The “war on terror” has been accompanied by an alarming tendency to demonise Muslims, leading to increased discrimination and harassment.
This year’s TUC Congress agreed a policy against “Islamophobia”:
Congress is anxious to counter the growing culture of Islamophobia as another manifestation of racism, which is borne out of a transatlantic agenda for the Middle East and the consequent terrorist atrocities of recent years. In the workplace the impact of this can be corrosive on relationships and it impacts on Asian communities as a whole. Fear and ignorance breeds prejudice and prejudice is undiscerning. Many innocent people suffer as a result. It is every bit as important that we combat racism, fear and prejudice as it is that we combat terrorism.
Congress notes that the fascist BNP made the promotion of Islamophobia a key plank of its election campaign.
Congress, therefore, calls upon the General Council to:
i) encourage affiliated unions to share and promote good practices aimed at countering Islamophobia in the workplace, as part of their anti-racist strategies; and
ii) use these examples to promote a similar sense of responsibility amongst employers such that a joint approach to this aspect of racism and discrimination may be developed - one that is inclusive and which values racial, religious and cultural diversity.
iii) continue to support campaigning against the BNP as a priority in the coming year.
iv) ensure Islamophobia and racism plays no part in the sentencing of offenders and is given a zero tolerance in the criminal justice system.
The TUC also agreed a joint statement with the Muslim Council of Britain, which is encouraging all workers to join trade unions.
There have been a number of violent attacks recently, including in Eccles (Greater Manchester) last week, when racist thugs attacked worshipers at a local mosque.
In this climate, trade union solidarity with communities on the receiving end of racism is particularly important. Protests by members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at the Daily Star recently succeeded in dissuading the paper from publishing a particularly offensive article. Our congratulations go to the NUJ.
A reminder that the next meeting of the “Greater Manchester IT” Amicus branch is:
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 2nd November
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester city centre, M4 4AA
[Near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
We’re delighted to report that we will have guest speakers including Mohammed Amara (Deputy General Secretary of the Palestine Federation Trade Union).
There will also be time for reports and discussion on workplace issues as well as for dealing with branch business.
All branch members are welcome at the meeting – please attend if you can.
Amicus continues to support members in a MAN34 VME team over plans to offshore their work to South Africa. The priority has been to ensure that they don’t lose their jobs unless other suitable work is available for them.
Other similar issues are affecting staff across the UK. If you have any information, please contact Andy Batchelor, who is coordinating our work on this issue. Though anonymous information is useful, it does make it extremely difficult to follow up. Amicus reps do not disclose the names of members to the company without permission and information can be treated in confidence if necessary.
Employment in Fujitsu is generally increasing – the company is rarely dismissing staff as redundant, which is a welcome change. However, the company’s zeal in avoiding paying for redundancy is sometimes leading to staff being pressured to take unsuitable alternative jobs. In many cases the company isn’t admitting that this is redeployment and is not offering the (legally required) trial period in the new job.
Members whose jobs disappear should seek advice from a Rep as soon as possible, whether or not they are told it is redundancy.
Fujitsu, along with other employers in the IT sector, is making increasing use of Compromise Agreements (CAs). These are legally agreements which typically involve you leaving employment with a sum of money, usually with a secrecy clause. If this idea is suggested, seek advice from your Rep as soon as possible.
Remember – you are never obliged to resign or to agree to a CA – you always have a choice. You should make sure it is an informed choice.
On Wednesday evening, members from Staines held their first meeting.
Robert Dimmick and Finton Burns were elected as Reps, and Kristian Werner agreed to continue as a contact.
Members discussed issues and agreed plans for local activity, as well as discussing the Manchester dispute.
If you would like a similar meeting where you work, please get in touch.
Our members in Manchester are part way through their ballot on industrial action, which is due to close on Thursday 9th November.
The scale of the company’s attack on the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) has come as a shock to many employees. There can be little doubt that if the company succeeded in scrapping it for most Manchester staff, employees elsewhere would stand little chance.
You can support our Manchester members in various moral, practical and financial ways. Some ways you can help are set out in their appeal for support.
For Fujitsu staff, you can also help by discussing the issues with your colleagues and building the union wherever you are – asking colleagues to join or getting more involved yourself.
To keep the volume of email down, some of the notices relating to the dispute are not being sent out to everyone, but you can keep abreast of developments on our news web site (www.ourunion.org.uk/news).
Many myths circulate about Health & Safety. Within Fujitsu, we’ve heard the Working Time Directive being wrongly blamed for everything from cuts in “out of hours” payments to the horrors of SST timesheets.
As last week was European week of Health & Safety, the TUC has produced an online myth-buster, ranging from schools banning conkers to safety inspectors banning ladders, from acrobats being forced to wear helmets to councils banning St George's flags.
In Manchester (thanks to union recognition) there are Health & Safety Representatives. Last week they carried out the latest round of inspections on the Central Park campus. Results will be posted on the “Amicus The Union” CafeVIK community as they are written up.
Our Manchester group has also been leading the way in pressing Fujitsu to bring its standards of safety management up to the legal minimum. Highlighting the deficiencies at the highest level has produced some improvement, but progress has been painfully slow – dogged by broken promises and missed deadlines.
Health & Safety Reps in Manchester have now formally written to the enforcing authority – you can read the letter on CafeVIK.
If you believe similar issues affect your site, please let us know.
Sadly, the governments cut-backs on safety inspectors mean that the need for employee vigilance to protect health and safety is greater than ever.
Amicus has previously issued advice to members on how to ensure you get a good increase in pay and benefits if you’re promoted. The fact that Amicus has won access for members to company pay and benefit scales / comparators is a big help in such circumstances. See our notice of 16th October for further guidance.
In some areas, the company tends not to promote people, but have them “acting up” for long periods – carrying out a job with more responsibility than your own, sometimes by abusing “secondments”.
Many staff and managers are unaware that a “responsibility allowance” can be paid to temporarily increase the pay of the employee to an appropriate level for the job they are doing. Ensuring you’re paid a responsibility allowance not only helps you financially, but removes some of the financial disincentive for managers to actually promote you.
Though a responsibility allowance is (much) better than nothing, it’s worth stressing that it’s no substitute for a genuine promotion. For example, the company is trying to claim it can redeploy HMRC staff in Manchester into jobs which are equivalent to their “real” job rather than the one they’ve actually been doing.
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet called "Dispute Update", on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
Members in scope for the ballot should now have received ballot papers. If you have not, please contact Ian Allinson IMMEDIATELY.
Voting
In line with the decision of members at the EGM in August, we are aiming at the maximum YES/YES vote in the ballot. This includes encouraging every eligible member to vote.
If you’ve not voted yet, please do so as soon as possible, to minimise any risk that you mislay your ballot paper.
Company propaganda
HR are trying to use line managers to promote their anti-union message. If your manager isn’t already an Amicus member, particularly if they’re not based here, please direct them to our news web site, (www.ourunion.org.uk/news) which includes our rebuttal of the recent Company Announcement.
Redundancy & Redeployment
The HR announcement may turn out to have been a serious blunder. Now the truth is undeniable – they only want to honour our Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) for the tiny minority who have a clause written into our “contract” explicitly saying so.
Many staff understand the vital importance of the SEA – removing it is more unpopular than a pay cut!
The HR line relies on promoting the misconception that your contract is a bit of paper, rather than the entire agreement between you and your employer.
Some people have asked how this would affect staff who have other redundancy payments specified in their individual contract (e.g. statutory minimum, M-grade). Because the rest of the SEA (other than the redundancy payment itself) has always applied to these groups, they are affected too. For example, the right to 90-days consultation in redundancy, as well as rights around redeployment and VR would be undermined.
Earlier today HR told Amicus that doesn’t intend to offer trial periods to Central Park HMRC staff redeploying to the new NHS desk, and won’t even guarantee them a job at the same level (i.e. CST, PSE or team leader).
The SEA is worth fighting for!
Support
As our ballot gets underway, support for our campaign is growing. Already, just this week:
Support is flooding in because colleagues inside and outside Fujitsu understand how important it is that we beat off the attacks on our rights and our standard of living. If HR undermine Amicus here, others will surely suffer in due course too.
External support has always contributed to our successful campaigns to defend our rights in the past.
Recruitment
While you’re talking to your colleagues about the campaign, don’t forget to ask them to join Amicus. If, following the ballot, Amicus calls industrial action, the union would be calling on all employees in scope to support the action, not just members.
Who would want to be in the middle of a dispute without the protection of union membership?
A leaflet explaining the dispute and appealing for support is available here.
This leaflet is an old one.
As expected, the HR propaganda machine has swung into action as ballot papers go out to Manchester Amicus members. Yesterday the company sent an email notice to all employees based in Manchester.
Rather than undermining the union’s case, the notice seems to have angered many staff who resent such a crude attempt to mislead them.
Nonetheless, your Reps felt they should make a rebuttal available to members so that you can discuss the issues with your colleagues.
Efforts to resolve the issues
Far from making strenuous efforts to reach agreements, the company has made strenuous efforts to prevent them. Every time we have neared agreement, they have changed their negotiating position.
Over the last few years there have been long periods when the company refused to discuss the issues with Amicus.
Current agreements
The company announcement ridicules our current recognition agreement, falsely claiming it is 25 years old (18 actually) – as if the age rather than the content was the issue!
The company claims the agreement harks back to when ICL was a manufacturing company. In fact there was no manufacturing at MAN05 when it was signed.
Amicus is keen to update the agreement. However, it is clear that the current problems are not caused by the (sometimes poor) wording of the current agreement but by the company’s desire to break it and reduce employees’ rights.
They repeatedly refer to “our proposed agreement”, but have not sent any proposal to Amicus since the talks broke down over the company’s insistence on cutting redundancy rights.
Pay Deal
The continuing efforts to blame Amicus for the delays in our pay reviews are a scandal. The company wouldn’t arrange pay talks for three months, and they later failed to turn up at all for one of the agreed meetings.
The company says “after a long delay the union rejected the offer”. The company made its offer on Thursday 17th August. Amicus put it to a members’ meeting the same day and informed the company that the offer had been rejected on Monday 21st.
By contrast to the speed of response from Amicus, the company took from then until the October pay packet to impose its pay deal. “We decided then that you should not have to wait any longer for the pay increase that others in Manchester had received many months earlier” – NOT!
“Enhanced” Redundancy
HR have let the cat out of the bag on this one. Their notice says “If you have a clause in your contract saying you are covered by SEA this will continue to apply”. Hardly any of us have such a clause in our contracts – even those with decades of service and who the company previously accepted were covered by the SEA.
Have you checked your contract? Have you used our redundancy calculator to work out how a change from “Fujitsu (GSS/SEA)” to “Statutory entitlement” would affect you?
This confirms what Amicus has been saying – HR are attacking our vital Security of Employment Agreement (SEA). The SEA is crucial for protecting our rights in redundancy and redeployment.
The attack on the SEA even affects those with other redundancy payments specified in their individual contract, because other elements of the SEA (e.g. 90 days consultation) have applied to all Manchester staff – even those above the salary threshold.
Even though the company doesn’t want to dismiss people with redundancy payments at the moment, the company is trying to forcibly redeploy people, including HMRC staff and those in VME whose jobs the company wants to move to South Africa.
It speaks volumes that HR see respecting individual contracts for some people as generosity rather than a right.
The announcement then boasts about the generous terms they offer to those they cheat out of the SEA. These are indeed better than the legal minimum – but far worse than the SEA or how Fujitsu Manchester staff have been treated in the past.
It would be like a thief expecting gratitude for giving you back a fiver after robbing your house.
Union Recognition
HR never tires of trying to present Amicus as an outside “third party”, interfering with otherwise happy employees. But the union IS the members. We have a proud record of democracy - members take the decisions after being given full information and opportunity for debate.
The company complains that Amicus kept staff informed during negotiations. They say “Unlike Amicus, we believed that we should wait until negotiations had been successfully concluded before communicating the outcomes”. They seem to miss the point that the company negotiating team DID report back to the people they represent – a handful of senior managers. Amicus represents the workforce, so Reps report to you and are accountable to you.
If your Reps had failed to report back to employees, would HR be complaining that the Reps were just pursuing personal agendas rather than employees’ interests?
Once again, HR are floating a bogus “choice” to confuse the issue. They want to give some staff (not all) a choice of being in either part of a divided workforce. Most staff want to be part of a united workforce that is treated fairly and with respect. If HR were genuinely interested in “choice” rather than dividing the Manchester workforce, their proposal would cover staff across the UK.
Line Managers
As Amicus warned in pre-ballot email #3, line managers are being treated very unfairly by HR, who are trying to mobilise them to do their dirty work.
Line managers have as much to win or lose from our dispute as anyone else, especially from the threat to their right to 90 days consultation in a redundancy situation. Most want to treat their staff fairly and let everyone get on with their jobs.
Line managers are likely to be among the main beneficiaries from our recent win using the Data Protection Act, as Amicus has exposed the company failing to give cars, bonuses etc in line with its benefit scales / comparators.
How to Respond
Members and non-members have the same interests. Please talk to your colleagues about these issues whether they are in the union or not.
You can:
Ballot papers are being posted out TODAY, Tuesday 24th October, and you will have an important decision to make, so please read on…
Why every vote matters
Every Amicus member who is in-scope for the ballot has a voice – it’s up to you to use it.
Even if the result isn’t close, the number of people who vote and the proportion who vote YES/YES send an important message to HR.
From past experience, your Reps expect the company to try to claim that any result they don’t like is unrepresentative, despite the absurdity of an undemocratic corporation lecturing members of a democratic trade union about democracy. Nonetheless, the more people who vote, the less credibility their propaganda would have.
The more the company sees that the workforce is united and determined, the greater the chance of the company agreeing a sensible deal without industrial action being necessary.
The process
Ballot papers are being posted out today (Tuesday 24th October). If you haven’t received a voting paper by Thursday 26th October you should contact Ian Allinson IMMEDIATELY.
The leaflet enclosed with the ballot paper explains more – please take the time to read it before casting your vote.
The ballot closes at noon on Thursday 9th November 2006.
If the result is in favour of industrial action, Amicus is required by law to give seven days’ notice of any action called. The initial plan for the first-phase of action (if required) was decided by members at the EGM in August.
Questions
If you have any questions about the issues, the ballot process or any related issues, please contact your rep as soon as possible.
Vote YES/YES
At the EGM in August, members resolved to:
1. Explain the issues to our colleagues
2. Recruit our colleagues into our union, to help them defend their rights
3. Take an active part in our campaign to defend our rights
4. Campaign for a massive “yes” vote in the ballot
5. Set up an “Action Committee” to assist in the organisation of the dispute
Now is the time!
Ballot papers are being posted out on Tuesday 24th October, and you will have an important decision to make, so please read on…
Line Managers
Consultants who help employers with “union busting” generally advise companies to mobilise their line-managers against the union, to take advantage of their personal relationships with staff. Your Reps fully expect Fujitsu’s HR to follow this approach.
Back in March, during Roger Leek’s “bogus ballot”, Amicus highlighted how unfair it was for HR to ask line managers to do HR’s dirty-work. As our newsletter pointed out:
“Line managers have as much to lose from the attacks on employees’ rights as anyone else. Many already resent the way they are often asked to justify to their staff the outcomes of company decisions in which they have little or no say.”
When the company tried to derecognise the union in the late 1980s, many line managers spoke out and urged senior management to reach agreement with the union. This, along with a strike vote and customer pressure, made the company back down.
Loyalty
Companies often try to make us feel as if supporting the union is “disloyal” to the company – as if we can only support one or the other.
Amicus members include staff with decades of loyal service to the company, alongside new starters and temps. Senior management tend to come and go in pursuit of their own personal short-term interests.
Fujitsu will only be a long-term success if it treats its employees fairly and with respect. Union members are fighting against a short-term view and to make the company a success.
Rumours
During our dispute in 2003, all sorts of wild stories circulated, ranging from site closure to slurs on individual Reps. Don’t be surprised if this happens again. The best response is to take scare stories with a large pinch of salt, and report rumours to your Reps as soon as possible.
Will the arguments highlighted in our “anti-union boss competition” in April resurface?
Misinformation
As our ballot opens, the company may circulate misinformation about the issues in dispute. Look out for careful wording that might be deliberately misleading.
You elect your Reps; their interests are exactly the same as your own; Reps have to live with the outcome of our campaign like you do. Amicus decisions are taken democratically after full discussion and debate, with real accountability.
Pressure
If you are aware of the company putting anyone under pressure in relation to union membership or voting intentions, or to participate in any anti-union campaign, please inform your Reps immediately.
Ballot papers are being posted out on Tuesday 24th October, and you will have an important decision to make, so please read on…
What’s at stake?
In recent years Amicus in Fujitsu has gained in strength and effectiveness, because more and more staff across the company are realising the need to get organised if we’re to be treated fairly.
Staff in Manchester are part of the minority who already have union recognition, which has delivered:
Fujitsu HR seem to have recognised the importance of Amicus organisation in Manchester, and set out to break it. They have systematically prevented agreement on the key issues of union recognition, redundancy and redeployment rights, and on pay.
HR are trying to divide the workforce and attack the union in order to worsen pay and conditions.
The current dispute seems likely to be a turning point. Either the company will succeed in undermining the union so that it can raise profits at the expense of employees, or we will succeed in defending and extending our rights.
The very presence of union organisation prevents the company’s worst excesses. If you don’t like what the company is doing now, just think what they’ll do if they break the union.
We Can Win
It is our hard work that delivers the services to customers and the profits to the shareholder. Many departments are over-worked and under-staffed. Bids have deadlines and contracts have SLAs.
As long as staff are determined and united, we are in a very strong position to force the company to reach a sensible settlement.
In 2003, the company tried similar attacks on employee rights. One and a half days’ action was sufficient to:
In 2003, Amicus only balloted 245 Manchester members. Now we have well over 300, are better organised and have a better informed workforce thanks to the newsletters we’ve been distributing to all staff.
Membership has also grown across the rest of the UK, so we have wider support outside Manchester too.
It is likely that the company is also better prepared, and only a fool would guarantee that we’ll win so easily this time. However, if we don’t fight, it is guaranteed that we will lose.
Wider Significance
Amicus members across Fujitsu understand that Manchester provides the backbone for our organisation, and that they benefit from our successes. Your Reps are confident that (as in 2003) we will benefit from significant support from across the company.
PCS members in Fujitsu are also being driven to contemplate industrial action by HR’s intransigence.
Senior managers and HR from the various IT companies meet up to exchange information and ideas. Because Amicus organises across the industry, Reps know that Fujitsu is not the only IT company trying to drive down pay and conditions or attack the union. Staff in other companies are being forced to get organised to resist these attacks, and are keen to see us succeed in our campaign.
Our Amicus colleagues on the Rolls Royce contract in EDS recently won an impressive pay deal after threatening industrial action. The deal means cost-of-living increases of 3.5% (backdated to 1st January 2006) and 4% for 2007. These are REAL pay increases too, with pay scales going up by the same amount. Unlike Fujitsu’s pay “pots”, promotion and progression comes on top.
The wider significance of our dispute is one of the reasons Amicus was able to secure such an impressive line-up for our campaign event with Tony Benn in late September.
We’ve already begun to receive messages of support from other trade unionists – and we haven’t even started the ballot yet.
Vote YES/YES
At the EGM in August, members resolved to:
1. Explain the issues to our colleagues
2. Recruit our colleagues into our union, to help them defend their rights
3. Take an active part in our campaign to defend our rights
4. Campaign for a massive “yes” vote in the ballot
5. Set up an “Action Committee” to assist in the organisation of the dispute
Now is the time!
Ballot papers are being posted out on Tuesday 24th October, and you will have an important decision to make, so please read on…
Why is Amicus balloting us?
Because members requested it.
The final decision was taken at the members’ Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 17th August. It was agreed that there would be a single ballot encompassing pay and all the issues already in dispute, including:
Earlier in the year, a “consultative ballot” of members resulted in an 86% majority voting that they would be prepared to vote for industrial action in a formal ballot if the company made a pay offer for only part of the bargaining unit – creeping de-recognition of the union. The company chose to ignore this, and the petition signed by well over 400 Manchester staff on the same issues.
What are the issues?
The company is attacking our existing union recognition and Security of Employment Agreement (SEA). It failed to implement the 2005 pay agreement fully (breaches included standby payments, company cars, pensions and bonuses), and prevented agreement on a 2006 pay deal, imposing two different pay review arrangements instead.
HR are trying to exclude many Manchester staff from union recognition, so that the group that is covered would dwindle and die over time. They are already trying to exclude all new staff, most HOM99 staff and all non-MAN05 staff who move to Central Park.
HR has adopted a strategy of trying to divide the workforce and attack the union in order to worsen pay and conditions.
Myth: I get paid over the salary threshold for collective bargaining, it doesn’t affect me
At MAN05, Amicus always defended the principle that ALL staff got at least 90 days warning of redundancy, no matter what their grade or salary. This principle is now under attack, and those above the salary threshold are most at risk.
Those above the salary threshold aren’t currently covered by collective bargaining (e.g. over pay), but do benefit from extra rights from our union recognition agreement. In particular, the better rights to individual representation can make a real difference, for example when negotiating a Compromise Agreement (CA) to leave the company.
Myth: I’m HOM99, it doesn’t affect me
On the contrary, HOM99 staff are one of the main targets of the company attack. Traditionally, those HOM99 staff with an “admin base” of MAN05 (i.e. those more closely associated with MAN05 than any other Fujitsu site) were covered by the union recognition agreement etc. The company is now denying this and trying to exclude nearly all HOM99 staff from our agreements.
This means worse treatment on issues from pay to redundancy, individual representation to safety and “out of hours” work to redeployment.
Myth: I got my pay review in April, it doesn’t affect me
On the contrary, you are one of those HR are trying to exclude from union recognition, breaking its promise to employees in the “Xmas Eve Announcement”. You would be one of the first to suffer if we fail to overturn the company stance.
This means worse treatment on issues from pay to redundancy, individual representation to safety and “out of hours” work to redeployment.
Myth: I’ve been here ages, my redundancy terms are safe
It may be blindingly obvious that you’re covered by the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA), but HR are currently denying this for most employees like you. They are making the absurd claim that only the tiny minority who have the SEA expressly written into their individual employment contract are covered, despite the fact that it never worked like this.
Whilst it seems unlikely that the company position is legally tenable, that’s little comfort if you’re dismissed and have to take the company to court to get your redundancy money.
What you can do
At the request of your Reps, Amicus yesterday re-issued the formal notice of ballot to Fujitsu. Reps were concerned that the company might use the anti-union laws to undermine our ballot because of technical issues with the original notice.
Copies of an updated notice to members will be displayed on union noticeboards, on CafeVIK and on our external web site.
Amicus will be balloting:
“All Amicus members employed by Fujitsu Services with a contractual base of MAN05/33/34/35, and those contractually based at home who are more closely associated with one of those sites than any other Fujitsu site.”
Voting papers will be sent out on Tuesday 24th October. If you have not received a voting paper by Thursday 26th October you should contact Ian Allinson IMMEDIATELY.
The names of the members to be balloted are available from Ian Allinson. If you are entitled to vote in the ballot please check that you are on the list and that your address and details are accurately recorded. The lists will be available for checking between 3pm and 4pm on Wednesday 18th October (TODAY) at Ian Allinson’s desk on the first floor of MAN34.
If you know anyone who is away from work at the moment but who should be included in the ballot, please give his/her name to Ian Allinson so that we can check whether your colleague should be sent a voting paper.
During the dispute it is vital that you inform Ian Allinson IMMEDIATELY if there are any changes to your contractual base location, job, union membership or home address.
If you are aware of HR or management putting any pressure on anyone in relation to their union membership or voting intentions, please let your Reps know straight away.
Further information will be provided to members by email and on paper over the coming weeks. Please make sure you read all union notices carefully.
The ballot will close on Thursday 9th November.
Please note that this notice supersedes that issued on 13 October 2006.
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet called "Ballot Underway", on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
Amicus is organising a members’ meeting:
6pm – 7:30pm, Wednesday 25th October
Egham United Church, High Street, Egham
Click here for a map of the venue. Parking (pay and display) is in Church Road. Go through the archway, then turn left, and the church is on the right about 100 yards along. Walking from STN02 takes about 15 minutes. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.
This is a meeting for all Amicus members based in Staines, but members from other sites are welcome to attend if they wish, as are colleagues who want to find out more about Amicus.
The proposed agenda is:
Ian Allinson (senior Amicus rep, Fujitsu Manchester) will attend to answer questions and take part in the discussion. We also hope to be joined by our Regional Officer, Debbie Watson, but she hasn’t confirmed yet.
For further information, please contact the current local reps/contacts in Staines – Robert Dimmick or Kristian Werner.
The recent “One Per Desk” newsletter being circulated in Manchester includes an update on pay (the company has finally got round to implementing a pay review for the remaining Manchester staff) as well as explaining what is behind the company’s attempts to focus on the scope of union recognition and offer more bogus “choices” to employees.
Since the leaflet went out, HR have tried to remove the updated pay information from Self-Service, but Manchester staff can still see their post-review pay rate by going in the “secure election” section.
Formal notice of the industrial action ballot for members in Manchester has now gone to Fujitsu. Details can be found on union noticeboards, CafeVIK and on the Fujitsu news section of our external web site.
...
NB:
Over the coming weeks, certain email notices will be sent only to those included in the ballot. If you think you are in scope for the ballot and haven’t received the first of these by Thursday 19th October, please contact Ian Allinson IMMEDIATELY.
While the ballot takes place, there’s plenty that members in Manchester and elsewhere can do to help the campaign, including:
Earlier this month the new age discrimination legislation came into force at long last.
There is a great deal of confusion about what this means. Some of this is due to sloppy reporting in the media, but there is also a real lack of clarity for both employers and employees until some test cases go through the courts.
The TUC has produced a ten-point online myth-buster in an attempt to debunk some of the myths surrounding the new age regulations, including around attacks on redundancy rights for older workers.
The DTI fact sheets are also available online.
If you want more information on pay and benefits in Fujitsu, please act on the information below, which explains how to take advantage of our recent success in the test cases under the Data Protection Act.
Reps believe this will be of particular benefit to:
The original notice to members included a model letter for individuals to seek their information.
If you don’t receive a proper response within 40 calendar days, please contact Amicus for advice. You may wish to set up an Outlook reminder now, so that you don’t forget.
When you receive the information requested, please use the tool we’ve set up on the web to provide a copy to your reps. This will allow the union to collate the information and provide better information and support to members. If it is more convenient, you could scan in your letter and email a copy to us.
It is regrettable that staff are having to go to such lengths to gain access to information that should be freely available. Sadly, Roger Leek responded negatively to the recent Amicus open letter on the subject.
Today Amicus formally notified the company of the ballot in Manchester.
This is the notice to members.
To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet called "Back in the Same Boat", on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.
Tonight’s meeting of the Amicus Greater Manchester IT Branch is:
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 5th October
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 welcome to attend.
The main topic of tonight’s meeting is “Trade Union Solidarity: the work of the Manchester Trades Council” which will be introduced by its secretary, Geoff Brown.
Last month’s branch meeting agreed a donation in support of the Merseyside firefighters, who were on strike against cuts in jobs and services. We are pleased to report that they are now back at work, having won.
The branch is affiliated to the Manchester Campaign Against Climate Change, who are organising cheap transport to London for the national Climate Change march on November 4th. For more information, please contact us.
The following branch meeting will be on Thursday 2nd November. Given that a special Amicus National Executive Council meeting has been called for 11th October to discuss proposals for Amicus to merge with the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU), it is likely that this will be a major topic of discussion then.
Union Learning Rep Pauline Bradburn says:
Hi all
This is just to introduce myself, I'm Pauline Bradburn one of the new Union Learning Reps, I have taken over from Aaron Donnelly who recently left Fujitsu to take another job.
I'm new to all this so you will have to bear with me whilst I find my feet. If you need to talk, please let me know and I can arrange some time for you. I can also be found at the union desk (MAN34, ground floor, east, desk 55) on Wednesday afternoons 2 till 4.30 if you want to pop in for a chat.
I would also like to ask for your help. I am hoping to have the library open for your use shortly, so I will be sending out a list of the books we have so far. So if you have any unwanted books, I could find a good home for them. Don't worry if they’re not IT-related, it’s not unusual for people working in IT to have other interests.
Thank you for taking the time to read this
Pauline
Amicus Union Learning Rep
As a result of being covered by union recognition, the members of the Sirius RIM team who are based in Manchester are still being paid their shift allowance while they try to agree a way forward with the company. They initially lodged a grievance in March, and the shifts ended shortly afterwards. The company has at last arranged the stage-1 meeting for Tuesday 10th October.
The grievance on behalf of the MAN05ES1 team in IS about their stand-by work will also be heard on Tuesday. The company proposes to move their out of hours work to Stevenage, where they hope to get it done more cheaply. We understand that they also want to move some of the Stevenage work to South Africa. Again, our union recognition agreement protected the staff while the company delayed resolving the issues.
Our grievance on behalf of the VME team in MAN34, whose jobs the company wants to move to South Africa, should finally reach its stage-1 hearing in the next week or two. We have successfully fended off HR attempts to bypass the agreed grievance procedure.
The company has made Larry Upton, the external HR Consultant who has been helping them with the dispute this year, as a permanent employee, based at MAN34. Larry, who is described on Connect as the “Employee Relations Manager”, will replace Howard Morgan as the main contact for Amicus in Manchester.
Will Larry’s appointment herald an improvement in industrial relations? Or will the company continue wasting resources trying to undermine the union rather than solving the real problems employees raise?
As members in Manchester continue to await the industrial action ballot, our campaign got a boost from a successful event with Tony Benn, various other speakers, and a free screening of the film “Bread & Roses”. You can see a report and photos on our external web site.
One of the key messages from speakers from around Fujitsu and the wider IT industry was that employers in our sector are pushing down on pay and conditions harder than ever before. Success or failure in our Manchester dispute will make a real difference to the job market across the sector.
This is reinforced by today’s newsletter from the PCS union in Fujitsu Swansea. They say:
Within a few days, PCS members within the Pay Group will be asked to vote on the latest “final offer” from Fujitsu – even though it may not be very different to the one that you have already rejected by ballot
…
Should members reject again, then PCS would quickly be organising a formal ballot on industrial action.
We wish our colleagues in Swansea every success in their campaign.