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AMICUS-MSF SUBS 2003 - 20 December 2002 We're pleased to report that the union subs will remain unchanged for 2003. This means you'll be getting even better value from your union membership. RELOCATION UPDATE - 20 December 2002 The latest consultation meeting took place on 2nd December. Ian Allinson and Phil Tepper attended for Amicus. Other attendees included a number of Business Representatives, who were MAN05 staff who'd been given a brief by their management to represent the interests of staff in their individual businesses. The main news is that Richard Christou has signed the lease agreement on the new buildings. Work on the site is anticipated to begin by summer 2003, and will take two years to complete - thus it's currently estimated that the actual move will not take place until summer 2005 at the earliest. However, if we want to influence the new site, we need to do it now. Of the main areas of interest / concern raised to date by members:
Employee presentations involving the City Council and the developers are planned, at 2:30pm on Jan 22nd, and 9:30am on Jan 23rd. There will also be an exhibition which will remain on site, and a Cafe-Vik Community, so people who do not attend can have access to information and updates. On the key issue of union recognition for staff moving to the new site, Fujitsu have clarified that the site will be Fujitsu Services only (i.e. no Fujitsu Consulting or other Fujitsu Group companies on site). This makes our negotiations in the coming months rather simpler. Remember that there's a section on our CafeVIK community about relocation, including a link to a map. SEA PAYMENTS FOR UNEMPLOYED MEMBERS - 20 December 2002 A number of the members who volunteered or selected for redundancy earlier in the year have been getting in touch with us, asking for guidance. Those covered by the union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) are entitled to extra payments from the company under section 5.1 if they are unemployed for a long time. You can read the SEA on our CafeVIK community or Internet site. Members have been asking how to claim their payments. Firstly, they must have signed on as soon as they could. They must have been unemployed and seeking work during the period in question. The company won't contact them to arrange payment, members need to write in to their manager or HR to claim their payments. People who were in HPS can contact Rep Ian Allinson to find out who to contact about this. These payments make up your income to 75% of your normal salary, so are well worth claiming! TRAVEL & EXPENSES POLICIES - 03 December 2002 Fujitsu Services is updating its travel and expenses policies, and have provided copies for AMICUS to comment on. Please send your comments by the end of the week to . Drafts were circulated to members for comment. BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 03 December 2002 Greater Manchester IT Branch is holding its Annual General Meeting: 6pm, Thursday 5th December All branch members are entitled (and encouraged) to attend this important meeting. FIRE BRIGADES DISPUTE - 03 December 2002 AMICUS have been pressing Fujitsu to improve the quality of the fire risk assessments covering MAN05, to help ensure the safety of staff during the dispute. This work is still ongoing. AMICUS and the FBU organised a collection on the gates at MAN05 22nd November, which raised over £65. A demonstration in support of the fire-fighters has been called for this Saturday, in London, and the TUC is organising transport from Manchester. Members who wish to attend can book tickets (£10 waged, £5 unwaged) by ringing 0161 224 1671. The FBU website is at www.fbu.org.uk. CHANGES TO RELOCATION POLICY - 22 November 2002 The company proposes changes to the Relocation policy. Drafts have been emailed out to members for their comments. PAY and EQUAL PAY - 19 November 2002 To put an end to Fujitsu's pay freeze, AMICUS is pursuing a pay claim for April 2003. We are currently at the stage of gathering information to help members decide what the claim should be. Because we are the recognised trade union at MAN05, AMICUS has a right to information from the company to help in this process. We have now received from the company an anonymised spreadsheet including the roles, benchmarks and pay rates for 798 out of the 860 staff at MAN05. Reps are now beginning to analyse this data. The data itself is obviously confidential, but we will be reporting back to members the results of our analysis, to help you decide what pay claim you want to fight for. Our last General Meeting decided the outline of the claim, which must include:
AMICUS has called a national demonstration on equal pay, in Manchester this week. At the current rate of progress, it would take 40 years to achieve equal pay for women. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the main employers' organisation in the UK, is opposing calls for equal pay audits to end sex discrimination. All members are urged to attend: Demonstrate, 1pm, Sunday 24th November If you are planning to attend, please so that we can organise a delegation to meet up. BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 19 November 2002 AMICUS Greater Manchester IT Branch is holding its Annual General Meeting: 6pm, Thursday 5th December All branch members are encouraged to attend. This meeting is the key to the union's democracy, and will elect people to various roles, including:
If you're willing to play a part, or want to nominate someone else, please . FUJITSU CONSULTING - 19 November 2002 The recent Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum meeting covered a wide range of issues. Highlights (and AMICUS comments):
REDUNDANCY FOR OVER-65S - 19 November 2002 Labour Research report:
SICKNESS PROCEDURE - 19 November 2002 Labour Research report:
At the General Meeting on 3rd October, you decided:
Reps have explained the motion to HR, and are preparing a list of information we want from them to prepare the claim. Because we have union recognition at MAN05, we are legally entitled to information from the company for bargaining purposes. The information we are requesting will include:
BRANCH MEETING - 04 November 2002 All members of AMICUS-MSF Greater Manchester IT branch can attend the next meeting: 6pm, Thursday 7th November As well as normal business, this is the meeting that will decide what motions will go forward from our branch to the AMICUS-MSF national conference in June 2003. KEEPING INFORMED - 04 November 2002 Fujitsu is a big company, and it's hard to keep informed. AMICUS has produced some advice for staff, including how to tailor CafeVIK to give you the news you want. The guidance is on CafeVIK here. TIMESHEETS & WORKING TIME - 04 November 2002 Your reps on Fujitsu Services' UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) have raised a number of concerns with management about timesheets, including:
Reps pointed out that according to the company's Conduct (disciplinary) policy, "falsification of time records" is an example of gross misconduct, which could lead to summary dismissal. It is therefore unacceptable for managers to be encouraging employees to falsify their timesheets. To progress this issue, we now need some examples of how, why and where these problems are occurring. Letting us know will not result in individuals getting into trouble, but will allow reps and management to identify the problems and resolve them. Names will not be passed on without your agreement. If you have any examples please let Rep and European Consultative Forum Rep Ian Allinson know. At the start of the redundancy programme, in autumn 2001, UKCF reps had asked to monitor working time before and after the redundancies, as a safeguard against those left behind picking up extra work to cover for those who left. Reps had chosen Mobile Engineers and Project Managers as pilot groups for carrying out this monitoring. The company has legal obligations to monitor working time for Health & Safety reasons, and it's deeply disturbing that HR are now claiming the data is unavailable. RECRUITMENT COMPETITION - 04 November 2002 Remember that we are now running a competition to recruit new members into AMICUS. You could win a prize for recruiting someone, and they could win too. For more information, see our web sites. FUJITSU CONSULTING - XMAS HOLIDAYS - 04 November 2002 While Fujitsu Services has announced an extra day's holiday on 27th December, and confirmed the long-standing practice of having the afternoon of Christmas eve too, Fujitsu Consulting (FC) is taking a less generous approach. In September, FC announced that it was "nominating" five days over Christmas which all employees had to take as leave - out of their normal annual leave entitlement. Most of the FC staff in the UK had come from ICL, where the normal annual leave policy allowed the company to nominate up to four (not five) days a year. Also, these had to be announced well in advance. On the odd occasions when ICL wanted to close a site, but decided late in the year, the closures were often given as extra days (as in Fujitsu Services this year), and not taken out of annual leave entitlement. Ex-ICL employees had carried across their old Terms and Conditions to FC, protected by the "TUPE" regulations. The announcement was effectively an announcement of a change to contracts. Reps on the FC Consultative Forum raised the issue with management, who then decided that "each part of the business will clarify the situation locally according to their customer commitments and previous practice". This welcome news should mean that FC honours the contracts of ex-ICL employees. However, we believe that this has not been made clear to all those affected. Any member whose manager insists on them using their annual leave entitlement for the shut-down, and who wants to challenge it, should contact their rep as soon as possible. HAZARD REPORTING - 04 November 2002 A hazard is defined as "anything which could cause harm". There is no clear procedure throughout Fujitsu Services staff to report hazards - the first step to getting them removed. Here at MAN05, staff can report hazards by filling in the form here. For hazards which Site Services could fix, you should also report them by ringing 3333. Following work by your AMICUS Health & Safety reps, the MAN05 Health & Safety committee will be reviewing the hazard reporting process, with a view to establishing a single UK-wide process which is easy to use. If you need any advice on Health & Safety, please contact your Health & Safety rep. It's easy to find out who covers your area. There's a plan of the site you can click on here. A table with the same information is on CafeVIK here. We're urgently looking for more volunteers to join the Health & Safety reps, particularly because of the planned relocation from MAN05. This is the biggest Health & Safety issue staff have faced for years, and every area needs a Health & Safety rep to make sure your needs are considered. If you're interested, please contact H&S Rep Ian Allinson. Health & Safety reps are one of the many benefits employees have as a result of union recognition. REDUNDANCY RIGHTS FOR OVER-65s - 04 November 2002 The November edition of Labour Research magazine carried the following report:
SICKNESS PROCEDURE - 04 November 2002 The November edition of Labour Research magazine carried the following report:
We had announced our intention to organise a debate on the prospect of war with Iraq, and invited members to participate. Nobody has come forward to take the pro-war side of the argument, so we are instead organising a discussion around a short video produced by the Stop the War coalition. Members and non-members are welcome to come along, watch the video, and discuss their views: 12:30 - 1:30pm, Wednesday 23rd October, G8 meeting room, MAN05 There will also be a rally against the war on Monday 28th October: 7.30pm, Monday 28th October 31st October is "Don't Attack Iraq" day, with various activities taking place around the country against war. In Manchester, protesters will be gathering at 6pm at All Saints on Oxford Road. Reps are also discussing with the local Fire Brigades Union the possibility of some local activity in support of their pay claim, along the lines of "money for services, not for war". The action of the FBU is the most significant industrial dispute since the mid-1980s. A victory for the firefighters will accelerate the recovery and growth of the trade union movement. A defeat will hold it back. The more support we can offer to their pay claim, the more support we'll get for ours. NB: There is a "Support the Firefighters" meeting in Manchester: 7:30pm on Thursday 24th October, The Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum met on 17-18 October. A number of AMICUS members are among the representatives: Ian Allinson, Simon Gavin and Sulayman Munir from MAN05, as well as Robert Dimmick, Alasdair Lewis and John Garvani. A report of the meeting can be found here. Contact your reps if you want any further details. BRANCH MEETINGS, XMAS SOCIAL, AND REGIONAL AGM - 21 October 2002 Branch meeting Our next branch meeting (open to all branch members) is: 6pm, Thursday 7th November 2002 Branch Annual General Meeting and Xmas social The branch AGM (open to all branch members) will take place: 6pm, Thursday 5th December 2002 The agenda will include election of officers for the coming year. Following the AGM, we plan a social event for members. We will book a restaurant table for 8pm. Partners/Friends/Family welcome. Firm bookings are needed by Friday 15th November, but the sooner you respond the easier it will be to organise. Regional Council Annual General Meeting Delegates from each AMICUS-MSF branch in the north-west meet every two months at the union's Regional Council. This is a key part of the union's democratic structure, and helps build its network within the region. This year, the delegate from Greater Manchester IT Branch is Ian Allinson. The regional council welcomes members attending as observers, who can take part in the meetings, but cannot vote. The regional council plans its Annual General Meeting for Saturday 25th January. We intend to invite Derek Simpson, the newly elected Joint General Secretary of AMICUS, as a guest speaker. The meeting will be followed by a social event in the evening. If you are interested in attending this meeting, please as soon as possible. On 4th October, The Guardian ran the following report:
What Amicus will be doing - 9th October 2002 Last week's General Meeting decided priorities for the union. The Reps committee have now met to discuss how to put these into action, and we report key decisions here. Reps were allocated to lead on particular areas of our work (though others will be involved as required) as follows:
It was agreed to set a target of the end of October 2003 for a new union recognition agreement to cover the new Manchester site. The key dates for the next year are:
The motion passed at the General Meeting stressed the importance of strengthening union organisation, in order to deliver what members want. To aid this:
We have restructured the Areas Of Responsibility of reps and Health & Safety reps. The new coverage is here:
We will be organising lunchtime "section" meetings in particular areas of the site, on the themes of pay, relocation and union recognition. These will be open to members and non-members. We will be seeking a Health & Safety rep from every area of the site, to ensure that all staff are properly represented in the discussions over restructuring. If you are interested, please contact . In discussion with union members on other sites, AMICUS is also putting in place plans to strengthen our organisation nationwide. If you work outside MAN05 (in Services or Consulting), and might be willing to be a contact-point for the union on your site, please contact Ian Allinson. The company wants to know how well motivated you are. There's a survey on CafeVIK - look in the bottom left hand corner of your home page (it's well hidden). Why not fill it in? Many members are worried about the future of the pension fund, with the closure of final-salary (defined benefit) schemes in the news. Unions are running major campaigns to defend pension provision. ICL took years of "pensions holiday" (paying nothing into the fund) when the stock market was booming. Members still carried on paying in. The company argued that they should get all the benefit of the surplus, as they would carry all the risk if the fund had a shortfall. Now that pension funds are struggling, companies seem to be forgetting this argument. We now have two AMICUS members on the company's Pension Consultative Committee (PCC) - MAN05 Rep Dave Francis, and Roger Dane. The latest official notes from the PCC are on CafeVIK here. We understand that the company would not make any decisions about the future of the pension fund until after the next fund valuation, which is in 2003. No members have come forward wanting to speak for the pro-war case in the debate we plan. Unless someone volunteers, we propose to use a short video from the anti-war campaign to provoke a discussion, as an alternative to a one-sided debate. Amicus Fujitsu West Gorton Group General Meeting Report - 4th October 2002 Yesterday's General Meeting at MAN05 heard reports from Reps and decided a programme of work for the union for the coming months. On pay, the meeting heard that average earnings in the UK economy now stood at £23,800 per year, and £31,200 for male non-manual workers. Half the MAN05 workforce is now employed on helpdesks, on low pay. Most helpdesk staff here don't get sick pay for the first three days - below the minimum standards we would expect from our employer. In recent years the pay gap between the top and bottom has widened. Workers in a number of industries are now fighting for better pay. In the IT sector, employers' organisations still see skills shortages as a major issue when the economy picks up. Companies that freeze pay now are likely to see staff leaving rapidly when the job market improves. In Fujitsu, this would mean loss of key skills, and over-work for those remaining. On relocation, the meeting heard that Reps had held their first meeting with management on Wednesday. The forecast date for the move from MAN05 to the new site is approximately 2 years. Reps had passed on the strong reaction from staff to the written answers from the company we'd circulated, which suggested sharp reductions in facilities such as catering, fitness, recreation, parking, and security. Reps believed that many of these answers were provisional, and that most decisions were yet to be made. To ensure that the move is positive, the workforce must press for good facilities, not sit back and wait. There was considerable discussion about union recognition. MAN05 is the only site (so far) where the union is recognised by the management to represent the workforce. We have a recognition agreement:
This agreement is now quite dated, and only applies to the West Gorton site. On Wednesday, Reps had explained to management that they saw no point in spending time renegotiating the agreement, given the planned closure of MAN05. AMICUS wanted to negotiate a new agreement to cover the new site. Reps asked HR to identify someone with authority to negotiate such an agreement. Members made it very clear that they saw maintaining union recognition as a point of principle. Without this, employees at the new sites would have much worse rights than at present. There would be no facility for union meetings, no right to openly circulate information, to have Reps carrying out duties in work time, no Health & Safety Reps, little access to information from the company, and no duty on the company to consult the union before making significant changes. It would be much harder to defend terms and conditions won by the union in the past, such as the Security of Employment Agreement. We welcomed our two new Reps, who had been unopposed:
This brings the Reps committee to 11 - the maximum we are allowed by the company. After an extensive discussion, and amendment from the floor of the proposal from the Reps committee, the following motion was agreed unanimously:
What you can do:
AMICUS Membership forms and subs rates are available from our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289 or externally at: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/join.htm Fujitsu Consulting News - 26th September The Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum (FCCF) met on 5th September. The minutes comment on the persistent rumours of cutbacks in Fujitsu Consulting: "The representatives confirmed that there was growing concern from employees that a further redundancy programme is likely. Andy Montrose confirmed that currently there are no plans to implement a further redundancy programme. Until the second half budget for the UK has been agreed it would be impossible to refute or confirm this view." There was also news on office closures: "The Leeds Office and Altrincham Office are closing and staff will be relocating to nearby locations. A review of the various Manchester Offices is currently being undertaken." Fujitsu Consulting also indicated their pay plans, following the pay freeze in Fujitsu Services: "Fujitsu Consulting review of pay remains on schedule for October and is being undertaken taking into account the comparison of independent benchmarked data, the market sector and the company's ability to pay, against current individual remuneration levels. This will not result in across the board increases, however some pay adjustments may be necessary." Fujitsu Site Closes, Staff Redundant - 26th September Yesterday staff at the Fujitsu Microelectronics site (on the MAN05 car park) in West Gorton were told that their site was to close, and that they were all at risk of redundancy. Staff are likely to be given their notice at the end of a 30-day consultation period, at the start of November. The law permits a consultation period of only 30-days because the numbers at risk on the site are between 20 and 100. In the former ICL, the union negotiated the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) which guarantees a 90-day consultation period regardless of the numbers involved. Further evidence of the benefits of union organisation. Multivendor Computing Sell Off? - 26th September Fujitsu Services has not confirmed the continuing rumours and press reports of the impending sell-off of MultiVendor Computing (MC). Most of the staff are based in Warrington. The transfer would be covered by the "TUPE" regulations, which offer some protection to staff. One of the obligations on the company would be to consult the workforce prior to the transfer. Naturally, with no confirmation of the rumours, no consultation via the UKCF has begun. Members in MC are urged to contact reps immediately should any official confirmation be made. The Labour Research Department (LRD), to which our branch is affiliated, has recently published an updated booklet on dealing with transfers and TUPE. This is available from the MAN05 union library, or from their online publications database at www.lrd.org.uk. Contact your rep for the username and password. We'd previously reported your Reps' decision to organise a debate about the likely war on Iraq. We had hoped to organise it before the national demonstration against the war in Iraq on Saturday. Due to the time taken up by organising the General Meeting this has proved impossible. In the meantime, members can read Tony Blair's "dossier", which is on the table in the union office (m.f1a, upstairs, phase 2). Leaflets for the demonstration, including local transport details, are also available there too. The demonstration is supported by our union branch. Branch Meeting - 26th September The next meeting of Greater Manchester IT branch will be: 6pm, Thursday 3rd October As well as normal business, workplace reports and discussion, a major part of the meeting will be given over to discussion on our special theme this month - "Employee Rights to be Consulted". This includes:
The meeting is open to all members of the branch, and normally finishes around 7:30pm. Equal Pay Demonstration - 26th September AMICUS-MSF nationally has been in the forefront of the campaign for equal pay for work of equal value. Women in Britain earn 18% less than men because of sex discrimination. The union has won several high-profile court cases, leading to significant pay rises for groups of members. However, we recognise that legal action is not the best way to win change. At the current rate of improvement, it would take around 40 years to achieve equal pay. AMICUS has been promoting "pay audits", which analyse the patterns of pay within a company, and identify any problem areas. There is currently a debate with government about whether such pay audits should be made compulsory. The bosses' organisation the CBI is opposing this measure. AMICUS has called a demonstration "Equal Pay Now - we won't wait a lifetime", at the CBI conference: Manchester GMEX, 1pm, Sunday 24th November. Anyone can attend, but it would be useful if you would let your reps know if you plan to attend, so that we can organise a group to go together. Relocation - 24th September 2002 AMICUS reps have now received answers to the questions we put to the company about the plans to relocate from MAN05 to a new Business Park. Please send any comments, or any follow-up questions relating to these, before 2nd October, the date of our initial consultation meeting with the company. As previously mentioned we will be reporting back on this to the General Meeting. See here on CafeVik, in our MAN05 Union community, for the Q&A. Reps Election - 24th September 2002 A reminder to potential candidates for our two vacancies on the Fujitsu Services' Reps Committee - if you're willing to stand, please:
Amicus Supports Redundant Employees - 18 September 2002 Following the redundancies in ICL in early 2002, a number of applications were made to Employment Tribunals. These cases were:
AMICUS is providing representation in all these cases, through the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder. Naturally, this is at no cost to the applicants - one of the advantages of union membership. AMICUS believes these cases are necessary for a number of reasons:
Ian Allinson (AMICUS and UKCF rep), and our AMICUS Regional Officer, Debbie Brannon, also attended. The company were represented by Mr Hills of Halliwell Landau solicitors, who are Manchester based. The "directions hearing" for these cases took place on 29 August, in Manchester. A directions hearing does not discuss the merits of the cases, but the way the cases will be heard, evidence organised etc. The hearing went very well for the applicants. A number of sensible points were agreed with Fujitsu's lawyer at the hearing, and we won on the key contested points. The timescale for the cases, however, is very slow indeed. Prior to the hearing, our solicitor clarified for us that disputes about who was covered by the Protective Awards (e.g. homeworkers allocated to a site) would be resolved if and when we won the cases. Interestingly, despite rumours (presumably put about by management) that the cases are hopeless and mere trouble-making, Fujitsu are not even attempting to claim costs except on one part of one claim. It was agreed that the Protective Award claim brought by John Garvani covering WAK01 would be combined with Ian Allinson's other cases (since WAK01 also falls within Ian's UKCF constituency) to reduce administration, and simplify the hearings. All the Protective Award claims will be heard under one 4-day tribunal, which is likely to be in early summer 2003. The UKCF and AMICUS claims would not be heard together, but consecutively. Fujitsu are not claiming that "special circumstances" prevented them consulting properly. The hearing rejected requests by Fujitsu for us to provide, in advance, chapter and verse of what we were alleging in the Protective Award claims. The burden of proof lies with the company to prove that they did properly consult, not with us to prove they didn't. As a result, Fujitsu's witnesses will have to provide their statements first, to which our witnesses can respond, rather than the other way round or simultaneously. Further, Fujitsu's requests to know the alleged impact of the failure to consult on the redundancies, and any consequential losses, were ruled irrelevant to the success of the cases. They might impact on the size of an award, if the cases were successful. It was agreed that Fujitsu would provide their statements by 31 December 2002. The applicants' witnesses would provide statements by 28 Feb 2003. The two sides would jointly prepare a chronology of events to assist the tribunal. If legal arguments were to be made, skeleton arguments should be provided 7 days before the hearing. The two claims for Unfair Dismissal had to be heard. However, one of these applicants was also making claims of Breach of Contract. It was agreed that all the various Breach of Contract issues could be dealt with by hearing a further two individual cases. One of these cases had to be heard anyway, because the company has made a small counter-claim against the individual. Both sides agreed it likely that once these test cases had been heard, the other cases would be settled out of court on the same basis. It was agreed to fix a 4-day hearing to cover the four individual test cases. This will be about 4 weeks after the Protective Award claim, to allow its implications to be considered. Statements are to be exchanged 28-days before the hearing. All the cases will be heard at the Manchester tribunal. It won't necessarily be the same panel for the Protective Award and individual hearings. AMICUS tried to avoid the need for these cases before the redundancies took place, but the company was unwilling to reach agreement. We still hope that the cases can be settled before they reach court - reducing time and expense for the company, the applicants and the union. In any event, we hope that these cases will result in compensation for redundant members, as well as making the company recognise its legal duties to consult in future, helping improve job security for those left in Fujitsu. Staff should now have received the botched announcement deferring the pay rise (again) from October to April 2003. We were pleased to see that the announcement had been revised slightly before its official publication. Unfortunately it had already been announced in many parts of the company. The final version of the announcement is here. This announcement already shows some small movement in two areas as a result of points AMICUS reps raised:
Reps have had considerable feedback from staff expressing their disgust at being made to pay the price for the company's problems yet again. The payment of sizeable bonuses to some staff, including managers, in 2002, has not sweetened the pill. We believe that "exceptions" to the freeze have been authorised, including managers in UK Mobile Engineering, a unit that has carried out major cuts in the terms and conditions of its staff. We are seeking clarification on the criteria for exceptions. Deciding a response to the pay freeze will be the main topic of our General Meeting - make sure you have your say. Relocation, Health & Safety - 17 September 2002 AMICUS reps are due to be updated on 2nd October on the plans to relocate from MAN05 to a new site near Oldham Road. We will be reporting back to the General Meeting. The relocation will have a big impact on everyone working here. The list of issues we've already raised with the company include:
There is also the key question of securing union recognition to cover the new site, as our current agreement with the company is specific to MAN05. Many of the issues relate to Health, Safety, and the Working Environment. AMICUS wants to ensure that the views and needs of every group of staff are taken into account. That means your team or area needs to be represented. We would like members in every floor or area of the site to put forward a "volunteer" to be the Health & Safety rep - just for their area. This is not a big job, but will make a big difference in ensuring everyone is properly represented. If you are interested, or want to propose a colleague, please . We need approximately 20 more H&S reps to provide adequate coverage for the site. Reps Election - 17 September 2002 Three of our reps - Mat Taylor, Frazer Cooke, and Sean Lawson, have recently left Fujitsu (voluntarily). One of the vacancies for Fujitsu Services reps has been filled by Lynne Hodge transferring back from Fujitsu Consulting. As a result, we now have two vacancies for reps in Fujitsu Services, as well as vacancies for reps from Fujitsu Consulting. Reps get work time to carry out their duties, which vary widely, but can include:
Full training is available. If you want to find out more, talk to one of the existing reps, have a look around our web sites (see footer), or contact Phil Tepper and have a look at some of the information in the union library, such as the handbooks "Support for workplace reps" and "Bargaining handbook". As we anticipate more than two candidates, we'll be taking advantage of the forthcoming General Meeting to hold an election there. If you're willing to stand, please:
General Meeting - 17 September 2002 There will be a General Meeting for all MAN05 members 3pm - 4:30pm, Thursday 3rd October, in the MAN05 restaurant. Provisional Agenda
Reps nominations, and any motions or other items for the agenda, must be received by the group secretary, Ian Allinson, by Monday 30 September. This will be an important meeting for every member - please book it in your diary now. If you're in a department where your manager will need to organise cover for you to attend, please let them know NOW that you want to go. It seems everyone on the planet is discussing the possibility of war with Iraq, and AMICUS members are no exception. Many of you will have heard parts of the debate at the TUC conference on the subject. Your reps committee plans to organise a lunchtime debate on the subject, in the next few weeks. If you'd be interested in contributing on either side of the debate, please contact Ian Allinson. Report from Love Music - Hate Racism Carnival - 17 September 2002 One of the members who attended the carnival on 1 September kindly provided this report. The carnival was to have been held in Burnley, where 3 BNP nazis were elected as councillors recently, but the council refused permission for the carnival, which was then moved to Manchester.
In the midst of the redundancies earlier this year, ICL announced that the Fujitsu Services 2002 pay review was being delayed from June to October. Now management have announced that there will be no pay rise at all this year, because the company can't afford it. When the redundancies were announced, MSF (as the union was called then) put out a leaflet saying: "MSF wants to see a business plan to secure employment in the future, and a social plan to manage the impact on people." No such plans were forthcoming. It now seems that the workforce was put through all the pain of redundancies, but management still can't get their house in order. What's their solution? More sacrifices from the workforce of course! This is the thanks for employees who stuck loyally with the company, and who often picked up extra work after the redundancies. Fujitsu doesn't publish its pay scales any more, so employees can only imagine the sacrifices being made at the top. But we do know what's happening generally. The Financial Times recently reported: "The typical leader of a FTSE 100 company received an 11.7% increase in total cash earnings over the past year, easily outstripping the 3.9% rise in average earnings for the workforce as a whole, according to the annual survey of top management salaries by the Monks Partnership. It found that the base salary of the average full-time chairman or chief executive increased by 9.3% to £574,000. Total annual earnings, including cash bonus, rose from £781,000 in 2001 to £869,000 for the past 12 months." Meanwhile prices go up, and average earnings in the rest of the IT industry continue to climb. Pay researchers "Reward" forecast pay for staff working in IT rising by 3.2% in 2002, the same rate as last year. In other industries, workers are fighting for decent pay. We need strong union organisation throughout Fujitsu to ensure that employees are treated fairly. AMICUS will be consulting members to decide a response to the pay freeze. With the news full of stories about companies cutting back on pension schemes, rumours are circulating in Fujitsu too. ICL had already closed the final-salary (defined benefit) pension scheme to new employees, who are only offered a money-purchase (defined contribution) scheme. The company contributes far less to the new scheme, which provides lower benefits and less security to pensioners. Many younger people starting work are already saddled with huge student debts, and can ill afford needing to save extra money to avoid poverty in retirement. AMICUS has heard of no plans by Fujitsu to close the final-salary pension plan to existing members, but employees should be on their guard. It is good news that the two AMICUS candidates were amongst the three new reps elected to the company's Pensions Consultative Committee. Thanks to everyone who voted for them, and congratulations to:
These AMICUS members have access to training, support and advice unavailable to non-members, putting them in a better position to scrutinise the pension fund on your behalf. Rumours abound of further redundancies in Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting, but we have heard nothing concrete beyond the usual trickle of redundancies in particular units. In the meantime, AMICUS is pursuing the legal cases arising from the ICL redundancies earlier this year. There are a number of individual claims for Breach of Contract and Unfair Dismissal, as well as several collective claims for Failure to Consult. One of these is being taken by AMICUS, on behalf of our collective bargaining group (grades GSS17 and below at MAN05). Others are being taken by AMICUS members who were on ICL's UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) at the time, on behalf of their constituents. These cases could result in compensation (up to 90 days pay) for all those made redundant (VR and CR) at the following sites: MAN05, MAN27, WAR08, WAR13, EDI06, WAK01, BRA01, BSN01, STE04, STE09 This would be a total of approximately 700 of the redundant staff. The "directions hearing" for these cases took place on Thursday 29th August. This was a short hearing to discuss where, when and how the cases should be heard. We're pleased to report that we are being represented in these cases by the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder. Taking legal action was a last resort. The law provides limited protection for employees against redundancy, and the remedies are inadequate. Prior to the redundancies, AMICUS had pointed out to the company in negotiations that we believed there was a case for failure to consult. We'd pointed out the potential costs, and limited benefits of such cases. We'd offered to recommend to members that we forego such claims if ICL took a series of simple steps which we believed would reduce the likelihood and impact of compulsory redundancies. ICL dismissed this offer out of hand. There is naturally no guarantee of success in any legal claim, but the pursuit of these claims is important both as an attempt to secure compensation for redundant staff, and to apply pressure to the company to consult fully in any future redundancies. The cases demonstrate some of the advantages of being represented on the UKCF by union members. AMICUS is very proud of the role it played in the redundancy programme, and our considerable success in avoiding redundancies for members who didn't want them at MAN05. However, we feel that much more could have been done if the company had shown willing. There are already signs of the company trying to erode redundancy terms on other sites. The union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) guaranteed staff a minimum 90-day consultation period over redundancies, regardless of the numbers affected. In the past, ICL extended the same benefit to staff not covered by the SEA. With the spread of contracts with lesser redundancy terms (e.g. statutory minimum) to newer staff, Fujitsu is now beginning to look at individual contracts to determine the length of consultation period for each employee. On some other sites, Fujitsu has been giving non-union-members not on the SEA or M-grade redundancy terms only 30-days consultation period. This means less time to find another job, and less money. Staff should be on the alert against any attempt to "offer" only a 30-day consultation period. Your reps believe we can contest any such change, if the company "tries it on" with a member. We believe the 90-day consultation period became contractual even for staff not covered by the SEA by custom and practice. The attack also underlines the importance of understanding your contract - many of the staff involved had signed up to new contracts without realising the implications. Always consult your AMICUS rep before accepting any change to your contract. Helpdesk Manifesto - 30 August 2002 Almost half the MAN05 population are now working on helpdesks. These staff face some issues specific to the helpdesks, as well as those that affect everyone else. For example, most helpdesk staff don't get sick pay for their first three days off sick. Supervision is typically closer than usual, hours are longer (40), and much of the time is spent on the phone. As part of the process of improving working life for helpdesk staff, AMICUS reps began work on a "Helpdesk Manifesto", gathering the key issues raised by our members on the various desks. An early draft of the manifesto is on our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community. Work on the manifesto was delayed by departure and sickness of several of the people working on it, but we aim to be back on track soon. If you have ideas for the manifesto, please contact your rep. Health, Safety & the Working Environment - 30 August 2002 The traditional image of "Health & Safety" is about people working up ladders or with dangerous machinery. There's much more to it than that - it covers your whole working environment. A key issue in the coming months will be the relocation from MAN05 to the new site. Will the new site have adequate transport links? Car parking? A Staff Cash machine? Restaurant? Recreation and fitness facilities? Use of PCs throws up its own Health & Safety issues, with impact on eyesight, pains in the back and arms (RSI). AMICUS is coming across more of these cases in Fujitsu than ever before. What about the widespread use of mobile phones? Driving for long hours? Working on customer sites which are building sites, pubs or shops? The UK Consultative Forum has set up a Health & Safety sub-committee to look at how H&S should be managed throughout Fujitsu Services in the UK. Please contact AMICUS member Ian Allinson, who is on this subcommittee, if you have suggestions. Here at MAN05, we are lucky to be the only UK site with a good network of Health & Safety reps. A H&S rep can inspect the workplace, and take up employee concerns with management over any H&S related issue. We're always keen to recruit more Health & Safety reps - we'd ideally want one working in every area - please get in touch if you want to know more. Redundancy update - 28 August 2002 Rumours abound of further redundancies in Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting, but we have heard nothing concrete beyond the usual small groups of redundancies. In the meantime, AMICUS is pursuing the legal cases arising from the ICL redundancies earlier this year. There are a number of individual claims for Breach of Contract and Unfair Dismissal, as well as several collective claims for Failure to Consult. One of these is being taken by AMICUS, on behalf of our collective bargaining group (grades GSS17 and below at MAN05). Others are being taken by AMICUS members who were on ICL's UK Consultative Forum at the time, on behalf of their constituents. These cases could result in compensation (up to 90 days pay) for all those made redundant (VR and CR) at the following sites: MAN05, MAN27, WAR08, WAR13, EDI06, WAK01, BRA01, BSN01, STE04, STE09 This would be a total of approximately 700 of the redundant staff. The "directions hearing" for these cases is taking place on Thursday 29th August. This is a short hearing to discuss where, when and how the cases should be heard. We're pleased to report that we are being represented in these cases by the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder. There is naturally no guarantee of success in any legal claim, but the pursuit of these claims is important both as an attempt to secure compensation for redundant staff, and to apply pressure to the company to consult fully in any future redundancies. The cases demonstrate some of the advantages of being represented on the UKCF by union members. There are already signs of the company trying to erode redundancy terms on other sites. The union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) guaranteed staff a minimum 90-day consultation period over redundancies, regardless of the numbers affected. In the past, ICL felt obliged to extend the same benefit to staff not covered by the SEA. With the spread of contracts with lesser redundancy terms (e.g. statutory minimum) to newer staff, Fujitsu is now beginning to look at individual contracts to determine the length of consultation period for each employee. On some other sites, Fujitsu has been giving non-union-members not on the SEA or M-grade redundancy terms only 30-days consultation period. This means less time to find another job, and less money. Members should be on the alert against any attempt to "offer" only a 30-day consultation period. The attack also underlines the importance of understanding your contract - many of the staff involved had signed up to new contracts without realising the implications. Building the union - 28 August 2002 Life in Fujitsu continually underlines the need for a stronger union. The Amicus-MSF Section Group at MAN05 have a vacancy for a new Rep from Fujitsu Services, due to one of our Reps leaving the company. Don't worry if you have never done anything like it before as there are ten other reps to work with and ask for help and advice - and we don't expect you to know everything from day one! Also, lots of training courses are available which can be taken within (paid) company time. Most important is the Reps Stage 1 course which is required before you represent anyone. Reps can, if they wish, specialise in a particular subject. Possible areas include (amongst others): equal opportunities, equal pay, learning Reps (a new initiative by the unions), employment law, organisation, etc. - whatever "gets your goat!" Being a Rep means that you get to make a difference, that you get to help members and ensure they get what they are entitled to. The issues we deal with are wide-ranging! We are also in need of Reps for Fujitsu Consulting. Since the split of ICL into the two new companies we now have recognition in both companies at MAN05. However, our previous Fujitsu Consulting Rep has now moved back into Fujitsu Services, hence the vacancy. If you are interested in becoming an Amicus Representative at MAN05 then contact rep Isabel Hay on x2171 or by email to with a statement saying who you are, what you do, and why you think you would make a good Rep. If you have any questions about what being a Rep involves, please feel free to contact any of us - we are:
Love Music - Hate Racism - ANL Carnival in Manchester - 28 August 2002 Don't forget the Anti Nazi League's carnival on Sunday. There will be two stages, a dance marquee, kids area, stalls, food & drink, and the line-up includes: Ms Dynamite, Doves, The Shining, Heartless Crew, Billy Bragg, Rodney P & Skitz, Miss Black America, Phi-Life Cypher, Nicky Blackmarket & MC Foxy, Shortee Blitz, Shaanti DJS Bobby Friction & Juttla, Killa Kela & Normski, Sona Fariq, Out Da Ville, Wesley J & MC Sharkey, Moorish Delta 7, DJ Woody, Krispy, Daze & Sappo, DJ Asha, MC Chickaboo, Bigga Fish DJs & MCs. Following the disgraceful decision of Burnley council to refuse permission for this important anti-racist event, it is now taking place in Manchester instead: March assembles 11am at Manchester Town Hall, to march to: The carnival in Platt Fields Park, Fallowfield. Branch Meeting - 28 August 2002 The next meeting of AMICUS Greater Manchester IT branch will be: 6pm, Thursday 5 September All branch members are welcome to attend. Pay rates for staff working in IT are set to rise by an average of 3.2% in 2002, the same rate as last year, according to the latest information from pay researchers Reward. Despite all the talk of recession, pay for those at the top seems to know no limits. The Financial Times reports:
In March, ICL announced the delay of the pay review from June to October. We expect a further announcement shortly. Health & Safety - 28 August 2002 Burn-out Britain is alive, and probably quite unwell as a result. Responding to figures from the Office of National Statistics, TUC general secretary, John Monks, said:
Long hours have been linked to higher sickness absence and illness rates. The average British worker takes less than half an hour for lunch, does not take his or her full holiday entitlement, and has 10 sick days a year off work, according to three separate surveys of working life. Some labour market experts have claimed that hard-driving employers are damaging employees' health. Official statistics suggest the average full-time working week has hovered around 39 hours over the past decade, but survey evidence from the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that almost half of men and a third of women frequently worked extra hours on top of their basic week. The surveys, all published in the last week in July, were from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, business caterer Eurest and employment agency Reed.co.uk. Fujitsu Consulting Redundancies - Update - 13th August 2002 The Fujitsu Consulting Rationalisation programme ended on 31st July. At the end of this programme, 216 staff were made redundant, with 89 of those people having taken Voluntary Redundancy (VR). Management have stated that the number of volunteers was higher than they expected. Amicus reps, and Amicus members on the Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum fought hard to persuade Fujitsu Consulting management to agree to a VR programme, and to publicise it. We are pleased that as a result the number of Compulsory Redundancies was significantly reduced. During the programme there were also instances of people being refused VR and then asked if they'd accept a lesser package than they were entitled to in order to be allowed to leave. Amicus raised HR's awareness to this practice and ensured that it wasn't being used at MAN05 (which has union recogniton). From figures we've been given, 41 people formally appealed against their selection for redundancy. Fujitsu Consulting have stated that a number of people won their appeals, or have moved within the Fujitsu group. Of the two Amicus members who appealed, we successfully reversed the selection for one member, who is based at MAN05. Transfer Affecting Application Management Team - 13th August 2002 The 22 staff comprising the MAN05 Application Management team until recently delivered application development and support services, mainly to Co-Operative Group (tCG). When Fujitsu Services became aware that this contract would be terminated on 30th June, 14 of the staff were given notice on 10th June informing them that Fujitsu Services had earmarked them to transfer on 1st July, either to tCG or to a subcontract company. At this stage there was much uncertainty over the terms of the transfer - tCG had not confirmed that TUPE (safeguarding existing terms and conditions) would apply and it was unclear whether there would be jobs for all staff transferring out. Several team members joined Amicus and pressed the company for answers. Amicus wrote to the appropriate HR manager pointing out that the legal requirement to consult a recognised union had not been fulfilled. Staff concerns were resolved after it was confirmed that TUPE would apply and that only 8 people remained 'in scope' for transfer, leaving the remainder still under Application Management. The 8 people have now transferred. Even though the situation was satisfactorily resolved, major questions remain over how the management and HR handled the issue and over the shortfalls in consultation. Amicus will be looking at the lessons to be learned from this. ANL Carnival - Banned in Burnley but on in Manchester! - 13th August 2002 In the last newsletter we reported on the ANL Carnival that was to be in Burnley on Sunday 1st September:
Burnley Council is disgracefully refusing to let the Anti Nazi League use one of its parks for the "Love Music - Hate Racism" Carnival. The police did not object to the ANL's application, nor did they raise any concerns over health and safety or public order. Not one member of the public has objected to the carnival. The carnival was blocked by Burnley Council. However, the Council is allowing the BNP to organise. On the same day that the Council blocked the ANL Carnival, they let the BNP go ahead with a public meeting with Britain's most notorious Nazi, John Tyndall, in the centre of Burnley, protected by a massive police presence. On 17/18 August the BNP plans to hold its "Red, White and Blue" Nazi rally in Lancashire. Their plans to hold it in Diggle, near Oldham, were successfully blocked by Diggle's residents. They now aim to hold it in Sawley, near Clitheroe. The good news is that the Carnival will take place on Sunday 1st September, in Platt Fields Park in Manchester (Fallowfield). Please support the Carnival, if you can. The Anti Nazi League (ANL) have launched an appeal for £60,000 to fund the carnival, and we encourage members to donate generously. Cheques should be made payable to "Anti Nazi League" and can either be handed in via your Reps, or sent direct to: Anti Nazi League, PO Box 2566, London, L4 1WJ. Collection sheets are also available. Unions Win Ruling in European Court of Human Rights - 13th August 2002 [From the TUC] Seven Judges at the European Court of Human Rights, including the UK's Master of the Rolls, today unanimously made a ruling in favour of trade union members Dave Wilson and Terrence Palmer, which will stop employers from penalising workers who want to be represented by a union at work. The ruling states "It is the role of the State to ensure that trade union members are not prevented or restrained from using their union to represent them in attempts to regulate their relations with their employers." Although there is legislation in the UK making it illegal to discriminate against employees on the basis of their membership, or non-membership of a trade union, this protection does not extend to making use of that union membership, that is, being represented by their union. The cases arise from a journalist and dockers who were denied pay rises for refusing to sign 'personal' contracts accepting that they could not be represented by a union. The NUJ and the RMT, backed by the TUC and the human rights organisation, Liberty, appealed to the Strasbourg Court under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says: "Everyone has the right to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." The Court Judgement says "It is the essence of the right... that employees should be free to instruct or permit the union to make representations to their employer. If workers are prevented from so doing the freedom to belong to a trade union becomes illusory." John Monks, TUC General Secretary, said:
Dave Wilson said:
Harassment Directive Approved - 13th August 2002 [From the Labour Research Department] The Council of Ministers and European Parliament have finally agreed the text of a new directive on the equal treatment of women and men, which includes new rules on sexual harassment. It establishes a European-wide definition of sexual harassment as "any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature (which) occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment". Other key elements are:
The text is expected to be published shortly and the directive will come into effect in 2005. Employers Short-Sighted on VDU Vision Risks - 13th August 2002
Employees in Fujitsu are entitled to a free eye test. The relevant documents are available in the Occupational Health and Safety community on Cafévik. The process is here and the eye-test form is here. Amicus Election - 23rd July 2002 Quite a number of members have been contacting us following the extensive (and confusing) news coverage of the election for "General Secretary of AMICUS". Following the merger of MSF and the AEEU to form AMICUS at the start of this year, AMICUS has two "sections" - MSF and AEEU. Roger Lyons is General Secretary of the MSF section, and Sir Ken Jackson is General Secretary of the AEEU section. Both are Joint General Secretaries of AMICUS. Under the terms of the merger, when Roger Lyons leaves his post, the General Secretary of the AEEU section will become the General Secretary of the whole of AMICUS. The recent election was for the General Secretary of the AEEU section of AMICUS, so MSF members didn't get a vote. The AEEU section members elected Derek Simpson, who was standing against the Sir Ken Jackson. Derek will take office at the start of 2003. The result is of great importance to MSF section members, as Derek will go on to be the AMICUS General Secretary when Roger Lyons leaves. The reps committee at MAN05 sent the following message to Derek Simpson:
Pensions: Election and Branch Meeting - 23rd July 2002 With the rash of bad news from the world's stock-markets, every worker should be worried about their pension. Though it is usually older employees who take greatest interest in pensions, it is the youngest who typically have most to lose. The long-awaited by-election for reps on Fujitsu's pension Consultative Committee is underway. Ballot papers are in the mailroom, but we understand there are problems with delivery. The pensions department have currently set a deadline of 31 July (Wednesday next week!) to have received the returned ballot papers. While we have pushed for an extension to this deadline, which is doubly absurd in the holiday season, we urge members to vote and return their ballot papers as soon as they get them. We have just heard that the deadline for the return of the completed form for AREA1/AREA2 has been extended until 09 August 2002 (see the first page of the Ballot Form to see which area you are in, only AREA1 & AREA2 has been extended). We still urge members to vote and return their ballot papers as soon as they get them. You need trusted representatives on the pension fund Consultative Committee more than ever before. AMICUS members Dave Francis from MAN05 and Roger Dane from IRE02 are standing - please give them your support and encourage your colleagues to do likewise. You will get 3 votes (as there are 3 vacant seats). However, the two AMICUS candidates will have the best chance of being elected if you vote only for them. The address specified for the completed form is the external postal address , you can also use: AMICUS's Greater Manchester IT branch is holding its next meeting: 6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 1st August We will have a speaker and discussion on pensions this month. All members are encouraged to attend. Fujitsu Consulting Redundancies - 23rd July 2002 Having survived the ICL redundancies earlier in the year, those employees who transferred to Fujitsu Consulting were put on 90 days warning of potential redundancy again, almost straight away. At MAN05, 2 members were selected. One of these appealed, and we are delighted to report that their appeal was upheld. Objectives and Redundancies - 23rd July 2002 Some employers in the IT industry are trying to disguise redundancies. Redundancies usually result from employers failing to manage change effectively, and valuing their employees far below their shareholders. Some companies are trying to use objectives, appraisals, and "performance management" to dismiss employees without offering redundancy payments. Naturally, AMICUS would resist any such attempt by Fujitsu. We would advise all employees to bear in mind this possibility when discussing objectives with their managers. We advise members to treat with extreme caution any objective (e.g. utilisation) that would mean that your job being redundant led to a failure to meet the objective. UK Consultative Forum Report - 23rd July 2002 The official report of the meeting on 27 June is now available at: The UKCF's Health & Safety sub-committee, which includes AMICUS members Ian Allinson and Alasdair Lewis, will be meeting for the first time on Thursday 25th July. The next full UKCF meeting is planned for 10-11 September, and the next European Consultative Forum (ECF) will be on 16-17 September. ICL Redundancies - Legal Cases - 23rd July 2002 The legal cases against Fujitsu Services over the ICL redundancies earlier this year are progressing. A "Directions Hearing" to discuss each side's requirements and plans for the cases will be held in at the Employment Tribunals in Manchester on 29th August. No further action is currently required from the individual members involved. European Social Forum - 23rd July 2002 When representatives of big business (including Akikusa of Fujitsu) met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss their plans and priorities, thousands of representatives of a range of social movements met at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil to develop an alternative vision of the future. The last World Social Forum meeting resolved to set up social forums in each continent, and the first European Social Forum (ESF) is planned for Florence from 7-10 November. Tens of thousands of delegates will be converging on Florence for hundreds of debates and discussions in many languages. Europe has never seen anything like it. Already organisations from the public sector union UNISON, Globalise Resistance, the Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers to the World Development Movement and War On Want are involved. Journalist John Pilger says "The ESF is a vital event in the growing campaign against so-called globalisation and the militarism that backs it up. I urge everyone to do their utmost to get there." Our last branch meeting heard a speaker from the English mobilisation for the ESF. Your reps committee would like to send a delegation of members to Florence for the event. At the moment we can get flights for as little as £25 return, so we want volunteers as soon as possible. If you're interested, please take a look at: and contact as soon as possible. We'd also welcome views from members on whether we should financially contribute towards members' expenses for the event. Love Music - Hate Racism - ANL Carnival - 23rd July 2002 Following the recent election of 3 nazi councillors in Burnley from the British National Party, the Anti Nazi League is planning a huge free carnival and music festival to provide a positive focus for the anti-racist majority in Burnley and the North West. The carnival will take place on Sunday 1 September, and will be a brilliant show of black and white unity against the nazis. Acts already include Ms Dynamite, Belle & Sebastian, Sister India & Sona Fariq, Out da Ville, Moorish Delta 7, Phi-Life Cypher, Norman Jay, Shaant DJs & Bigga Fish DJs & Daze & Sappo. (more bands & DJs to come!) The Carnival is being sponsored by the NME who will be carrying an interview with Ms Dynamite advertising the event. Book it in your diary now. The Anti Nazi League (ANL) have launched an appeal for £60,000 to fund the carnival, and we encourage members to donate generously. Cheques should be made payable to "Anti Nazi League" and can either be handed in via your Reps, or sent direct to: Anti Nazi League, PO Box 2566, London, L4 1WJ. Collection sheets are also available. Your Reps Committee - 4 July 2002 Sean Lawson has recently left the company - we wish him well for the future. The reps committee have co-opted Harji Panchani, so the MAN05 reps committee is now: Isabel Hay, Ian Allinson, Phil Tepper, Mat Taylor, Lynne Hodge, Frazer Cooke, Sulayman Munir, Chris Morton, Dave Francis, Saiqa Karim, and Harji Panchani Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum - 4 July 2002 The Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) met last week, including the many newly elected delegates for the first time. AMICUS members on the UKCF are: Ian Allinson, Robert Dimmick, Sulayman Munir, Simon Gavin, Alasdair Lewis, John Garvani, Sarah Cooper We're pleased to report that Robert Dimmick was elected as the chair of the employee reps. Information on the UKCF can be found on their CafeVIK community: An official report on the meeting will appear on the community once agreed with management. Issues covered included: Relocations:
Health & Safety A sub-group of the UKCF has been set up to look at Health & Safety. The sub-group includes Alasdair Lewis and Ian Allinson who are AMICUS members. Ian comments: "The current arrangements for Health & Safety don't work. The company has reasonably good policies at the top level, but has no structures or procedures to implement them consistently on the ground. Risk assessments are patchy. When they happen, actions are often not carried out. Consultation with employees rarely takes place. Employees rarely know the basic information they need to play their part in ensuring they and their colleagues work in a safe and healthy environment." "MAN05 has a team of Health & Safety reps, and Health & Safety is managed much better here than on most other sites, yet even here it is not good enough." "I'd like to see a quick survey of a random sample of employees across many sites, asking a few simple questions about Health & Safety, so we can see just what the extent of the problem is. This would also give us a way of measuring whether any changes the company introduce make matters better or worse." This sub-group can't possibly deal with every H&S issue on every site. It can, however, try to ensure that there are suitable local processes in place to deal with those issues. If you have ideas for the subgroup, why not contact Ian or Alasdair? Redundancies & Sell-Offs The UKCF reps were briefed about changes in headcount in Fujitsu Services in the UK. The company believe that the job losses earlier in the year met their objectives in terms of money saved. Many employees will be aware that the Beaumont training centre in Windsor has closed, and is being sold off. In parallel to this, KnowledgePool are no longer employing in-house classroom trainers. Classroom training will be provided by a network of partners and contractors in future. This is leading to redundancy for approximately 70 out of 340 staff. Reps raised the issue of why in the redundancies now taking place in KnowledgePool, some people were getting a 90-day consultation period, while most were only getting 30-days. Since 20-99 redundancies were proposed, redundancy law only requires a 30-day consultation period. However, people covered by the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) negotiated by the union are entitled to a 90-day consultation period regardless of the numbers involved. Most employees in KnowledgePool had signed up to new contracts which didn't include the SEA. Reps raised two objections to this practice by the company:
We did get an assurance from the company that people on M-grade terms, as well as those on SEA terms, were entitled to a 90-day consultation period. However, this still leaves the shadow of doubt over the increasing minority on "other" terms such as the statutory minimum. [You can find a copy of the Security of Employment Agreement on the MAN05 Union community on CafeVIK: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289] Employment Policies AMICUS and the UKCF have both been pressing for updates to several employment policies for some years. Some policies are lagging behind the law, while others are contradictory. Examples include Conduct (disciplinary procedure), Speak Up (grievance procedure), and the various policies on use of IT. The company is developing a new policy structure. It wants to have broad company-wide policies, supplemented where necessary by country-specific guidelines or procedures. They also want to link to all the policies from one place on CafeVIK (some are owned by different communities, not all HR). AMICUS sees two advantages to this:
Fujitsu Services intend to review the following policies in the very near future:
We also expect the following policies to be reviewed in the next phase:
You can find most employment policies here: You can find the Unsocial Hours Policy (which forms part of the contract of many employees) here, if you have Internet access: Company Cars The current contract for supply of company cars runs out at the end of 2002, so the whole supply and selection of cars is up for review. Among the many points raised were:
The next full UKCF meeting is planned for September, and will take place in the midlands. Branch Meeting - Thursday - 2nd July 2002 The next meeting of the Greater Manchester IT Branch is: 6pm, Thursday 4th July The meeting is open to all members of the branch. In addition to the normal workplace reports and discussions, we will have a guest speaker to tell us about plans for a huge European Social Forum conference, modelled on the World Social Forum events held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in recent years. Pensions are much in the news, against the background of falling stock-markets. Many companies are changing from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution schemes. Fujitsu Services has already done this for new joiners. Unions are among many warning that cuts in pension provision could leave those starting work now in poverty in old age. So what does the jargon mean?
The effect of moving from a defined benefit scheme to a defined contribution scheme is to shift the risk from the employer, onto the employee. Individual employees are in a worse position to manage that risk. When Defined Benefit schemes were in surplus, only a few years ago, companies were happy to sit back and take a "pensions holiday". For years on end they contributed nothing at all to pension funds, while employees usually carried on paying in. Employers argued that since they were responsible for making up any shortfall in the fund, they had the right to take any surplus. Now that many funds are actually seeing shortfalls for the first time, employers seem to be conveniently forgetting this argument. At the same time as dumping the risk onto workers, many employers are taking the opportunity to cut their contributions. For example, Fujitsu Services currently contributes over 18% of salary for each employee in the Defined Benefit scheme. The new Defined Contribution scheme only requires the company to contribute a few percent. This will directly result in lower pensions for newer employees. Some other issues are :
After the scandal of Robert Maxwell raiding the Mirror group pension fund, the law was tightened up to give employees more rights to scrutinize what was happening with their pensions. In Fujitsu Services, these rights are partly met through a Pensions Consultative Committee. Nominations were sought for some vacant seats some time ago, but the election was delayed because of the pensions department being relocated out of Beaumont before it closed. We now expect ballot forms to go out this week. Please take the time to vote for the AMICUS members standing for the Pensions Consultative Committee. Union members will continue have access to proper, independent training for their role - other candidates may not. The AMICUS candidates are:
Occupational Health Service - 2nd July 2002 Fujitsu has now outsourced its Occupational Health Department, with services now being provided by an outside company. AMICUS reps and Health & Safety reps have raised concerns that this will lead to a decline in the level of service available. We therefore read this TUC press release with interest:
New Research Raises Safety Alert for Mobile Phone Users - 2nd July 2002 Amicus Working Environment Secretary today warned members to "Go easy," in their use of mobile phones, pointing to new research findings suggesting mobiles could be harming our health. Radiation from mobile phones causes changes in the brain which could pose risks to health, an authoritative two-year study has concluded. In ground breaking research on the effects of radiation on the brain - which has for the first time used human cells rather than rats - scientists found that even low level emissions from handsets affects cells. They believe the changes could disable a safety barrier in the body which is meant to protect the brain from harmful substances in the blood. The scientists are now calling for further research to discover how important the affects on health may be. The study, conducted by the Radiation and Nuclear Authority in Finland (a country whose people both use and make more mobile phones than any other in the world) found that by exposing human cells to one hour of mobile phone use triggered a response which normally only occurs when cells are being damaged. This led the cells which make up the blood vessel walls to shrink, allowing tiny molecules to pass through into the brain tissue. The report's conclusion warns: "The possible RF-EMF (radiation induced breakage of the blood-brain barrier), if occurring repeatedly over a long period of time, might become a health hazard because of extra capillary accumulation of molecules that might cause brain tissue damage." The study is an important step forward in mobile phone research because it has proved biochemical changes, which were previously found to occur in rats, also occur in human beings. Scientists now need to discover how the human body reacts to such changes, whether it can cope or whether there are serious health threats arising from them. Professor Darius Leszcynski, who will present the research findings to a conference in Canada later this month, said he could confirm that radiation from mobile phones does affect the delicate make up of human cells. "We have shown there are biochemical changes in human cells," he told the London Evening Standard. The researchers do not claim conclusive evidence of actual harm as a result of using mobile phones, but their findings are consistent with advice issued two years ago by leaders of a Government inquiry into the use of mobile phones, that caution in their use was advisable. Despite expensive research conducted on the effects of the use of mobiles, evidence of the long term effects of using them is still far from clear. One survey of 11,000 people in Sweden and Norway found that many people using them suffer headaches and tiredness afterwards, and there seem to be strong arguments against using mobiles for long conversations. Texting messages involves the phones emitting signals for much shorter periods of time, and is probably a safer option, although again, authoritative research is lacking to substantiate or question this assumption. Swedish cancer specialist, Lennart Hardell, suggested that using the old technology analogue mobiles, popular in the early nineties, increased the risk of cancer. His research is now at the centre of a lawsuit in the USA where the courts have to decide whether there is enough evidence of a causal link for claimants to succeed in damages claims against manufacturers of mobile phones. Chris Ball Amicus Working Environment Secretary commenting on the above research findings said, "It is important that research establishes as soon as possible whether there is in fact a causal link between the use of mobile phones and cancer. Certainly the accumulating evidence should make people exercise care in their use of these devices." He went on, "On one hand mobile phones have changed our lives, but on the other they have brought dangers of which we should all be aware. They can be very helpful in the multitude of communications we make in our busy lives, and carefully used, they can help us to reduce some of the stresses and pressures being in contact on the move. But we need to be aware too that they can add to stress, pose serious dangers when being used wrongly by vehicle drivers, and there is this worrying possible link with brain cancer. It all adds up to a very clear sign saying, "handle with care." "This emerging research evidence is not a final pronouncement on the subject by any means, but common sense suggests that it would be very wise for people to avoid using their phones for prolonged periods. Until we get more research evidence to clarify the position, I would say "Go easy on the mobile, make short calls or use text messages. Never hold long social conversations on your mobile - use a land-line instead." "There is a need too for the manufacturers to significantly reduce the levels of radiation, and it is important that systems are developed which work towards this objective." Computer Work is a Pain in the Neck and more - 2nd July 2002 From the TUC, research in the USA: Neck and shoulder pain and stiffness and medical disorders linked to these symptoms are more widespread among computer users than previously thought, new research suggests. "More than half of computer users each year develop neck or shoulder symptoms and just over one-third develop an impairment or the loss of some function," said researcher Dr. Frederic Gerr of the University in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 40% of people develop a hand or arm symptom each year while using a computer and 21% actually develop a disorder, his team concluded. "People who type 20 hours per week more than others are a little more than twice as likely to develop a symptom or disorder in the hand and arm region," Gerr said. The study included 632 men and women newly hired in jobs requiring 15 or more hours per week of computer use. Government Urges Work-Life Balance Improvements - 2nd July 2002 [Article from zdnet, by Andrew Swinton] Research shows that UK employees spend more time managing their email than playing with their children. Work-life balance (WLB) issues are beginning to be one of the key items on the agenda of many large organisations -- and a concern for workers everywhere. This means flexible working for most people and benefits for both staff and employers. Statistics reveal that while the UK's employees spend nearly 49 minutes a day managing their email (based on Gartner figures), UK adults only manage to spend 25 minutes a day playing with their children, according to Office of National Statistics research. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Work-Life Balance Campaign has shown that businesses could do more to tackle the long-hours culture. The DTI has relaunched its Work-Life balance site with new features including:
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