The dispute over the victimisation of convenor (senior rep) Jerry Hicks at Rolls Royce Bristol is now over. Jerry has not won reinstatement, but both he and the members who struck in his support are receiving compensation from the company. Thanks to everyone who sent messages of support, messages of protest and financial support. See their campaign web site for more information.
The situation in Iraq shows little sign of improvement, we face a terrorist threat here in the UK, and government plans are giving rise to real concerns that freedom and democracy are being sacrificed in the name of a struggle to defend our freedom and democracy. Meanwhile, opposition to the occupation of Iraq is on the rise in the USA. In this context, Amicus nationally has decided to back the national demonstration for “Peace and Liberty” in London on 24th September. For more details, see the Stop the War Coalition web site.
Pensions are important, but you wouldn't think so from the glazed look that appears on the face of the average pension fund member whenever pensions are mentioned. In Fujitsu Services a lot of people, many of them union members, are now members of the new Defined Contribution (or “money purchase”) pension scheme. This scheme still needs another member trustee, so if you want to replace the glazed look on your face with a proper understanding of the scheme which will be paying for your retirement, then why not volunteer.
The commitment isn't heavy, with two or three meetings of the trustees each year and a certain amount of administrative decision making between meetings requiring very little time.
Don't know anything about pensions? Don't worry. All the training you need will be arranged to make you an effective trustee of what after all is your money.
If you're interested contact Wilf Williams on 7256 5289.
We anticipated a few snags with the move to a new Central Park site. Unfortunately the company’s inadequate management of Health & Safety (as highlighted in our letter to David Courtley earlier in the year) has led to rather more serious problems.
The company have removed the process for employees to highlight hazards effectively, and line managers are left unable to respond adequately because of the lack of properly defined responsibilities, authority and processes.
Because we have union recognition in Manchester, employees are entitled to have union Health & Safety reps. These reps have legal powers to investigate etc. Health & Safety reps had identified serious fire safety issues, but received no adequate response from the company.
The fire safety issues Amicus had identified were brought into sharp focus by the fire in MAN35. Amicus was forced to act to protect the safety of staff, and last week we contacted the local fire brigade to seek their advice in getting the company to take its responsibility for the safety of employees seriously.
You can read the letter on CafeVIK here.
The company believes it needs to make major changes in Mobile Engineering to achieve a 30% reduction in cost per call. It seems likely that this will lead the company to propose measures which could include job losses, sales (TUPE transferring people out of Fujitsu), or changes to Terms and Conditions.
The company has set up a “forum” for mobile engineers, to discuss the current situation. The nomination period was short, even after it was extended. The process resulted in too few volunteers coming forward for an election to be necessary.
The forum reps do include a number of Amicus members.
We have raised a concern that the company seems to think that the forum could be used to meet legal requirements to consult over redundancies, TUPE etc, but that this wasn’t made clear to employees when they were choosing representatives. We would like to hear from members in ME whether you believe there would have been more volunteers if it had been made clear that the forum could be used for “statutory” consultation (and if so, who). Your response on this will determine whether Amicus pursues this question.
The company has also invited Amicus in Manchester to provide someone to represent the mobile engineers within the collective bargaining unit on the forum. This means those mobile engineers who are based at MAN05/33/34/35 or who are HOM99 with an admin base of any one of those sites.
We would like to hear from members who fall into this category, to discuss this as a matter of urgency.
Amicus is about to launch a campaign to tackle the problem of age discrimination for those working in IT against the following background:
In order to find out the scale of the problem we are undertaking an electronic survey amongst IT workers. The survey will give us a better picture of what is actually happening in workplaces which we can then use to develop policies with employers to combat discrimination on the grounds of age.
Please tell your other colleagues in IT, and ask them to spare a few minutes to complete the survey, which is online and should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. It does not matter if they’re an Amicus member or not. The more responses we receive the more representative our survey results will be.
Please click on www.lrd.org.uk/surveys/amicusit and help your union make IT an age discrimination free zone. We would be grateful if people could complete the survey by Friday 23 September.
Many thanks in anticipation of your help with this.
Peter Skyte
National Officer
Amicus
One of the members of the ICL Pension Members Committee (IPMC), Brian Hobden, has unfortunately had to resign due to ill health. Brian is an Amicus member, and was elected to represent London and the South East. We would like to thank Brian for his contribution and send our best wishes for a full return to health.
There is likely to be an election soon to fill the vacancy, and we would like to ensure if possible that we have one Amicus candidate (two members stood last time!). To be eligible you must be in the ICL Group Pension Plan, and work in London, Essex or Kent (for list of sites see here).
The IPMC meets about four times a year, generally at a hotel in Hammersmith. It receives reports on the finances of the pension fund and related subjects such as tax changes and investment policy; discusses changes that member representatives would like (such as re-opening the scheme); and fills any vacancies for member-nominated trustees.
If you're interested in standing, please contact Robert Dimmick at STN02.
We had previously reported the fact that the company had censored the UK Consultative Forum community on CafeVIK, in response to employee representatives publishing a report of the May meeting, associated subgroup reports and a report on redeployment and regrading.
We are pleased to report that following a 2-day special meeting of the UKCF, agreed May minutes have at last been published. It’s worth noting that much of the work of the UKCF takes place outside the main meetings, so it is worth taking a look at the reports from the subgroups on Pay & Benefits, Health & Safety and Communications which have now been published alongside the minutes.
Fujitsu Services is resisting three legal challenges over its attempts to deny employees access to their pay scales. The cases are being supported by Amicus, the union representing many Fujitsu employees.
i) TUPE Transfer
It is common for groups of employees from customer organisations to be transferred to work for Fujitsu as part of IT outsourcing deals. The company prides itself on the smooth handling of such transfers, so Amicus was surprised when it refused to give Lloyds TSB staff transferring into Fujitsu access to information about their new pay and benefits structure.
Amicus believes that the denial of the information led to a failure to fully consult the union over the transfer, as required under the TUPE Regulations which cover such transfers. It seems a very bad business decision to risk the company's reputation in handling outsourcing deals - all to keep employees in the dark about their pay.
The Finance sector of Amicus has now lodged a case for failure to consult under the TUPE regulations.
ii) Data Protection Act
A number of employees requested access to their pay and benefit scale information under the Data Protection Act. The company refused the requests, claiming that the information was exempt, so Amicus helped members take cases to the Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner has already decided that "on the basis of the information we have, it does appear that there has been a contravention of the subject access provisions of the Act in that Fujitsu Services did not respond properly to subject access requests" and "We are therefore of the view that it is unlikely that the processing was carried out in compliance with the provisions of the Act". They concluded "We have informed Fujitsu Services of our assessment and have now advised them to respond to the subject access requests within the next few days".
Even after this, Fujitsu failed to respond to the requests for several weeks, and then omitted the main information the employees were seeking. Members are pursuing these cases further with Amicus support.
Fujitsu asks customers to trust it to handle their data responsibly. It seems reckless for senior management to jeopardise this trust by trying to evade the company's responsibilities under the Data Protection Act.
iii) Information for Collective Bargaining
Amicus has long had union recognition at the main site in Manchester. In preparation for the April 2005 pay review, the union requested information from the company to assist in the collective bargaining process. A key part of that information was access to the company's pay and benefit scales. The company were only prepared to provide the information if the union agreed to keep it secret from the workforce. Not surprisingly, union members voted to reject this idea out of hand.
Amicus has lodged a claim to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the statutory body that rules on disclosure of information for collective bargaining purposes.
The company needs a good reputation for its dealings with recognised unions. What employee of a potential customer would want to work for a company prepared to go to these lengths to prevent employees knowing what pay and benefits they are entitled to?
The boast on the company web site that "Fujitsu Services has built a good track record of working with Trade Unions from a number of different organisations" seems to bear less and less relationship to reality.
An initial meeting with the CAC on 25th August did not resolve the problem, but the parties agreed to a meeting where ACAS will act as conciliators on 16th September. If conciliation is unsuccessful, the case will go forward to a full CAC hearing.
...
EQUAL PAY
One of the key reasons that employees are demanding access to pay scales is that there is widespread inequality in pay and benefits between people doing similar jobs within Fujitsu Services.
In 2004 Amicus conducted a major survey of pay and benefits of Fujitsu employees, which showed women typically being paid £2,500 to £3,000 per year less than men for doing the same job. Fujitsu denied the validity of the survey results, but declined to provide their own analysis of the issue.
Amicus believes that it is no accident that there appears to be a discrimination problem in Fujitsu Services. The pay system breaks many of the guidelines set out by the Equal Opportunities Commission. The secrecy and general lack of transparency are a major factor in contributing to an unfair pay system in the company. The company has repeatedly rejected Amicus claims for an Equal Pay Audit. Equal Pay Audits (or Reviews) are central to the government's recommendations for eradicating discrimination in employment.
It is sad to see a modern company like Fujitsu Services so stuck in the past when it comes to Equality issues. It is just not good enough to hide problems - they have to be investigated and resolved. A positive approach is becoming more and more important to winning business, particularly in the public sector.
With Fujitsu refusing to work constructively with the union to tackle discrimination, Amicus is now applying legal pressure on the company to face up to its problems. The union has also carried out its 2005 pay survey to see how things have changed over the last year, and results are beginning to be published.