Amicus is calling industrial action for all Fujitsu Services staff based at MAN05, including home workers with a MAN05 admin base, starting on Monday 15th September.
The full version of this entry includes an email we've sent out to most MAN05 staff in response to the propaganda from Roger Leek and Peter Hutchinson.
Here's what you need to know:
1) We'll be picketing MAN05 from early morning - lend a hand if you can.
2) We won't be parking on site. There are a few nearby parking places within view of the pickets.
3) We'll be assembling on Wenlock Way for a rally at 10am. Amicus North-West Regional Secretary Kevin Coyne is now confirmed as a speaker. Bring along friends, family and supporters for the rally and march.
4) You can park free at the Longsight Asda, and we've arranged a minibus to ferry you up to Wenlock Way. Please arrive well before 9:45am, as we can't fit in everyone on one trip.
5) We'll be marching from the rally to the Pakistani Community Centre, Stockport Road, Longsight. This is next to the parking area. We'll be holding a General Meeting for members there at 11am, to take decisions on the next steps in the dispute.
Now that we're taking action, we have to make sure we win. Otherwise the company will treat it as a green light to make more attacks on our rights. Please don't stay at home on Monday - come and join in the activities. We're already getting significant media interest in the dispute, and a big turnout for the rally and march will make a real difference.
The march route and details are already available on this dispute web page, and further updates will be posted here in coming days.
We've set up two phone numbers for queries in the coming days:
* 0701 740 3216 to hear a recorded message about the action.
* 0701 740 3105 to speak to a rep with any queries on the action.
[unfortunately, calls to these numbers will cost approximately mobile phone rates]
Don't forget to set up your Out Of Office reply. We suggest the following wording:
"Fujitsu Services staff at West Gorton are taking industrial action from Monday 15th September because the company is breaking its union recognition and redundancy agreements, and over a pay claim. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. If you want more information or to join Amicus, see www.ourunion.org.uk. Please send messages of support to support@ourunion.org.uk"
This is the text of an email we've sent out to most MAN05 staff in response to the propaganda from Roger Leek and Peter Hutchinson:
Posted by IA at September 12, 2003 02:39 PM
AMICUS Notice to Staff - 12th September 2003MAN05 INDUSTRIAL ACTION
You may have read Roger Leek's announcement yesterday, and Peter Hutchinson's announcement today, concerning the industrial action which begins on Monday 15th September.
The company only began serious negotiation once our members had voted to take industrial action, despite months when Amicus was raising the issues in dispute. We acknowledge that progress has been made in the last few weeks on a number of topics. Indeed, we'd describe certain aspects of the company offer more positively than Roger did.
A ship only needs to be holed once below the waterline to make it unseaworthy. So it is with the company offer. However positive some aspects of the offer may be, if other parts are fundamentally flawed, the whole deal becomes unworkable. The Amicus members involved in the dispute were sent the full text of the company offer. We then held an Extraordinary General Meeting of members which discussed the offer in detail. In full possession of the facts, not just some company spin, Amicus members unanimously rejected the offer, and confirmed the decision to take industrial action on Monday.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE OFFER?
1) The company are seeking to restrict individual's right to representation, despite the fact that we've presented a petition to the company, signed by the majority of their MAN05 staff, which said "If employees choose to be represented in a meeting, managers should not deny them that right". The company want a veto on when people can be represented, and to worsen the individual grievance procedure in other fundamental ways.
2) Reducing their commitment to consult, set out in the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA). They want to narrow the circumstances in which they'd consult, and avoid collective consultation for smaller number of job cuts.
3) The company refuse to give any guarantee that they will continue the past practice that all staff get 90-days warning of potential redundancy - they want to exclude better-paid staff.
4) No offer on Fair Pay.
5) We and the company want to agree a clear definition of who gets SEA redundancy terms. Their offer includes a definition which is wrong, and would threaten the redundancy terms of many staff.
6) The company want us to give them more power to break employee's contracts and make them redundant with Pay In Lieu Of Notice (PILON) instead of notice, regardless of the individual's wishes.
7) Banning the use of the individual grievance procedure in relation to redundancy, but not defining the alternative appeal process
Amicus didn't enter these negotiations to give away your rights.
AFFORDABLE?
The company would like to present the dispute as if the issue was affordability. That's not true. Many of the key questions in dispute are not financial - they're about the company treating employees with respect, and letting you have a voice.
Even the issue of pay needn't have been an issue of affordability - we'd proposed using some of the bonus money to fund pay rises, but the company turned that down.
A THREAT TO OUR OWN JOBS?
The company wants to present industrial action as a threat to our own jobs. We recognise that the action will harm the company, and are taking it as a last resort, after months of trying to get the company to negotiate seriously. But the alternative is almost like blackmail - if we allow the company to attack our rights because we always fear the alternative, there would be no end to the attacks. We have to draw the line somewhere. The company has a responsibility to avoid damage to its business - if only management took that as seriously as we do.
The company want us to believe that the result of action would be to move work away from Manchester. This would be no answer to the issues we're raising, many of which are shared by staff across the country. Every day we receive membership forms from other sites. Staff elsewhere are hoping to benefit from what we win - just as helpdesk staff nationally gained Sick Pay already.
The company has a responsibility to avoid damage to its business - if only management took that as seriously as we do.
ACTION
Nobody takes industrial action lightly. But our members know that if we don't resolve the major outstanding issues, we'd be giving up rights that staff have cherished for many years. If we do nothing, we believe that matters will get sharply worse for employees.
The company is keen to encourage the myth that the industrial action is for Amicus members only. This is not true. Every Fujitsu Services employee at MAN05 (including home-based workers with a MAN05 admin base) has the same legal protection for taking lawful industrial action. The company would like to pretend that only 10% of MAN05 staff support the planned action - where on earth do they get that figure from?
If you think the issues we're fighting for are important, please support our action. You need to make this important decision for yourself, not be fooled by company "spin".