from LloydsTSB and cases under the Data Protection Act.
The helpdesks already have pay scales which Amicus has published.
The Amicus 2005 agreement increased these scales for the first time. Helpdesk staff have published scales, so why shouldn’t everyone else?
Recommendation from your reps
Your reps recommend that you do not vote for Option 1 - “Accept offer”, but are making no recommendation between:
· Option 2 - “Reject and go straight to the CAC” and
· Option 3 - “Seek clarification and improvement”
We hope our reasons will be obvious from the description of the pros and cons set out below.
Pros and Cons
Option 1) Accept the company offer as it stands.
+ Some employees might get access to some pay information from 2006.
- The document is so unclear and contradictory that it would be impossible to hold the company to anything. There are no timescales. It is unclear what is actually being offered.
+ The company would be very pleased if we accepted the offer and dropped the CAC claim.
- The document doesn’t say what Amicus would be committing to do (or not do). However, based on past experience, the company would interpret it to mean your reps would need their permission to discuss matters with you in each instance.
+ Accepting the offer would save Amicus the time and expense of the legal action to the CAC.
- Accepting the offer as it stands would mean continuous arguments about the same issues for months or years to come.
+ Avoids the risk of losing a legal case and getting nothing.
- The offer could even be interpreted as Amicus agreeing that we should get less information in future than we have already.
- Despite our specific requests (before and after we received the letter) the document is written as an agreement between Amicus and Fujitsu, not reflecting the fact that the agreement could only cover the Manchester sites with recognition. We fear that the company would use an agreement like this to try to prevent Amicus helping the vast majority of its members - who are outside the Manchester bargaining unit. The agreement might also prevent the union giving members information obtained by other routes than official disclosure.
+/- The offer says that “The company will provide a dedicated additional resource to validate all the outstanding actions from the implementation of the 2005 pay review from formal acceptance of this proposal by Amicus. The individual will work jointly with the company and Amicus to ensure all actions are completed” but the problem isn’t really a lack of resource, it is a lack of will to keep promises made to employees. This seems to be an attempt to further delay implementation of the pay deal by linking it to the disclosure issue. Would the company really be more likely to implement the 2005 pay deal after the disclosure issue was settled?
Option 2) Reject the offer and take the case to a full CAC hearing as quickly as possible.
+ Might win unrestricted access to the pay data
- Might lose the case and get nothing at all
+ Avoid further delays in getting a ruling
- Company could use this as a pretext for any negative steps it plans (e.g. any further attacks on recognition)
+ Sort out the question once and for all
- Legal route could take a long time, especially if there are appeals etc.
Option 3) Go back to management and seek clarification and improvement in the offer before taking a final decision.
+ Avoids accepting something so badly written it could be dangerous
+/- Company would see this as a middle-way between acceptance and rejection
- More delays in resolving the issue
- Risk that process drags on into 2006 pay negotiations
+ Possibility of a deal without having to go to a full CAC hearing
- Would we be falling for another time-wasting scheme from the company? Was the offer deliberately written so badly on purpose?
Amicus is running a recruitment competition for Fujitsu Services employees in the UK and Ireland. You can enter by joining Amicus, or by recruiting colleagues - and the more colleagues you recruit, the more chances you have to win.
To enter, simply return the application form to the address on it before the competition closes. Full rules are given below.
We know that many employees say they haven't got round to joining yet - what better time than now?
Prizes
Prizes already available are:
Fujitsu staff at Central Park can download a poster from CafeVIK.
Rules of the competition
1) Competition entries will be taken from Amicus membership forms received between the opening date and closing date of the competition.
2) Entries must be made on the forms available on CafeVIK here or on the Internet here and must be returned to the address on the form.
3) Only Fujitsu Services employees in the UK and Ireland are eligible.
4) The person joining will be entered into the competition.
5) The person identified on the form as the recruiter will be entered into the competition.
6) Employees who recruit more than one person will be entered once for each recruit.
7) Entries will be drawn in turn and each winner chooses their prize in turn.
8) The decision of the Amicus Fujitsu Services Central Park & West Gorton reps committee is final.
The closing date will be Tuesday 14th March.
The opening date is Wednesday 2nd November 2005.