Unite Fujitsu News

Our case on pay

On Wednesday 28th May reps Ian Allinson and Phil Tepper, supported by AMICUS official Nanette Cormack, attended the "Works Conference" in London to discuss the pay claim for Fujitsu Services MAN05. The company representatives were supported by Peter Bradley from the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF).
[The EEF is the trade union for employers - see here for a flavour of their activities]

Reps will be reporting on the company's response at our Extraordinary General Meeting:

3pm-4:30pm, Tuesday 3rd June

MAN05 restaurant

This notice explains the case we put to management.

How we got here
AMICUS has not always submitted a pay claim each year. After the company announced the pay freeze in 2002, a General Meeting of members decided not to challenge or fight the decision. We had just come through major job losses, and the company's performance was poor. However, members strongly believed that the company couldn't go on taking more and more from the workforce for ever. The meeting decided to submit a pay claim for April 2003.

Pay position post-April 2003

• The pay bill for MAN05 rose by only 2.4% as a result of the April pay review.
  
• 38% of MAN05 staff got zero pay rises, despite increases in prices and National Insurance.
  
• 230 MAN05 staff are still below the bottom of the company's own pay scales. It can't be argued that this is because they are all poor performers - the company has recently made major redundancies, and performance was a factor in selection. The company is paying below market rates.
  
• Those who were below the bottom of their pay scale had an average rise of only 3%. This barely even begins to address the "underpayment" problem.
  
• Pay and benefit scales are now even more secret than in the past. Staff believe that they are secret because the company don't want people to realise how underpaid they are. The secrecy leads to a feeling of distrust - that the company doesn't treat employees ethically.
  
• The Sharing In Success bonus is welcome. However, set against the background of cuts in pay and benefits (everything from car allowances to catering) there is widespread cynicism. A bonus is worth much less than a pay rise, and our basic pay continues to decline.
  
• Major competitors such as EDS and CSC have agreed to carry out Equal Pay Audits with AMICUS. If Fujitsu Services refuse, the only avenue open to people will be individual claims. These would have to be "speculative", since the company denies people access to the information they would need to know if they were being discriminated against. This is a much worse way of addressing the issue than an Equal Pay Audit.
  
• Helpdesk staff should all get sick pay from day one, like other employees. There is currently confusion about who is entitled to what and how it relates to the new "grades" (TSS/1 etc). Deducting pay for sick employees is an administrative headache for supervisors. The figures we've been given show no clear relationship between deducting pay and levels of sickness - it isn't working as a means of dealing with "abuse" of sick leave.
  

Support for our pay claim
During the Works Conference, we presented the HR Director with the petition in support of our pay claim. It had 553 signatures collected at MAN05, representing the vast majority of staff here. AMICUS members had also shown their resolve to win a decent pay settlement in our indicative ballot. When asked whether they would support action up to and including strike action, if that proved necessary, a resounding two to one majority said "yes", on a 60% turnout.

MAN05 staff were behind the pay claim, and wanted a decent settlement.

Can the company resolve it?

• Fujitsu Services boasts a 16% rise in productivity in the last year. Much of that has come from fewer people taking on more work. Staff are also under pressure to be more flexible, more mobile, and take on more responsibility. The company should share some of the benefits of this.
  
• The company is now profitable.
  
• AMICUS had come up with a creative proposal to ensure that our claim was affordable. We had suggested using some of the bonus budget to fund pay rises. The Sharing In Success bonus was coming out of last year's profits (2002-3). The company had an opportunity to use these funds to begin to address some of the pay problems that have built up over many years.
  
• We explained that we didn't believe there was any financial or practical barrier to agreement. Of course there would be many details and practicalities to resolve, but we believed they were all surmountable. Before spending time on fine details we needed to agree a rough outline "in principle".
  
• Were there other barriers to agreement? Had the company been "politically" unwilling to reach any agreement with AMICUS, no matter what the content?

What now?
Reps will report on the discussion at our Extraordinary General Meeting on Tuesday. The company will be confirming their response in writing to your reps on Monday, and that will also form part of the report.

TUESDAY'S MEETING WILL BE CRUCIAL - MAKE SURE YOU'RE THERE!

Defend your pension

The pensions industry has been hit badly by the poor performance of the stock market. Members of the ICL pension fund are waiting nervously for the outcome of the valuation which is currently going on.

Members of the pension fund in the "South and South East England" constituency have received nomination forms for the company's Pensions Consultative Committee. If the company propose any changes to the pension fund, this group will be important to keep an eye on things. We already have two AMICUS members on this body - Dave Francis and Roger Dane.

We would like to stand two AMICUS members for the two seats. If you're interested, please get in touch with us straight away, as the company have only allowed a week for nominations. AMICUS can help with your campaign, as well as ensuring we don't have lots of AMICUS members standing against each other for the same seats.

AMICUS is campaigning nationally to protect pensions (see here). The next meeting of AMICUS Greater Manchester IT Branch is specifically about pensions - come along with your questions and ideas. See our website for details.

If members hear of elections to any consultative bodies within the company, they should contact their rep straight away. A co-ordinated response always gets the best results.

Union busting at MAN05, and our pay claim

On Thursday 22nd May our senior rep, Ian Allinson, meets the HR Director, to discuss his "philosophy on industrial relations". On Wednesday 28th May AMICUS will be holding a "works conference" in London, to discuss our pay claim with him, and his representative from the Engineering Employers Federation. Your reps are not optimistic about the outcome of these meetings - the company has been increasingly intractable in recent weeks and is clearly mounting an attack on your rights, terms and conditions. Please ensure you read all union notices in the coming weeks.

We will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting for all MAN05 AMICUS members employed by Fujitsu Services:

3pm-4:30pm, Tuesday 3rd June, MAN05 restaurant

The meeting will hear reports on our two disputes - pay and union de-recognition, and take key decisions that will affect every member. All members should attend - this is the most important union meeting for nearly 15 years. You are allowed to attend in (paid) work time, but if your manager would need to arrange cover (e.g. helpdesk staff) you must arrange your release immediately. If you have any difficulty obtaining release to attend, contact your rep straight away. Don't let anyone else take decisions in your name. If you're not there, don't complain if you don't like the decisions!

UNION BUSTING
In recent years AMICUS has been gaining strength in Fujitsu. It appears that rather than recognising employees' right to a say in their employment, and treating its staff with dignity, Fujitsu has decided on a strategy of "union busting". HR are trying to ignore signed agreements, bypass procedures, and unilaterally make changes to leave staff worse off. The company is being as provocative as it could possibly be. We believe this is a concerted attempt to break union organisation prior to relocation to the new Manchester site. Losing union recognition would have a knock on effect on what facilities, rights and influence you have other all other matters.

We know that Fujitsu Services is highly resistant to genuine bargaining with employees. Back in the 1980s the company tried to get rid of unions before. Management resisted the recent AMICUS claim for recognition for Mobile Engineers at the Central Arbitration Committee. We also know that some of the tactics being used at MAN05 are also being tried elsewhere in the company.

Reps are growing increasingly suspicious that Fujitsu Services may be using US-style "union busting consultants" to plan their attacks. Some of their tactics appear too sophisticated for a company with such a record of inept employee relations. For example, they want to change our "bargaining unit" to be based on "individual choice", rather than job, grade or location. "Individual choice" in this context means a choice as to which half of a divided workforce to be in - with no option for a united workforce represented by an independent union. This proposal appears to be an attempt to find a loophole in a European Court of Human Rights judgement which banned the use of incentives by employers to get rid of unions.

It is because Fujitsu Services appears to be set on a union-busting strategy that your reps have low expectations from the meetings with management in the next week. It looks like we could be in for a fight.

WHAT NEXT?
AMICUS offered the company a works conference to discuss the attacks on the union, and the agreements covering employees. The company have refused. We still have the meetings on 22nd and 28th May, and will try to use those to reach agreement. However, the prospects for the company negotiating seriously look bleak. Your reps are preparing now for the event that the two issues are not resolved.

If the company hasn't used the opportunity of the meetings to make a serious offer to resolve the two disputes, we expect to begin a legal ballot on industrial action, following the decisions of members at previous General Meetings and in our recent indicative ballot. If the company does make a serious offer, we will bring that offer to the Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd June for members to decide the response.

If we have to go to ballot, the current plan is that there will be only one question, on action "up to and including" strike action. The ballot would cover both issues (pay and derecognition), as we believe we will get a higher turnout with one ballot than two. This does not prevent us later settling the two issues separately - we recognise the views strongly expressed by members at a General Meeting last year that union recognition is a matter of principle, whereas pay is a matter for negotiation.

Your reps are having to spend a lot of time on checking membership records ready for a ballot. Please read all union notices in coming weeks, to ensure that the ballot runs smoothly.

Reps are also spending time analysing the company strategy and tactics. However, we mustn't lose sight of the fact that the best defence against these attacks is a large, active and united membership. Our Organisers are having great success recruiting new members, but we need the help of all of you. Please talk to your colleagues about joining now. If we aren't strong in the coming weeks, we could lose rights that will take years to win back.

WHAT ACTION?
We need to start thinking about what form any industrial action would take. Industrial action short of strike should ideally be action which:

• has maximum impact in terms of visibility or impact on SLAs
  
• causes temporary, rather than permanent disruption (we don't want to risk job security)
  
• is fun, or improves people's day at work
  
• would get the support and participation of non-members
  
• encourages non-members to join in, rather than annoying them or dumping our work on them
  
• hits senior managers or HR, rather than team leaders etc who are not responsible for our disputes
  
• creates a permanently better culture at work

If you have ideas, please get in touch with Rep Chris Morton or Rep Zahid Ramzan.

Columbia

Manchester Trades Union Council is holding an open meeting in solidarity with Columbian trade unionists:

8.00 pm, Wednesday 21 May

Mechanics Institute, Princess Street (corner of Major St), Manchester

Columbia is the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist. It is also in the forefront of the fight against global privatisation. Come and hear what is happening. Maire Daley will give an eye witness report.

Pensions

Many people are asking about one of the most important questions facing Fujitsu employees - the future of the pension fund.

The next meeting of the AMICUS Greater Manchester IT branch will be on the subject of pensions - if you want to know more, mark it in your diary:

6pm, Thursday 5th June

Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

We will have Bartley Willcock, from the Manchester TUC Pensioners Association as a guest speaker, as well as our very own Dave Francis, our rep on the company's Pensions Consultative Committee.

You can read about AMICUS campaigns to defend company pension schemes on the main AMICUS web site: http://www.amicus-m.org.

Representation

After inviting nominations, the reps committee is pleased to report that we've co-opted Wahid Iqbal to fill the vacant position on the reps committee.

The company is talking tough over its attacks on our union recognition. It's clear they want to get rid of an effective union, and substitute something else. We believe they are considering a "staff forum" for feedback only, with no teeth, and the company free to ignore forum input. In contrast, the union is the members, and can be strong and effective. They may also be looking at a scheme that allows them to offer incentives to employees to opt in or out of collective bargaining. This would mean giving employees the "choice" of which half of a divided workforce to be in - not offering the option of a united workforce. Divide and rule is not in the interests of employees - full union recognition is.

The company is trying to present the union as an "outside" body, rather than being the employees organised together. The best way to counter this is for every member to get involved. Let your workmates see that you are the union. Encourage them to join.

Restaurant or Glorified Butty-Bar?

At the "Manchester Move Meeting" on Thursday, the company revealed its intention to slash the restaurant provision at MAN05. They intend to outsource catering to Eurest, who already provide services at many other Fujitsu sites. The company didn't even have the decency to tell restaurant staff first - it affects their livelihoods, not just their lunch! One might also ask why this was announced at the Manchester Move Meeting - a fig leaf for employee consultation, where most of the "reps" are appointed by management.

The impact on restaurant provision will be severe. Eurest would not do any cooking on site, just re-heat a limited range of food. The emphasis would shift further towards "grab and go" foods, with low costs and a large price mark-up. We already have too many employees skipping their lunch break - this change will only make it worse.

The proposed changes are being driven by cost-cutting, but we expect a flashy road-show presenting it all as "modernisation" and a "refresh". Don't be fooled - talk to your colleagues on other sites run by Eurest.

Redundancy Terms Under Attack

At last week's UK Consultative Forum meeting, HR made clear that only those employees with the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) as part of their individual contract would get "90 days" as standard in a redundancy situation. We are already seeing the first cases at MAN05 of the company implementing this outrageous new policy. The main group who would be affected by this would be those on "M-grade" terms, who could lose up to 90 days pay if they are made redundant as a result.

This is one of the issues AMICUS at MAN05 is contesting as part of our campaign against the attacks on the union. We need a strong union throughout the company to resist the increasing attacks on employees' rights.

Recruitment & Organising

The West Gorton group is benefiting from the assistance of three full-time Regional Organisers (Carol Devereux, Denise Barber and Steve Power), who will be on site at various times over the next few weeks, helping us distribute notices, campaign and recruit new members.

Members can read the newsletter we are using here.

We encourage all members to make the most of this opportunity for our Full Time Organisers to meet non-members - their presence is a sign of the commitment from AMICUS to support Fujitsu employees defending their rights. They must be escorted around the site, so if you're willing to show them round your area, and introduce them to people, please get in touch with them at the union office on 7308 3355 or via Phil Tepper on 7308 3842, or via Saiqa Karim on 7272 1968.

News Jan-May 2003

See here for news from Jan - May 2003.