Since the inception of the Manchester Move Forum in November, several meetings have been held and specific aspects such as Security and Catering focused on. Staff based at MAN05, MAN13 or MAN27 should have already received a number of email communications from the Forum member representing their business unit. If you're based at one of these sites and have not received any such information, please mail Phil Tepper, identifying which site and business unit you belong to. Phil attends Move Forum meetings on behalf of Amicus and can supply previous bulletins.
Rather than duplicate information already supplied in the form of Forum bulletins in a union newsletter, it's worth providing a few selected highlights:
1) The company had been initially reluctant to commit to providing a number of on-site facilities requested by staff, but have now confirmed there will be a gym, cash machine and Recreation room on the new site. There will be a prayer room facility along the same lines as the current one at MAN05. There will be showers in each building. For anyone with any interest in the possible provision of crèche facilities on the new business park, a questionnaire produced by Manchester City Council is available.
2) Concerning transport, the company claim that adequate provision of car parking spaces has been made. (Drivers entering the site will have to present their id cards to operate the barriers.) Storage facilities for bikes will be provided and a specific number of parking spaces per building will be set aside for motorcycles. As for public transport, the recent news of reconfirmed government funding for the Metrolink extensions is of course welcome news, but a service to the business park remains several years away. On a more positive note, the company has been in discussion with GMPTE to develop a bus timetable to serve the site at the beginning and end of the normal working day - a draft timetable is also available from Phil and comments are welcome.
3) The level of catering provision remains uncertain and discussions continue. Feedback from staff has indicated a general desire to maintain the overall quality of food and to retain the range of options staff are used to, including a choice of freshly-cooked conventional and vegetarian main dishes. Recent discussions with the company indicate they were not anticipating the level of demand for a range of main meal choices, but they are now looking into the possibility of providing two conventional and one vegetarian dish daily. Higher prices at the new site seems likely, although the extent of any such rises is not yet known and the company have given assurances that the current level of subsidy will be maintained. An obvious potential concern to Manchester staff, however, would be any plan by the company to increase prices eventually to the levels at other sites run by Eurest such as Bracknell and Staines. The company have offered separate talks with Amicus over the catering prices, and we'll keep members informed as to any developments.
4) [Members also received a report on the impact on Workplace Management and other non-Fujitsu staff at the affected Manchester sites.]
5) The company have given various assurances over security on the new site – see the links below.
The company has published a good deal of information on various aspects of the move on the Manchester Campus intranet site here. You can browse this site and we draw your attention to the Q&A section here. Please make use of the Q&A facility if you have any questions or concerns over any aspects of the move, and send a copy of your question to Phil Tepper to enable us to keep track of members' concerns.
Since reaching a pay agreement with Fujitsu Services for employees in the MAN05 bargaining unit last March, we have been working hard to get the company to implement it.
Mappings
We are pleased to be able to report that MAN05 employees should shortly be receiving letters from the company making clear any changes to their Professional Community role code between March 2003 and March 2004 (the period of most problems). The letters will state whether or not the change is one of the standard “mappings” the company published.
Amicus urges members to study these letters carefully – your role code has a significant impact on your pay and benefits. The 2004 pay agreement said:
Where the appeal process identifies incorrect mappings, the employee will be moved to the correct role and detail code. Where this has resulted in a lower pay rise for the individual in the 2004 pay review, this will be addressed. Any such increases will be backdated to 1 April 2004.
The second batch of results from the pay survey includes some information about typical pay rates for different roles, and this may help you to assess your situation.
Members can contact their reps for advice about the impact of the role code changes on their individual situation.
We intend to publish tables of information about role code mappings in the next couple of weeks. These should help you assess whether the changes have been detrimental to you – i.e. have you been demoted without your knowledge.
Shortfalls
While the company have been slow to implement the “mappings” part of the deal, they have been refusing to create the “shortfall” plans for many helpdesk staff.
While many staff across the rest of the organisation have benefited from this part of the pay deal, a significant number of staff working in the helpdesks have been left without even a plan to bring them up to the bottom of the company’s 2003 pay scales.
With a reorganisation moving second-line staff (the bulk of those affected) from CS into IS, Amicus intends to contact the new management to ensure that the agreement is honoured in full – as they did for third-line staff who transferred earlier.
Amicus have published the second batch of results from its survey of Fujitsu Services pay on the company intranet here.
Amicus today submitted its pay claim to Fujitsu Services for 2005, after it was overwhelmingly endorsed by members in an email vote.
The claim was being submitted nationally and locally in parallel:
The text of the claim is below - why not get involved in our campaign?
Pay claim 2005 for Fujitsu Services
Background
1. A number of sources indicate that the labour market in the ICT industry and for ICT professionals is hotting up. A number of factors suggest this will also be the case within Fujitsu Services.
1.1 IDS in its last survey on Computer Staff Pay (December 2003) reported that the resignation rate over 2003 had fallen from 5.7% to 4.1%. Since then, the latest e-skills UK Quarterly Review of the ICT Labour Market for the third quarter of 2004 reports “.... further increases in demand for ICT staff were reported by recruitment agencies, jobcentres, and recruitment web sites. Moreover, this increase in demand looks set to continue as the percentage of ICT firms anticipating employment growth and the percentage of all firms planning to take on ICT staff in the future were both up significantly on the previous quarter.”
1.2 The unemployment rate for the ICT industries (3.7%) remains lower than at any time in the past three years whilst the rate for ICT professionals at 2.9% also looks to be heading towards a new low.
1.3 The e-skills UK Quarterly Review further reports that for 34% of establishments with IT vacancies, “IT positions often were proving difficult to fill and as a result a significant number appear to be suffering from, amongst other things, delays in new product launches, increased operating costs and difficulty meeting customer service objectives.”
1.4 Fujitsu reported to the UKCF (at the October 2004 meeting) a significant increase in staff attrition.
1.5 In December 2004 the company increased its “Introduce a Friend” bonuses, making clear that it needed to recruit in a range of roles.
1.6 A number of groups within Fujitsu Services are experiencing unsustainably high utilisation – an indication of under-staffing.
2. The RPI figure has risen to 3.5% in the year to December and most analysts are predicting an increase to between 3.5% and 4% in the first quarter of 2005, with an average of 3.5% according to IDS (December 2004 Pay Report 918). The latest annual earnings figures reported for average earnings growth for the whole economy was 4.2% in the year to October — up from 3.9% in September. This growth was mirrored in all sectors with a 4.3% rise in services and a 4.0% rise in the private sector.
3. Computer Economics recorded an average increase of 3.6% over the last year. The National Computing Centre (NCC) recorded a median level of increase on salary scales of 3%, rising to 3.7% of total salary scales when merit awards and performance increases are included.
4. Fujitsu Services has enjoyed massive increases in productivity. Core Services exceeded their productivity target of 6% in 2003-4, and increased the target to 8% for 2004-5. Employees should share in the benefits of their increased productivity.
5. Fujitsu Services’ employees have faced specific cost increases, including the costs associated with eating at work or while travelling on business, and travel to work in many areas. Many employees also face increased costs to maintain their pension entitlement.
6. With this background in mind, Amicus firmly believes that it is both right for Fujitsu employees and necessary for the company to award a substantial pay increase, recognising not only the labour market within which the company operates but also to recognise and reward the contribution made by employees to the developing success of the organisation.
7. Having been through a financially difficult period, Fujitsu Services tends to pay below the market rate. In recent years many employees have had pay freezes and/or increases well below the market rate. In addition, changes to the Defined Benefit pension scheme constitute a reduction in benefits for members.
8. Fujitsu Services is now profitable and is enjoying a series of significant contract wins. To sustain growth, the company needs to improve the benefit package, which it is now in a position to afford, and recognise the contribution made by its workforce.
Accordingly we present the following pay claim to apply with effect from 1 April 2005.
2 EQUAL PAY
A commitment and timetable from the company to work with the recognised unions to carry out an Equal Pay Audit to monitor the pay structure and outcome by gender, age and ethnic origin and to change the structure if necessary.
3 WORK-LIFE BALANCE
a) A reduction in contracted hours to 37 for those currently on more, without loss of pay. Discussions on an eventual reduction to 35 hours.
b) Introduction of an overnight allowance for those working away from home.
c) Review of fixed standby, on-call and call-out allowances, fully taking into account the time since the last increase.
d) Improvement of the sabbatical leave scheme to allow employees to take a break from work and then return to their job.
e) Introduction of a premium payment for employees who work Bank Holidays and currently only get a day off in lieu.
f) Publicising to all employees that the “Flexible Working Guidelines” don’t just apply to those with young children. Positively considering requests from older workers to change working patterns.
4 PENSIONS AND RETIREMENT
Agreement to open negotiations on:
a) The re-opening of the Defined Benefit (final salary) scheme to all employees.
b) The right for all employees to remain in employment up to age 65 if they wish.
c) Clarification of the “pre-retirement wind-down” scheme in the light of more flexible retirement ages. The scheme should be open to any employee from their 59th birthday who gives a year’s notice of their intention to retire.
Silicon.com reports that Fujitsu has won a major contract with Lloyds TSB.
The report says that "Around 167 Lloyds TSB staff and 30 temporary workers, mainly based in Bristol, transfer across to Fujitsu under TUPE legislation."
Many of these new Fujitsu employees are Amicus members, and we wish them a warm welcome.
Computer Weekly carries a report on the same issue, but reports a Lloyds TSB representative saying
"Lloyds TSB can confirm that it is in negotiation with Fujitsu for the provision of IT support for its distributed computing environment. No contracts have been signed and discussions between Fujitsu and Lloyds TSB are continuing."
Update 25 Jan 2005:
Silicon.com carries a report of an above inflation pay deal for IT workers at Lloyds TSB, and also the planned talks between Amicus, LloydsTSB and Fujitsu Services over the planned transfer of staff.