June 22, 2004

UK Consultative Forum

The latest meeting of the Fujitsu Services UKCF was on 18-19 May, and the issues covered included:

· pay & benefits
· moving jobs offshore
· training for managers
· company results
· redeployment, recruitment etc
· FC/FTSI integration into FS

The official minutes of the meeting have now been published here.

Unfortunately the minutes of the two previous meetings are not out yet either - the UKCF rep who is doing them was very busy with the pensions consultation process, which took priority. We expect them to be out in the next few weeks.

Over the coming months, we'd like the UKCF to concentrate on a few key issues for employees:

  • A new pay & benefits structure
  • Moving of work "offshore" to locations with worse terms and conditions
  • Allocation of work within the UK, to protect jobs, minimise travel, and ensure realistic career paths without relocation

Of course, if the company has other major plans, the UKCF will have to get involved in those as we find out.

While Amicus doesn't believe that "forums" can be a substitute for proper trade union organisation, they can play a useful role. Several of our members are currently involved in a sub-group revising the UKCF constitution to make it more effective. This will lead to fresh elections for every seat on the UKCF later in the year. The revision is an ongoing process, and it's not yet clear what the new constituencies will be. The company will certainly have changed a great deal since the forum was set up, with mass redundancies, the split of ICL into Fujitsu Services and Consulting, the re-merger of FC and FTSI into Services, and now the expansion of the workforce with the Aspire and NHS contracts. Meanwhile, Amicus membership and organisation has developed significantly.

By the time the elections take place, hundreds of Aspire staff, many of whom are represented by the PCS trade union (http://www.pcs.org.uk/ and later http://www.aspire-pcs.org.uk/), will be part of Fujitsu Services. While Amicus will remain by far the largest union in Fujitsu Services, we want to build on the work done in recent years with the groups in PCS and other unions. We would like to agree a set of candidates that all trade unionists in the company can unite behind for the UKCF elections. In order to reach this agreement, we need to identify all union members who might be interested in standing for the UKCF as soon as possible.

If you are interested in standing, or want to know more, please email Rep Ian Allinson.

Normally, being a UKCF rep involves:
· Meeting with other reps and senior management several times a year for the full UKCF meetings.
· Keeping abreast of queries and points from constituents. Most UKCF reps don't get as much input as they would like, so this doesn't take too much time.
· Communicating with other reps. Naturally this varies depending on what's going on, and peaks before and after meetings. This will average out to about an hour or two a week.
· Communicating with the company between meetings. Sometimes reps raise points with management individually, more typically the reps will agree a joint communication. The most time consuming part of this is reading and commenting on draft policies etc. This can take a couple of hours, but doesn't happen every week.

For consultation to be effective, it has to be a process, not an event. Being given a detailed presentation by senior management and giving your instant reaction is not genuine consultation. The UKCF has found that the most effective way of getting real dialogue is to use subgroups of reps (rather than the full body) to look at particular issues. We would expect all UKCF reps to get involved in subgroups from time to time. Being on a subgroup is much more time consuming than just being on the UKCF - they really get to grips with an important issue.

The busiest subgroup running at the moment involves four UKCF reps working with others on the "Reward Framework Discussion Group" looking at pay and benefits (see here). This group is meeting every fortnight, with quite a lot of reading, thinking, research and discussion in between. This is one of the most important (and complicated) issues we're likely to tackle, and we're under pressure to reach a conclusion so that a new pay & benefits structure could be in place for the April 2005 pay review. Most subgroups won't be quite so intense! Another subgroup is looking at revising the UKCF constitution. This is only likely to need to meet about half a dozen times, with much less work in between.

Of course, there have been times when being a UKCF rep has been a very difficult experience - particularly during the huge redundancies in 2002. The lack of national union recognition put a huge burden and responsibility on a body that was ill-equipped to cope. Let's make sure we don't have any repeat of that!

Amicus provides training, advice and support for members on bodies like the UKCF - you won't be on your own. This is one of the reasons why it's so much better for employees to be represented on these bodies by union members.

For more information on the UKCF, see its web site: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=UKCF. You can also look at the briefing-pack Amicus prepared for the last UKCF elections: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/ukcf.htm, (though of course things have moved on since then).

If you are interested in standing, or want to know more, please contact Rep Ian Allinson.

Posted by at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2004

Working on Assignments

An increasing proportion of employees are working away from their base location more and more of the time. Rep Alan Child has been tackling a range of issues connected with these new working patterns. One area of concern is about the impact on Health & Safety. Working away can have many consequences for H&S, including:

  • Long hours
  • Extensive driving
  • Carrying equipment
  • Personal safety issues when carrying valuable equipment or working in unfamiliar areas
  • Unsatisfactory working environment
  • Difficulty in getting H&S issues resolved if the site is not controlled by Fujitsu
  • Increased alcohol consumption

Amicus has been pushing the company to take these issues seriously. A first step (and a legal requirement) is for managers to assess the risks of assignments (as for any other aspect of your job). To make this easier, a new Generic Risk Assessment (GRA05) for Assignment Working away from the base location has now been published on CafeVIK under the Occupational Health and Safety Community.

http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/viewer.asp?/content/OHS/public/00005/GRA05%20-%20Assignment%20Working.doc

Your manager has a legal responsibility to ensure that Risk Assessments have been carried out. Due to the nature of Assignments the assessments will need to be carried out as and when appropriate, rather than at set intervals as is normal. The company believes that the best person to carry out the assessment will be the Assignment Manager with a copy of the assessment going to your Line Manager.

Posted by at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

Cycling to Work

This week has been "Bike 2 Work Week" (http://www.bikeweek.org.uk), an attempt to encourage people to improve their health and the environment by cycling to work.

With the restricted number of parking places at the planned new Manchester site, and the long wait for the tram line, will more of us be forced onto two wheels next year?

Robert Dimmick, one of the Amicus members on the UKCF (and a keen cyclist), pointed out to the company that part of the government's Green Transport plan includes allowing employers to enable their employees to buy bikes tax-free:
http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/pdfs/emp2001/ir176.pdf

The scheme is quite similar to the "Home Computing Initiative" which allows employees to buy tax-free computer equipment. The company agreed to look into offering this as part of the settlement of our pay claim this year.

The company's head of Reward says that the company would need to look at the work required and priority of also offering a bike buying scheme.

Posted by at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

Another Merger (or two)

The members of UNIFI (http://www.unifi.org.uk), the banking and finance union, voted by 9 to 1 in favour of joining Amicus. The merger is likely to go ahead on 1 July, and will add UNIFI's 140,000 members to the 50,000 already in the Amicus finance sector.

The Graphical Media and Print Union (GPMU, http://www.gpmu.org.uk) is also considering joining up with Amicus, but hasn't yet balloted its members. It is likely that GPMU would join us in the autumn. We already have GPMU members working for Fujitsu as a result of the Reuters contract.

By the end of the year we expect Amicus to be the largest union in the UK.

Posted by at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

Festival Season

Amicus is getting involved in a series of festivals this summer, to raise the profile of the union amongst young people, and get their views on a range of issues. As part of this initiative, there is an opportunity for members to help out and attend the festivals at no cost.

The festivals on the list so far include Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. For more information, see:
http://www.amicustheunion.org/main.asp?page=409

Posted by at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

Equal Opportunities

In mid-April, CCTS management and Amicus jointly organised two pilot Equal Opportunities events for employees. The sessions were run by a tutor from MANCAT's Trade Union Education Department. The events provided an opportunity for discussion of the issues around diversity and equality.

The feedback from the attendees was very positive, with comments including "Very useful & enjoyable", "Questions I had were answered well" and "much food for thought". People had found the event quite rushed, trying to squeeze a lot into a half-day session. There were also suggestions for more management involvement, and for making something like this available for all employees. Thanks to everyone who took part. Managers, HR and union reps have now reviewed all the course feedback, and started discussing how we can build on this successful joint initiative.

As well as helping to build a united workforce that can work together effectively, a positive approach to equal opportunities can help Fujitsu win new business, particularly in the public sector.

Over the next few months, we will be looking further at several ideas:
1) How the company can include a short session on Equal Opportunities in employee induction sessions
2) How employees can organise events and activities that raise awareness and understanding of each other
3) Running a further event similar to the pilots in April, but taking account of the comments received

If you have views or would like to get involved, please contact Amicus Rep Sulayman Munir.

Some of the relevant policies are here:

Posted by at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

Offshoring

The announcement that HSBC are moving yet more jobs to countries with lower wages and worse labour protection:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3816111.stm
is keeping the issue of "Offshoring" in the news.

Amicus opposes such attacks on jobs, terms and conditions. This isn't about nationalism or protectionism - we'd oppose moving jobs to increase profits at the expense of pay and employee rights whether the move was two miles or two thousand miles. You can read some of the Amicus campaign material here:
http://www.amicustheunion.org/main.asp?page=219

There has been less news coverage of some of the problems offshoring causes for companies:
http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/feeds/cgram/4061403.htm

Fujitsu are clearly taking more interest in offshoring. The reps are examining the issues to come up with proposals on offshoring to put to the company.

Posted by at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

Pensions

Pensions continues to be a "hot" issue, and not just in Fujitsu. Four members from West Gorton will be joining the TUC pensions demonstration tomorrow:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/pensionsrally

Meanwhile, the TUC are pointing out the weakness of "stakeholder" pensions, which have hardly been taken up:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/pensions/tuc-8058-f0.cfm

The dust is now settling after the consultation exercise over changes to the "ICL Defined Benefit" pension scheme in Fujitsu. Manchester employees were split into two constituencies (area 8 and area 12) on the UK Pensions Consultative Forum (UKPCF). The company now intend to merge them and a fresh election will then take place. Watch this space for more details.

Posted by at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Job Losses

The company began a redundancy programme to reduce the number of salespeople in the Commercial Business Organisation on June 1st. They wish to reduce the sales force of 61 by 22 people by 30th June ready for the start of Q2. Many of those affected are people who TUPE transferred in from Fujitsu Consulting on 1st April.

The company view is that numbers only require the company to allow 30 days consultation because the numbers are low. In statutory terms they are right, but this doesn't take account of people's contracts, collective agreements, or custom and practice, all of which point towards a 90 day minimum. Amicus have been successful in securing 90 days for people specifically covered by our MAN05 bargaining unit and/or Security of Employment Agreement (SEA). Reps are trying to extend this wider.

The company has so far tried to restrict consultation to people from within the affected group and one Amicus representative (John Lacey). UKCF reps have been specifically excluded from consultative meetings.

There are a number of issues with the proposed redundancies because the company appeared to overlook that many of the people from Fujitsu Consulting have yet to be assigned into the targeted group. As a result, a disputed process was put in place to formally and rapidly assign people into the at-risk group. Nine appeals have been raised against this professional community mapping into sales, all within the five days allowed by HR. The issue is still largely unresolved but the company is forging ahead with the declared redundancy process regardless of the outcomes.

Voluntary redundancy has been offered and so far 32 have applied for VR compensation quotes with 11 from the affected group followed up with 11 VR requests. It expected that communication of decisions on VR will start to be made on Friday 18th June with individual meetings to inform of compulsory redundancy on the following Wednesday. Those specifically covered by the SEA would, if selected for CR, be put into LINKwise for the last 60 days of their (90 day) consultation period - we have objected to this failure to meaningfully consult across the board but the company has not budged.

The next management task was to score people against agreed criteria and this has happened over the last few days.

For more information email Rep John Lacey.

Rumours are still circulating of redundancies in other areas where people moved in from Fujitsu Consulting, but no hard information is forthcoming.

Posted by at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Pay

We expect to give a specific update on the implementation of the pay agreement for the Amicus MAN05 bargaining unit next week.

In 2003 the company had pay scales based on external market rates for the various professional communities, roles & levels. In 2004 the company didn't update these. Outside the Amicus bargaining unit at MAN05, the company used a new type of "pay scale" for the 2004 pay review. This was based purely on what the company already paid its staff, not on external market rates. Not surprisingly, it was generally much lower. For our bargaining unit, the company agreed to continue to use the 2003 scales. Amicus has been pressing the company to make these scales public, as promised over a year ago. While Amicus reps do have them for use in our pay negotiations, the company insist they are kept secret, which your reps believe is unjustified.

Amicus members on the UK Consultative Forum (along with the other reps) have been pressing the company the publish the pay scales:
http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/Scripts/polls/Displaypolls.asp
so far without success.

Do you think the scales should be published? The MAN05 CafeVIK community (http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289) now includes a poll:
http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/Scripts/polls/Displaypolls.asp

Please vote, and encourage non-members to vote too.

Posted by at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2004

Progress, but slow progress

Members and reps have been becoming increasingly concerned about the delays in finalising and signing the agreements to settle last year's dispute. While we understood that HR and management had been very busy with other important activities, including the FC/FTSI mergers, pay review, pension changes, the delays were becoming unjustifiable. It is now clear that there were indeed other reasons for the delay.

Ian Allinson (our Senior Rep) and Peter Skyte (Amicus National Officer covering the IT sector) met with the company HR head on 12 May. It is welcome that a dialogue is being reopened. However, it is clear that the company are having second thoughts about the proposed settlement of our long-running dispute, which is a cause of serious concern.

As a next step, we have agreed to hold an externally facilitated off-site meeting involving five representatives from Amicus and five from the company. This will take place on 2nd July, and will discuss a range of issues around the Fujitsu-Amicus relationship, including the West Gorton dispute.

Posted by IA at 03:52 PM

June 01, 2004

Election

Voting for the European and local council elections in the North-West is fully postal. Everyone should have received their voting paper by the middle of this week. Please make sure you use your vote - there is a serious risk that the fascist BNP will win a seat to represent you in the North-West if the turnout is low - these elections are on a proportional representation system.

Don't leave your voting paper to get buried and forgotten - please use it as soon as you get it.

Posted by at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

Dates for your Diary

Don't forget:

Amicus North-West demonstration in defence of manufacturing jobs. This campaign affects every member - many of the measures Amicus is calling for to protect employment in manufacturing would benefit IT workers too. The demo is in Manchester on Saturday 5 June. Please email Rep Ian Allinson if you're able to join our delegation. Speakers include Amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson.

TUC National demonstration for pensions on Saturday 19 June. Amicus is paying for free transport for members to join the demonstration in London. Please email Rep Dave Francis if you're able to go.

Posted by at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

Contracts of Employment and Branch Meeting

We're pleased to report that we'll have a solicitor from Thompson's (http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk, the union's main solicitors) as the guest speaker at the branch meeting on Thursday - the topic is "Contracts of Employment". Why not come along with your questions?

6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 3 June

Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, M4 4AA

All branch members are encouraged to attend.

Posted by at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)