Ballot papers are being sent to your home address today. Please remember that any vote you cast in the last ballot doesn't count and EVERY MEMBER NEEDS TO VOTE AGAIN.
Here are a few comments members have made, which you might like to consider:
In line with the overwhelming decision taken by members at the Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd June, Amicus is urging a YES, YES vote in this ballot. As well as the many messages of support and donations we've received from throughout the trade union movement (see the "MAN05 Union" community on CafeVIK), we received these messages from key Amicus officers:
Roger Lyons, Amicus Joint General Secretary says:
"Good luck in your campaign to uphold your union recognition and
redundancy agreements and to win Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay"
Kevin Coyne, Amicus North West Regional Secretary says:
"It is important we defend our trade union rights, a recognised workplace offers more benefits to employees than one where we have no recognition. Your rep's at MAN05 have worked tirelessly on your behalf to improve and maintain your conditions at work. I join with them in recommending you return your ballot forms and vote YES YES."
Debbie Brannan, Amicus Regional Officer says:
"At a time when you're union recognition and terms and conditions are under threat, it is important we uphold the union principles of collectivism. To defend this attack we must stand together don't rely on others to return the ballot forms, return yours today. Vote YES YES and send a clear message you support your local leadership."
Rachael Maskell, Amicus National Secretary, Equalities says:
"With a 19% gap in pay between men and women, all companies have a responsibility to ensure that they are not in breech of the Equal Pay Act (1970). The only way to do this is to carry out a pay audit. With the tools now available to analyse pay from the EOC, ACAS and Amicus, there is no excuse for Fujitsu Services to put off their audit, especially when EDS and CSC are working with us on their pay systems. You have a right to equal pay, vote YES in your ballot today."
Ballot papers are being sent out to members today. The closing date is Tuesday 19th August.
In line with the decision of the Extraordinary General Meeting of members, Amicus is campaigning for a Yes, Yes vote in the ballot.
Don't forget that the next meeting of the Greater Manchester IT branch is:
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 7th August
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, M4 4AA
Our guest speaker will be Debbie Brannan, Regional Officer. The topic is "Union Recognition" - a subject dear to our hearts!
All branch members are welcome to attend.
Ballot papers are due to be sent out to members at MAN05 (including homeworkers with a MAN05 admin base) tomorrow (Wednesday). In the meantime, support for our campaign keeps on growing.
Saturday's Amicus-MSF North West Regional Council meeting voted unanimously to support our campaign, and to contribute £1000 towards our work.
Updates on the campaign are being posted to our dispute weblog.
Work continues on the legal cases arising from the ICL redundancies in March 2002. There are two sets of cases:
Three other tribunal applications were made in the same group, but these have not been listed for hearing. We expect them to be settled out of court once the result of the test cases is known. These cases are on behalf of Waddington, Marchant and Kinahan.
For more information about the cases, see here.
Computer Weekly's online version now carries a report dated 29 July on our dispute. For some reason the article on the front page of the paper version on 22 July hasn't appeared online.
Ballot papers will be sent out to your home address on Wednesday 30th July.
Please remember that any votes you cast in the previous ballot DO NOT COUNT, and YOU MUST VOTE AGAIN if you want your views to be heard.
Vote YES for Justice!
In line with the overwhelming decision by members at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 3rd June, AMICUS is asking you to vote YES to both questions in this industrial action ballot.
We need a YES vote to both questions in case we need to carry out the plan of action decided by members at the EGM. A “no” vote to either question would make this impossible.
The dispute is over Fujitsu Services’ serious breaches of agreements on union recognition and redundancies, as well as about our pay claim.
Your reps have no further procedural route to resolve this dispute, and need a resounding YES and YES vote to have any realistic prospect of a negotiated settlement.
Breaking agreements:
These issues are not just technicalities, they affect employees now. The first member has already been dismissed in breach of the redundancy and recognition agreements.
Pay claim:
What will happen next?
If we get a resounding YES and YES vote, we can go back to the company in a stronger position to negotiate a settlement. If the company still didn’t cooperate, AMICUS officers would then have to implement the decision of a General Meeting, and call appropriate action.
The June General Meeting decided the plan for the first phase of industrial action. There would be a one-day strike on the first day of action, followed by action short of strike. Further General Meetings could change or extend this plan, as members see fit.
Either NO vote will encourage the company to press on, disregarding rights and agreements.
Your reps believe the company’s behaviour is aimed at ending union recognition. This is another attack on YOUR rights. The stakes could hardly be higher.
Yesterday's meeting of the union's North-West Regional Council voted unanimously to back our campaign, send a message of support, and donate £1000 to help the branch fund it.
Regional Council Secretary Peter Bury says:
"The North West region of Amicus-MSF took an important decision on Saturday,
to give its full support to the campaign of our members at Fujitsu Services'
West Gorton site in Manchester. Whilst, Amicus is always ready to work
constructively with companies to deal with any issue, we will not stand
idly by and see our members' rights undermined by a company that breaks
long-standing agreements with the union."
We're pleased to report that our ballot on industrial action is back under way. Notice was sent to the company on 23rd July. Ballot papers will be sent out on Wednesday 30th July, and voting will close on Tuesday 19th August.
Copies of the notice of ballot sent to the company are displayed on the union noticeboard and in the union office.
We'd stopped our last ballot after threats from the company to use the anti trade-union laws. The threat was not only to challenge the legality of the ballot, but of any action that resulted from it. The justification was on a technicality concerning the wording of the notice sent to the company seven days before the ballot opened.
It's a good argument for the repeal of the anti trade-union laws. Far from protecting members from their union, they are about preventing members making their views known.
The next meeting of the Greater Manchester IT Branch is:
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 7th August
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre
This month we have a guest speaker. Regional Officer Debbie Brannan will be leading a discussion on Union Recognition - an issue much in the minds of members at the moment.
All branch members are encouraged to attend.
Yesterday's Computer Weekly had an article about Thursday's MAN05 protest rally on the front page, including a picture. This will surely help get the company's attention, particularly as the article mentions some of the customers MAN05 supports. Unfortunately the article doesn't seem to have made their web site yet, but copies of the article are on the union noticeboard (near the cash machine, between phase 2 and phase 3, downstairs, main building), and in the union office (m.f1a, upstairs, phase 2, main building).
The campaign to stop the company breaking our Union Recognition and Security of Employment Agreements, and to win Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay goes on. We've now set up a "weblog" on our web site, where we can publicly post news and updates about the dispute which we want to make. You can see the weblog here: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/icl/FJSdispute. We've started it off with links about the rally.
The Amicus-MSF North West Regional Council meets in Warrington on Saturday morning. Our branch has submitted a motion about our dispute. If you'd be available to go along as an observer and help hand out leaflets, talk to people etc, please email Rep Ian Allinson.
The protest rally on Thursday went very well. The break in the rain certainly helped!
You can see our report and photos of the rally here.
We were very pleased with the level of media coverage too. Not only was it on TV on Thursday morning, and we got BBC, Socialist Worker and VNU coverage, but we also made the front page of this week's Computer Weekly.
We had invited a speaker from the Royal Bolton Hospital dispute to our last branch meeting. They are UNISON members working as porters and domestics, but they are employed by the private company ISS Mediclean (a branch of the same company that employs the cleaners at MAN05). They were being paid less than £5 an hour, no matter what shift they were on. They have been fighting for better pay, and sick pay. Our branch decided to make a donation towards their dispute.
The strikers have set up their own web site at http://strike.antonybrown.com/
The BBC report today that a settlement has been reached.
The deal includes increases to £5 an hour, nearly 8%, after 12 days of strike action, spread over a number of weeks.
This morning the group HR Director sent out another notice to all MAN05 staff about the dispute with Amicus. Our rally and ballot have really got the company's attention! The notice contained both positive and negative messages. On the negative side, the company still seems to be pretending they don't know what the dispute is about. They're denying things we've never alleged. They're also trying to present the union as the "unreasonable" party to the dispute. On the positive side, this is the first suggestion we've had that the company is ready to talk about a resolution.
Your reps have responded directly, and you can read the letter on the "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK Community.
Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's excellent rally. We estimate that 80 people took part, and it was successful in putting our situation in the media spotlight. You can read one of the BBC's reports here.
We've now uploaded some of the photos from the rally onto our web site here.
While your Amicus officials focus their minds on getting the ballot restarted, we need you to recruit more of your colleagues. The bigger the union is, the more pressure the company will feel to listen.
Messages of support are now coming in from all sorts of places. You can read them on our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK Community.
We're pleased to report that the reps committee has co-opted Patrick Hayes as a new rep, to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Harji Panchani.
A number of you have been asking for further clarification about the ballot.
The ballot for which papers have been sent out already has been STOPPED. If you still have your ballot paper, please throw it away to avoid confusion. If you've already voted, those votes will not be counted.
A new ballot will be started as soon as possible. We don't have a new timetable yet, and will keep you informed as soon as we get one. New ballot papers will be sent out, and you will need to vote using the new ballot papers, whether or not you voted last time.
Fujitsu challenged the ballot in order to stop you taking a decision. It shows they are afraid of the result. We will get the ballot underway again, and it's important that everyone votes - don't let the company get away with these tactics.
Don't forget the protest rally today:
12:30, Thursday 17th July
Outside MAN05 gates, Wenlock Way
Speakers: Debbie Brannan (Amicus Regional Officer), Sue Bond (PCS Branch Chair, Equal Opportunities Commission, and PCS Vice-President), Ian Allinson (Amicus Group Secretary)
Come along and bring all your colleagues. If they support our campaign, they are welcome, whether they are union members or not.
It seems some rumours are circulating about this rally, and we want to knock them on the head:
It seems a remarkable coincidence that all these rumours would discourage people from protesting - draw your own conclusions.
It looks as if we may have to brave the rain. If it's raining at 12:30, please try to be on time, and we'll keep it short and sweet!
Amicus is holding a protest rally THURSDAY (tomorrow) LUNCHTIME:
12:30pm, Thursday 17th July
Outside the MAN05 front gates, Wenlock Way
Speakers:
It is vital that we have a good attendance from members and non-members - we need you and your colleagues there.
Why Protest?
This protest rally is part of our campaign
AGAINST the company breaking our Union Recognition and Redundancy agreements, and
FOR Sick Pay, Equal Pay, and Fair Pay.
The stakes are very high - it's not just about what we want to gain - if we lose, we lose a lot. Without union recognition, employees are in a much weaker position in every question that comes up at work. You'd have less rights, and less ability to exercise those rights.
Your reps have argued with the company at meeting after meeting. Now we need to supplement the strength of our argument with the argument of our strength.
Why does size matter?
The company have used the anti trade-union laws to disrupt your democratic vote in the ballot. Your reps have now sent updated ballot information to our Regional Officer, and asked for a new timetable for the ballot. The company must be hoping that we'll be ground down by their silly games. We have to show them that we won't give in so easily.
Amicus has issued press releases about the rally on your behalf. The Extraordinary General Meeting had instructed your reps to use the media as part of our campaign. It's likely that we'll get media coverage on the rally. That means it has to be big.
How can you help?
The rally won't be built by leaflets and emails alone, though they are necessary. To get a big rally we need every member talking to their colleagues about going - whether they are members or not.
The vast majority of MAN05 staff have signed both our original petition for Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay, and the new one in defence of MAN05 Employee Rights. They support what the union is campaigning for. Can you bring them to the rally? If they stand side by side with the rest of us at the rally, they can begin to feel the strength we have when we are united.
It was bound to happen. Members in Fujitsu Consulting have been off "90 days" for several weeks - clearly this could go on no longer.
A "rationalisation" is in progress within the FC Finance Group. Headcount reductions are planned within Financial Accounting, Business Accounting and Business Accounting Support. In addition, Financial Accounting is to centralise in Solihull. FC are consulting staff via an FCCF subgroup involving representatives of the affected sites, and are consulting Amicus in parallel in respect of MAN05-based Finance staff. Applications for Voluntary Redundancy will be considered and Amicus reps have been told that FC will honour the SEA. Contact reps Lynne Hodge or Phil Tepper.
You may have read in the press that Roger Lyons, the General Secretary of Amicus-MSF, and one of the two Joint General Secretaries of Amicus, has announced his retirement. You can read his own statement here.
Many of the Professional Communities and Roles in Fujitsu Services have changed in recent months. On 24 June the Group HR Director sent out Company Announcement GE0317.
The note says that from July 2003 your new details will be available from "Self Service".
We strongly advise people to check this, as we have found a number of instances where this "mapping" resulted in people being demoted without their knowledge. Does your new "Role" and "Detail" code correspond to your old one? If not, this can be rectified by your manager.
Mysteriously, at the same time as your personal information has appeared, the documents showing the proposed "mapping" have disappeared. We have put them on the "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community
[Look for the "Mapping to new PCs & Roles" link under the "PAY CLAIM" heading]
For the "Service Delivery Community", there's still a document of "old to new mappings at a glance".
The announcement of a review of the ICL Defined Benefit pension plan is a source of concern to many employees. Yet another of the benefits of working for Fujitsu Services or Fujitsu Consulting is under question. Amicus is committed to defending such "final salary" pension schemes, as you can see from our national web site
and by some of the motions passed at this year's MSF Section conference.
You can read the company's initial communications on the new "Pension Consultation" CafeVIK community.
We need to ensure effective representation for members in the new "UK Pensions Consultative Forum" (UKPCF) the company are setting up. We already had members on the old Pensions Consultative Committee which is being disbanded , and we have a lot of questions about the new body.
Dave Francis, one of our reps on the Pensions Consultative Committee, will be working with Robert Dimmick to co-ordinate a union "slate" for the elections, so that we can campaign to get members elected from all the constituencies. If you're interested in standing, or want to know more, please email Dave Francis.
The company is up to new tricks, trying to prevent members at MAN05 having a vote on industrial action. We are modifying our plans in the light of these attacks - read on below for details. However, our protest rally at MAN05 goes ahead as planned on Thursday lunchtime. See CafeVIK for our leaflet.
Management have written to Roger Lyons, the Amicus General Secretary, threatening legal action. They claim that the "notice of ballot" issued by the Amicus Legal & Balloting Department didn't give a detailed enough breakdown of who was being balloted. The notice was in the same format used for previous Amicus ballots - which haven't been challenged by employers. Fujitsu Services is clearly scared of the ballot result, and is putting every available obstacle in our way.
The threat from the company is based on the anti-union laws, which put all sorts of hurdles in the way of members taking action. The law makes it impossible for us to provide any additional information now, as it has to be provided at least seven days before the first ballot paper is issued. The company's objection is not based on any challenge to the democracy of the ballot - they complain that they need extra information in order to "make plans and bring information to the relevant employees" (sic). It is perverse that the law requires the union to provide information to help the company campaign against it, but the company isn't obliged to provide us with information to assist in the proper running of the ballot. This is a good example of why it is Amicus-MSF policy to campaign for the repeal of the anti-union laws.
While the company talks about wanting to improve relations with the union, their deeds are aimed at making things as difficult as possible. No other company, even ones with really bad industrial relations records, has chosen to challenge an Amicus ballot notice in this way.
The company could have left a legal challenge to the ballot until after the result, or even waited until we took action. If their claim was then successful, any industrial action would then be deemed to be unlawful. This would mean members didn't benefit from the legal protection from dismissal during lawful industrial action. It would also leave Amicus open to a claim for damages by the company.
Amicus has reluctantly decided to stop the ballot, and re-start it as soon as possible.
The decision is deeply regrettable. The company must be hoping that the delay, and the confusion of a second set of ballot papers will reduce the turnout, and sap our determination. We have to make sure we use the time to further build up the campaign, and keep the pressure on. We're fighting to defend our union recognition and redundancy agreements, and for Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay. These issues won't go away, and neither should we!
The current dispute at MAN05 is an important one. The outcome will have an impact far beyond MAN05. After all, the company seem to be trying to marginalise the union and make it irrelevant, just at the time when so many people are joining and getting involved.
We've received encouraging messages from a number of AMICUS-MSF officers:
Roger Lyons, Amicus Joint General Secretary says:
"Good luck in your campaign to uphold your union recognition and redundancy agreements and to win Sick Pay, Equal Pay and Fair Pay"
Kevin Coyne, Amicus North West Regional Secretary says:
"It is important we defend our trade union rights, a recognised workplace offers more benefits to employees than one where we have no recognition. Your reps at MAN05 have worked tirelessly on your behalf to improve and maintain your conditions at work. I join with them in recommending you return your ballot forms and vote YES YES."
Debbie Brannan, Amicus Regional Officer says:
"At a time when you're union recognition and terms and conditions are under threat, it is important we uphold the union principles of collectivism. To defend this attack we must stand together don't rely on others to return the ballot forms, return yours today. Vote YES YES and send a clear message you support your local leadership."
Rachael Maskell, Amicus National Secretary, Equalities says:
"With a 19% gap in pay between men and women, all companies have a responsibility to ensure that they are not in breech of the Equal Pay Act (1970). The only way to do this is to carry out a pay audit. With the tools now available to analyse pay from the EOC, ACAS and Amicus, there is no excuse for Fujitsu Services to put off their audit, especially when EDS and CSC are working with us on their pay systems. You have a right to equal pay, vote YES in your ballot today."
We're also receiving messages of support and encouragement from many quarters, and many of these are in the document which is a headline in our CafeVIK community. Here's a direct link to that document.
The ballot for industrial action has been restarted. Notice of the ballot was served on the company on Tuesday 1st July. We expect ballot papers to be sent out on 8th July, to be returned by 29th July.
The group of those being balloted is:
Fujitsu Services employees based at West Gorton, including home-workers with West Gorton as their administrative base.
Before and during the ballot, certain emails will be sent out to those covered by the ballot only. The first of these emails have already gone out, with subject fields including the phrase "ballot countdown". If you have not received these emails, but believe you fall within the group to be balloted, please get in touch with Rep Alan Jenney immediately.
You can find a summary of our dispute, and an appeal for support, on our web site: http://www.ourunion.org.uk. Fujitsu employees can also keep an eye on our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community for updates.
As you are aware, the ballot was delayed by administrative and technical problems outside our control. The company have since threatened to seek an injunction and award of damages against Amicus. This gives a flavour of the confrontational stance being adopted by the company.
We're pleased to report that despite these hitches, we have a new timetable for the ballot:
At the time of our Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), we expected the ballot paper to only include one question "Are you prepared to take part in industrial action up to and including strike action?", as in our indicative ballot. Members at the EGM instructed Amicus to campaign for a YES vote in the ballot. You agreed a plan for the first phase of industrial action, should we need to take it. This involved a one-day strike on the first day, followed by action short of strike. Your reps advised that it would be difficult to organise effective action short of strike without taking the day's strike first, because of the number of non-members involved.
Due to restrictions imposed by the anti-union laws, we are now advised that we have to ask two separate questions on the ballot paper - one for strike, and the other for action short of strike, even though we believe that action short of strike alone is not practicable.
It is therefore vitally important that we get a resounding YES vote to BOTH questions, otherwise the company will not believe we could implement your decision if we had to (and they could be right!).
Thanks to everyone who's helped collect 380 signatures so far on the "MAN05 Employee Rights" petition. We believe there are a number of sheets with signatures which have not been returned - please return them to Phil Tepper. There are still lots of willing staff who haven't signed - including around 70 members! Blank petitions are available from the union office or from your rep.
A "One Per Desk" leaflet is being distributed around the site. If you're off site, you can read it electronically here.
We've also prepared a bulletin to help you recruit your colleagues. "What's the union ever done for us?" is available here.
We will be sending out a series of notices over the next week giving you further information about the ballot, and the decision you have to make.
We will be holding a surgery for members to discuss any issues with their reps:
12 - 2pm, Thursday 3rd June, union office, m.f1a (upstairs, phase 2, main building)