Yesterday the company announced that all helpdesk staff will now get company Sick Pay from day one, and their annual leave will be increased to 25 days. This is an important step forward, that would not have happened without the Amicus campaign and the threat of industrial action. However, the company have failed to make any meaningful offer on the other vital issues in dispute. Is it an attempt to divide the workforce by making a concession to one group? Or maybe an attempt to distract attention from the other vital issues in dispute?
After consulting members as widely as possible, the Amicus reps committee decided this morning to postpone Monday's strike until 15th September, in response to the Sick Pay concession. This will allow a short period for negotiations before action would begin if necessary. We've sent the following email to management:
-----Original Message-----
From: Allinson Ian
Sent: 28 August 2003 09:59
To: Evans Alan
Cc: Brearley Victoria
Subject: AMICUS: Industrial action postponed from Monday 1st September
Importance: HighAlan,
thanks for your note yesterday. We had hoped for an offer which could be the basis of meaningful negotiations, but the letter clearly doesn't come anywhere near that.Our dispute is over the company's breach of our union recognition agreement and the Security of Employment Agreement, and over our pay claim.
The pay claim covered Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay. The only specific proposal in the letter related to Sick Pay. The other issues are equally important to our members, and were not addressed in any meaningful way. These include:
* Honouring our existing agreements, essential if members are to have any faith in new agreements with the company
* Rights to individual union representation and collective bargaining, in support of which over 500 MAN05 Fujitsu Services staff have signed a petition which we'll present tomorrow
* Imposing decisions before hearing grievances
* Denying staff 90-days warning of redundancy
* Fair Pay - the 2003 pay review
* Equal PayThe decision to extend company Sick Pay to helpdesk staff is a very welcome gesture from the company, as is the increase in annual leave from 20 to 25 days. Despite the total inadequacy of the proposals contained in your letter, the reps committee has decided to reciprocate this gesture by asking Amicus to suspend the notice of industrial action starting on Monday 1st September, postponing it until Monday 15th September.
We want to make clear that we will not be delaying action again - this dispute has already dragged on far too long. For this reason we don't require any extension to the legal timeframe for start of industrial action based on our ballot. We will recommend that action goes ahead from the 15th unless a General Meeting accepts an offer from the company to settle the dispute.
We hope that the company will have more substantial proposals for us on Friday.
Ian Allinson
Amicus
We believe this delay will give us time to ensure everyone understands the reality of the current situation, and that we keep the workforce united behind the campaign.
The company's actions don't give us high expectations for tomorrow's negotiations. Members made it clear at a General Meeting last year that they saw maintaining union recognition as even more important than the pay claim. The problems of people getting paid far below the pay scales, paid unequally, and getting no pay rises of years remain. We must begin preparations for the 15th now, in case our fears are realised, and action proves necessary. We intend to hold a General Meeting between now and the 15th to report back on negotiations and to consider any offers from the company.
Remember:
* We only won the sick pay because we had a union. The company is still trying to undermine our union recognition. To mangle the old analogy, they're trying to give us a fish and take away our rod.
* The company only made this concession under threat of action.
* The company making this concession shows that they recognise the power of the threatened industrial action.
* We won this important concession, which benefits some of the workforce, by all sticking together - we need to stay united to win gains for all the members.