April 28, 2006
Manchester Branch Meeting
To avoid clashing with local elections, remember that the May meeting of the Amicus Greater Manchester IT Branch is always held on the second Thursday instead of the first.
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 11th May
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester city centre, M4 4AA
[Near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
As well as dealing with branch business, there will be time for reports and discussion on workplace issues.
All branch members are welcome to attend.
May Day
Did you know that May Day is a holiday because trade unionists around the world fought for it? 1st May is International Workers’ Day.
Amicus is organising transport from the regions to the TUC’s national May Day event in London – the “March For Workplace Justice”.
Here in Manchester, the local TUC is supporting a march organised by Trade Unions For Refugees focussing on solidarity with workers everywhere:
Monday 1st May
Assemble 12 noon, All Saints Park, Oxford Road
March to rally in Albert Square
MAN05 closure
Many of the outsourced site services staff left at MAN05 have now been put on 90 days warning of potential redundancy. Baileys maintenance staff are already being represented by their Amicus full-time officer in discussions about the situation.
Amicus continues its efforts to protect the remaining Fujitsu staff at MAN05. There have been periodic discussions about the future for those working in Data Centre Operations. We now have a meeting arranged for Friday 5th May to discuss the situation for the firewall team.
The company still doesn’t seem to have a coherent overview of what is happening to the workforce as a whole.
MAN05 staff, like all employees hoping for redeployment, would benefit significantly from a successful outcome to the talks on recognition, redundancy etc. One of the draft agreements under discussion (known as Annex 1) updates our “Security of Employment Agreement” (SEA) to set out a clear process for redeployment.
Health & Safety
Amicus Health & Safety reps carried out inspections at MAN05 and the external areas at Central Park this week. Reports will be published shortly on the “Amicus the Union” community on CafeVIK.
Holes in the floor at Central Park
There have been various incidents involving the circular grommets in the floor, which provide access for cabling. These have a tendency to work themselves open, especially those in exposed places such as walkways and common areas. This can be dangerous if you catch your heel in them in an open state. There have also been problems with grommets underneath people’s chairs working themselves open resulting in the chair castor becoming lodged in the hole.
So that we can gauge the extent of this problem, please can you report any potentially-hazardous grommets to your Health & Safety rep and to Site Facilities (7733). There is a fix available, but you need to report the problem to get it fixed.
New advice on call centres
The Health & Safety Executive has updated its guidance on call centre working practices. The new guidance:
- makes more explicit and detailed reference to relevant regulations, guidance and additional sources of useful information;
- makes the risks that should be considered in risk assessments more explicit;
- indicates when call handlers should be provided with information on the risks identified in the risk assessment and how these risks are being controlled;
- deals with the length and frequency of breaks;
- contains a new section on verbal abuse;
- contains a new section on consultation with employees or their representatives and indicates when employees or their representatives should be consulted;
- contains a revised section on hearing to reflect HSE's recent research to establish whether there is a noise hazard associated with the call centre industry;
- contains a revised section on stress to reflect HSE's new guidance.
A new Manchester Health & Safety Committee
Last year Amicus Health & Safety Reps formally requested the setting up of a Health & Safety Committee. The rights to have safety reps and a safety committee are some of the advantages of having union recognition, and come from the “Safety representatives and safety committees” regulations, generally known as the brown book.
The process of getting it up and running had been much slower and more difficult than necessary, but we are now nearly there. A proposed constitution for the new committee is here: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/content/0289/public/shared/draft_man_hs_committee_constitution_28_april_2006.doc
Your safety reps believe this draft is acceptable. In the original email, Manchester members were asked to vote on whether they wanted Amicus to ACCEPT or REJECT the draft.
IS-Compute out of hours
The successful outcome to the “out of hours” grievance we reported on 13th December has already resulted in many employees in the Manchester bargaining unit having significant increases to their standby payments. Many have now received back-pay too.
A further group have now had individual apologies from the company for the delay in processing their extra payments.
This is another example of the benefits of union recognition and collective bargaining.
However, there is a further group of people who have not received the payments they expected from the grievance, yet the company have provided no evidence of local or individual agreements to justify this.
The original email advised members what to do about this.
Form 477f is on CafeVIK here and is for claiming standby at UHP rates.
Sirius shifts
We had previously reported on the proposal to end the shift pattern (and allowance) for staff on the Sirius RIM team. Amicus helped the team submit a collective grievance over the proposed change.
As a result the shift allowance is continuing for staff in the Manchester collective bargaining unit, to allow time for the grievance to be properly discussed and a long-term solution sought.
An initial meeting to discuss the grievance took place on the 13th April, attended by reps Karl Dobson and Tony Hopwood from the team, plus rep Ian Allinson. A number of actions were agreed and Amicus intends to get members in the team together to discuss the results.
This is another example of the benefit to employees of collective bargaining - the allowance is worth several hundred pounds a month.
Recognition, Pay
The launch of the Manchester campaign to defend union recognition has already begun to produce positive results.
The company had already agreed to our proposal to hold further talks, involving ACAS, on union recognition, redundancy, redeployment etc. Now HR have at last offered dates for these talks, which are now set for:
. 15-16th May
. 22nd-23rd May
Second leaflet
The second leaflet of the campaign is already going out across Central Park and West Gorton. This focuses on Health & Safety, coinciding with Workers’ Memorial Day and our own safety inspections (see below).
Pay talks
HR have still not offered dates for further pay talks, despite repeated reminders. This is particularly hypocritical when you consider that:
Well over 400 Manchester staff signed our petition “No Delay, Give Us Our Pay!”
HR tried to use this to justify their “bogus ballot”, claiming in their email of 21st March that “we have come to the conclusion that we would ask you to decide what you want us to do next” and “We do not want to delay any pay reviews for employees”
Of those who did vote, a majority voted against the company’s “DELAY” option in HR's email of 27th March said “The company will now continue discussions with AMICUS relating to the pay review” and “we believe strongly in the rights of individuals to have a say in decisions that effect them”, yet HR have still proposed no dates for pay talks.
HR’s failure to offer dates for talks has ensured that not only did most Manchester staff get their pay rise delayed from April, but we will now miss out on the May payroll too.
It should now be clear to everyone that HR is deliberately delaying pay rises in the hope that people will accept a third-rate deal on recognition and the other issues in the hope that the company would then reach a pay deal. Falling for such trickery and bullying would be a mistake that would cost employees dearly for years to come.
It is interesting to note that Fujitsu HR are also adopting a similar tactic with our colleagues represented by the PCS union in Swansea. PCS were holding a members’ meeting this week to discuss the fact that the company have delayed the start of their talks – yet again. This time HR didn’t even have the courtesy to offer an apology, a reason, or a new proposed date!
Sharing In Success
In 2005, Fujitsu made its announcement that the Sharing in Success bonus would pay out on 28th April, so we expect an announcement any day soon.
We have heard nothing official yet, but rumour has it that it will be paid out. It would normally appear in the June pay packet.
A one-off bonus is worth far less than a pay rise. It doesn’t count towards overtime, shift payments, pension, redundancy etc. Above all, it doesn’t increase your basic pay, so you get “given” the same money each year, whereas a pay increase one year builds on what you got the year before.
Most employees would much rather the company spent the money on addressing the poor pay levels across most of the company instead of one-off bonuses.
April 26, 2006
Unionised Workplaces = Safer Workplaces - newsletter
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet on "Unionised Workplaces = Safer Workplaces", on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
April 19, 2006
Amicus mini-survey of Fujitsu Service pay review 2006
Most employees have now been told the results of the 1st April 2006 pay review. Unfortunately, the company is keeping the sizes of its pay "pots" secret from employees.
Unfortunately we have had to abandon our pay survey for the time being, due to a serious server hardware fault.
The survey comes on the back of the recent breakthrough where Amicus members now have access to the company's pay comparators (what most people call scales).
Offshoring
Recent reorganisations and announcements have heightened the concerns many Fujitsu staff have about the offshoring of work. Development, support and helpdesk work are amongst the areas most affected.
According to the media, Fujitsu Services OK has now signed a deal worth $30m over five years to offshore work to Zensar in India.
You can read about the Amicus national campaign on offshoring here:
http://www.amicustheunion.org/Default.aspx?page=1263
One of the concerns repeatedly raised by Fujitsu employees has been the way the company bring Zensar staff to the UK to learn the job, then move the work back to Zensar in India.
A recent meeting of Amicus IT industry reps heard similar stories from other companies:
There had been a huge increase in the number of work permits granted for IT occupations over recent years. In 2005, 25,000 overseas IT workers came into the UK via the work permits system, compared with 1800 ten years earlier in 1995. Between 2001 and 2004, some 110,000 work permits were issued in total for IT occupations, representing no less than 20% of the total work permits issued for all occupations, despite the fact that IT occupations represent only 3.5% of the workforce.
Of the 30,000 work permits issued in 2005 for IT occupations, 75% of these were for Intra-Company Transfers and 80% of the total was for workers from just one country – India. By comparison, only 11% of all work permits issued for non-IT occupations were issued for Intra Company Transferees. The lack of transparency in this Intra Company Transfer process is a major difficulty in understanding what is happening and why.
The work permit system is not intended to allow the use of non-resident workers to transfer skills overseas from the UK as a precursor to offshoring. If you are aware of such examples, please let us know.
Anyone working in the UK should be getting decent pay and benefits, regardless of their nationality. Migrant workers make a massive contribution to society, but should not be exploited by employers seeking to undercut terms and conditions.
Amicus members have played a leading role in raising the issue of offshoring through the company’s Fujitsu Services Consultative Forum (FSCF) and UK Consultative Forum (UKCF).
In October 2004, the employee reps on the FSCF put forward a draft agreement on offshoring to start a dialogue with management on handling it sensibly.
Unfortunately, Fujitsu’s response has so far been disappointing. A subgroup of the FSCF was eventually set up, and Andy Batchelor (also an Amicus Rep in Solihull) takes part in this.
Progress has so far been slow and the company seems very keen to avoid employees directly participating in any debate.
Please send us your comments on the draft agreement. You can also help by recruiting colleagues into Amicus – bigger is stronger!
Our colleagues in CSC (one of Fujitsu’s competitors) have had more success. They already benefit from national union recognition, and were able to negotiate an agreement providing for early consultation, improved training and better job security.
The importance of good agreements is rapidly becoming clear. CSC have announced that they are slashing thousands of jobs, including up to 1200 in the UK. The announcement came within a few days of the company announcing its intention to increase its Indian workforce by several thousand. Many of the media reports link the fact that CSC’s UK job cuts are through Voluntary Redundancies (rather than Compulsory Redundancies) to the existence of the agreement with Amicus.
Here in Fujitsu, the Security of Employment Agreement does provide some help in offshoring situations, but Amicus is keen to update it.
Pay
The success of Amicus in obtaining the Fujitsu pay comparators for members is having a real impact, which is undoubtedly contributing to the current rush to join.
If you are an Amicus member employed by Fujitsu Services and haven’t received the pay comparators / scales briefing through the post at home, please get in touch.
This victory has attracted media attention, with IT news web site “The Register” carrying a positive (if not entirely accurate) report:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/11/fujitsu_amicus_deal/
Many of you have been commenting on the fact that many of the internal medians have gone down from year to year, as well as being lower than the external benchmarks from 2001 or 2003. The briefing itself explained some of the company’s justifications for such variations. You may also remember the story we published last year, which exposed how some pay systems really work:
Individual Performance Related Pay at Bodgit & Scarper PLC
Delayed or derisory?
Fujitsu is still delaying pay rises for those it accepts are covered by collective bargaining. In Manchester the company has still to offer new dates for talks, despite repeated requests. Our colleagues in the PCS union in Swansea are facing similar time-wasting. They report:
“For those in the collective bargaining group, the 28th March scheduled meeting between PCS and the Company was cancelled by the Company. Apparently, despite the date having been arranged early in February, the approaching event came as something of a surprise to them and they were unable to field their “team”. Also, they have not yet provided to PCS the required base pay information that they are contracted to provide. So we’re clearly in the forefront of our management’s thoughts and should make rapid progress on 25th April when the re-scheduled meeting should take place. :-)”
Those who have had pay rises on time have generally been disappointed. Once again, many people had 0%, and many more of those who did get pay rises found they were below inflation.
Knowledge Is Power
Many of you have been in touch with your Reps after receiving the pay comparators. Lots of people are way below the company’s “2006 internal median” figure, despite good performance.
You can calculate your percentage of the median as follows:
Percentage = 100 x
If your Percentage is less than 75, you have a strong case to take up with your manager. The company’s general pay guidelines (for use outside groups covered by collective bargaining) are published on the HR Community on CafeVIK.
They say:
“Where possible, no employee should be more than 25% below the median salary within the community for the level of role being performed. If this is not the case then clear justification will be required.”
“25% below the median salary” means the same as “75% of the median salary”, so if you are, your manager should be able to show you the “clear justification”!
Fujitsu Staff Deserve Recognition
More and more staff across Fujitsu are joining Amicus at the moment.
In Manchester, Amicus has launched its campaign to defend union recognition and employee rights against the company’s attempts to divide the workforce.
Members on a number of other sites have been asking how they can gain the benefits of recognition. This document sets out what union recognition and collective bargaining means, the situation in Fujitsu Services, and the basics of how recognition can be won.
Whether you win recognition by the “statutory” or “voluntary” routes, the first steps are the same. Members on the site need to build up the membership, involvement and organisation.
If you want to help unionise your site, please get in touch.
April 13, 2006
Union Recognition - newsletter
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet on "Union Recognition", on Cafevik click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
Stopping the BNP
The British National Party (BNP), who oppose everything trade unions stand for, are standing in the local elections.
In our region, the councils where they pose the biggest threat are Oldham, Stoke on Trent, Burnley, Blackburn and Pendle. However, they are also standing for seats elsewhere, including the Newton Heath and Miles Platting ward (right near Central Park), Fallowfield and Droylsden.
For more information on the campaign to stop the BNP, see the Unite Against Fascism web site: www.uaf.org.uk.
Planned local activities include:
- Mass leafleting of Fallowfield on Saturday afternoon (15th April).
- “Who Shot the Sherriff – the story of Rock Against Racism” film showing at the Manchester Cornerhouse on 27th April. Following the screening, DJ and writer Dave Haslam will chair a discussion. Panellists include Director Miles and author David Renton
Trade Union Rights
The TUC is organising a national march on May Day in support of the Trade Union Freedom Bill, which would undo the injustice of the anti-trade union laws. For more information, see:
Amicus is organising transport from the regions – please contact your Rep if you are interested in going. In the North-West, Amicus members are going by train.
Fujitsu Staff Deserve Recognition
Today Amicus launches its campaign to defend and extend union recognition in Fujitsu.
More and more employees across Fujitsu are joining Amicus in the wake of the breakthrough in getting pay comparators and the attack from the company on employee rights in Manchester. Pitiful pay reviews for most UK employees and delayed pay reviews for most Manchester staff have also contributed.
This week and next we are asking members in Manchester to help distribute a “One Per Desk” leaflet which launches the campaign.
Over coming weeks, we will be following this up with a series of leaflets explaining different benefits of union membership and of union recognition.
A key part of the rapid growth in union membership has been the number of members following up what was agreed at the AGM, where members resolved to:
- Explain the issues to our colleagues
- Recruit our colleagues into our union, to help them defend their rights
- Take an active part in our campaign to defend our rights
It is well established that the biggest reason for people not joining the union is that they’ve never been asked. Being asked by a work colleague is more effective than any leaflet.
Keep up the good work!
HR’s supposed desire to listen to the petition and avoid delaying the pay review seems to have mysteriously waned since their “bogus ballot” backfired. The company has still offered no dates for talks on either the 2006 pay review or on union recognition and related issues.
It is interesting to note that HR time-wasting isn’t confined to Amicus or Manchester. Our PCS union colleagues in Swansea tell us that HR postponed their first pay negotiations (which had been arranged six weeks in advance for 28th March) because HR couldn’t get a team together at such short notice!
Increasing union membership and activity is the key to increasing the pressure on the company to treat its employees with honesty and respect.
April 10, 2006
Greater Manchester IT Branch, 3rd April 2006
Branch Meeting Topic Changed
Due to availability of speakers, the topic for Thursday’s meeting has changed. We now have a presentation and discussion with:
Ewa Barker, Greater Manchester Campaign against Climate Change
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 6th April 2006
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester city centre, M4 4AA
[Near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
All branch members are encouraged to attend. There will also be opportunity to discuss workplace issues and other normal union business.
The planned meeting on “Defending Our Pensions” will be rescheduled for a future date. If you would like to suggest a topic for a future branch meeting, please get in touch.
April 07, 2006
Fujitsu pay comparator figures available to Amicus members - another good reason to join the union
Have you ever wondered how your pay compares to other people in a similar job or doing similar work inside or outside Fujitsu?
Knowledge is Power
Amicus the Union: Campaigning for Pay Transparency in Fujitsu
Leaflet available for download here.
April 05, 2006
Pay and Pay Reviews - newsletter
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet on "Pay and Pay Reviews", click here. This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
April 03, 2006
Manchester Branch Meeting Topic Changed
Due to availability of speakers, the topic for Thursday’s meeting has changed. We now have a presentation and discussion with:
Ewa Barker, Greater Manchester Campaign against Climate Change
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 6th April 2006
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester city centre, M4 4AA
[Near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
All branch members are encouraged to attend. There will also be opportunity to discuss workplace issues and other normal union business.
The planned meeting on “Defending Our Pensions” will be rescheduled for a future date. If you would like to suggest a topic for a future branch meeting, please get in touch.
Fujitsu HOM99 update
A number of you have been asking for clarification about the position of members whose contractual base is HOM99 and the arguments about the scope of the Manchester agreements.
The long-standing arrangement was that anyone with an “admin base” of MAN05 was included. Given that the company promised that the existing arrangements transferred to Central Park, this now means that anyone with an “admin base” of MAN05/33/34/35 should be included.
Because the “admin base” concept isn’t widely used any more, it’s hard to determine for all HOM99 staff. For this reason, Amicus and the company had been discussing moving to a clearer system, based on home address, but no such change has been agreed yet.
In order to divide the workforce and take away employees’ rights, HR are trying to exclude as many people as they can from union recognition. HOM99 staff would be amongst the hardest hit.
The agreed, signed outcomes from the Manchester pay talks on 17th February 2006 include:
4. At the first meeting, it had been noted that Amicus had asked those HOM99 people they were able to contact to tell them if they believed they had a MAN05/33/34/35 admin base and why. It had been agreed that the responses would be reviewed today with a view to agreeing to include or exclude individuals from the scope for the 2006 pay deal. This would not form a precedent for future years or talks on future recognition agreements. Responses must be in to Amicus before Friday’s talks for inclusion to be considered.
Amicus had provided details of the 33 people who had contacted them and provided evidence of a MAN05/33/34/35 admin base. The company refused to consider their cases, as they believed it would be too much work to move them into scope at this late stage in pay planning.
The company were only prepared to include the four people who had identified themselves in the one working day allowed in 2005 under the arrangement that was operated last year as a one-off without precedent.
Amicus pointed out that the company did not appear to have included the four people from 2005 in the scope anyway.
Amicus believes that the blanket exclusion of almost all HOM99 staff regardless of their admin base would be very unpopular.
As you are aware, the company is now imposing the “bog standard” pay review on those it is trying to exclude from union recognition, and this includes the vast majority of HOM99 staff with an admin base of MAN05/33/34/35. More importantly, this also means the company is trying to exclude them from all the other benefits of recognition.
It is completely unfair that the company should impose a worse pay deal on someone just because their base is HOM99 rather than on-site.
This is not a situation that anyone should accept. Employees need to campaign to defend and extend union recognition. The best thing non-members can do is join. The best thing members can do is to explain the issues to their colleagues and encourage them to join.
If employees stand united, we can fight off the attack on employee rights and secure a better deal for all those who should be covered by the Manchester agreements. This in turn will help all those who genuinely aren’t covered but who want to win union recognition for their areas.
Further explanation is available in the “Union Recognition and Collective Bargaining” document, published on CafeVIK.