Amicus Fujitsu News

Latest Amicus Fujitsu Manchester Newsletter

To see an electronic copy of our latest paper one-per-desk leaflet on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here).
This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park site.

Messages of support & donations - UPDATED

Support continues to pour in for our campaign from working people across the country.

In addition to the pdf files of messages and letters of support that we've already published: pdf 1, pdf 2, pdf 3, pdf 4 , pdf 5, pdf 6, pdf 7 and pdf 8,

we have 5 new files for you:

pdf9, pdf10, pdf11, pdf12, pdf13.

Please keep the support coming - see here for a dispute summary, appeal, collection sheet etc.

National Organising Campaign in Fujitsu

Following on from the launch of the National Organising campaign on 1st May with the national leaflet, a team of UNITE organisers have been working with members and reps at various sites. These local organising and recruitment campaigns could eventually lead to recognition claims.

There have been meetings with members and/or reps on sites including Solihull, Warrington, Crewe, Belfast, Footscray, Stevenage and Wakefield as well as activity in Scotland. Leafleting is planned for Cardiff next week.

Staff have raised a number of issues with organisers. Some are national, others are site specific. Organisers have started to address these via local campaigns, as well as arranging advice and guidance to members from union officers.

Organising training has already been delivered to reps and members on some sites, including Crewe and Warrington. Campaign timetables have been planned and agreed.

So far the response from employees to our organising efforts has been positive and membership continues to grow. Why not do your bit to help by making an effort to get a friend to join? If each of us did this, then our numbers would double overnight and so would our influence with the company!

If you’re interested in helping the campaign, please contact us.

UNITE representatives have also recently met with the company to discuss a protocol on national organising and the union will report more on this soon.

UK Consultative Forum

Fujitsu’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) consists of elected employee reps from across the country meeting with management. It isn’t a union body, but most of the reps are also union members.

Though the UKCF isn’t as effective as we would like, it does play a useful role and having union members on the body is essential to making it as effective as possible.

The official report from the meeting on 9-10th May isn’t out yet, but will appear on the “UK Consultative Forum” CafeVIK community when it has been agreed by HR.

We have previously reported on matters discussed relating to job security and the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA). While we await the official report, here are a few of the key points:
...

1. The company is still refusing to disclose the company pay budget to the UKCF unless reps agree to keep it secret from employees. Employee reps expressed the view that this was unjustified and not in line with the UKCF agreement.
2. Fujitsu is legally required to inform and consult employees through the UKCF over its strategies and plans that affect UK staff. Strangely, the company didn’t seem to realise that this had to include the company’s Mid Term Plan. Reps felt there were some interesting points in the HR department’s own Mid Term Plan.
3. Reps were particularly keen that employees could see what the employment prospects were for various Professional Communities or skills. The company said that the Mid Term Plan fed into Development Needs Analysis and that individual Personal Development Plans (PDPs) should be in line with that. However, the company claimed it had no idea what jobs or skills it would need more than two months in advance. How on earth are we each supposed to write our own PDPs in line with business needs the company can’t or won’t tell us about? If, in a people-based business, what the UKCF reps were told is even half true, what are our senior managers and HR are doing to earn their mega-bucks?
4. Reps welcomed changes to the Annual Leave policy and guidelines which they had been pushing for. The rules on carrying leave over from one year to the next will be relaxed to give more flexibility.
5. The company confirmed that there should not be local or unit policies on issues such as leave and sickness – every part of the company should follow the company policy, except the normal exemptions for people who had TUPE transferred in or are covered by collective bargaining.
6. The UKCF reps had carried out a Pulse Survey of employees. This confirmed that the issues being taken up by the reps are in line with what employees want, but also confirmed that their ability to communicate with constituents is currently inadequate. Reps discussed with the company various ideas to address this.
7. The company had updated its top-level H&S policy documents following comments from unions, consultative forums and individual employees, but reps hadn’t yet had the opportunity to see the results. Meanwhile Fujitsu has produced the (legally required) Health & Safety “Arrangements” document covering the Manchester Campus, setting out responsibilities. Reps felt this was a big step forward, and should be replicated on all other sites. [This has only come about after consistent pressure from UNITE-Amicus, including calling in the enforcing authorities]
8. Bonus/incentive payments (where payable) are expected in the June pay packet. Reps felt that the Core scheme had proved complex and confusing, with communication very late. The company expected to publish information for 2007-8 in June, but had not even begun consultation on any changes yet.
9. Reps raised concerns about contract clauses saying employees would have to repay training costs if they left the company. This had been normal for some years where an employee wanted support from the company to do a particularly expensive piece of training that would significantly increase their earning power. However, some employees felt it was being used inappropriately. In the most extreme examples, staff were complaining that they were being forced to undertake expensive training they didn’t want, making it hard to leave. Reps asked for copies of the standard contract templates.
10. The training payback issue was one aspect of problems raised by Mobile Engineers moving to the MOD Operations unit. They felt they were being put under undue pressure to sign worse new contracts, with work being denied if they refused.
11. Reps raised concerns about the new accreditation scheme for P&PM, as it required people to do extensive training courses even where they had long experience in the job. The way it had been communicated led some senior staff in P&PM to fear they would fail accreditation and be forced out of their jobs.
12. The subgroup looking at harmonising Out Of Hours (overtime, shift and standby) arrangements and payments gave a report on progress. It was working jointly with UNITE and PCS reps. It expressed major concerns that IS had introduced a new policy on OOH for new staff, without consultation, just as discussions were getting underway. The new policy added to the problem the group was trying to solve and appeared to pre-empt the outcomes.
13. Fujitsu is looking at “Corporate Responsibility” and has decided to initially focus on environmental issues (other areas include the workplace). This is likely to lead to a greater focus on carbon footprint, saving energy and local Green Teams.
14. Johnsons Workplace Management staff providing Facilities Management services for Fujitsu will be TUPE transferred back into Fujitsu. Reps welcomed this move which will simplify relationships and should help improve our working environment, as well as providing greater stability for the staff themselves.
15. The company provided updates on property issues. Fujitsu will leave STE09 this year. The STE10 warehouse will be turned into a new data centre in 2008. Fujitsu is taking the whole of SOL10 and will gradually move staff from SOL02 into it. BIR03 is already closed.

UKCF reps in the north-west have organised a series of meetings for staff in the Viewing Gallery, WAR08, on Friday 22nd June. A Company Announcement has gone out to advertise this. UNITE encourages its members to go along and take part.

All the seats on the UKCF will be up for election in October, and UNITE has been working with other unions with the aim of agreeing a slate of candidates that all trade unionists in the company can support. If you’d consider standing, please get in touch.

You can read some of the material from the last election on the ourunion web site.

The Fujitsu Services Consultative Forum (FSCF), which covers many different countries, has published the minutes from its meeting in May. All the UK representatives on the FSCF are also UNITE members.

Tracking Devices

Fujitsu wanted to pilot fitting tracking devices to cars for mobile engineers, to “improve the efficiency of call allocation” by allowing controllers to see where the vehicles were, speed, direction etc.

While this is a legitimate aim, the plans raised huge concerns amongst the engineers. Firstly, the company didn’t give a clear statement that the data collected wouldn’t be used for other purposes (e.g. disciplinary). Secondly, there were major privacy concerns because the devices continued collecting data while the vehicle was being used for private journeys by the employee or their family.

The engineers “volunteered” for the pilot exercise objected strongly. UNITE members on the company’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) raised these concerns with the company.

We are told that the plan is now “under review”.

Results, Bonus, Utilisation

Fujitsu Services has announced “record financial results”. The company view is available on CafeVIK and externally.

Bonus and incentive payments are due to be paid in June. The company has already announced that “Sharing In Success” will be paid at 6% (as in most previous years). Employees on other incentive schemes should now be hearing what they will get.

Don’t forget that if you feel you’ve been treated unfairly with respect to your bonus or incentive payment, you should raise this with your manager promptly. If you can’t get the matter resolved informally, you have the right to raise an individual grievance and the company has to allow you to be accompanied by your union rep or officer in the grievance hearing.

If you’re querying your payment, you are advised to read the rules of the scheme and any other relevant documentation carefully. These should be available via Self Service on CafeVIK. It’s also a good idea to talk to your local rep before putting your grievance in.

In recent years, Amicus has had a good track record in helping members challenge unfair bonus and incentive decisions, leaving many members hundreds or thousands of pounds better off.

For many people in the organisation, “utilisation” (the proportion of time spent on billable work) is still treated as a key measure for bonus and many other decisions. Unfortunately the calculation is shaky to say the least.

The root of the problem is that the figure is used for many different purposes such as charging between Core and the Business Units, tracking productivity and management planning – as well as measuring individual contribution. Rather than doing the sum appropriately for each purpose, a single figure is often used with little understanding.

This has led to people being penalised for activities such as:

- Doing vital internal projects
- Managing staff
- Working non-standard hours
- Doing training
- Representing staff
- Taking on roles such as fire marshal, first aider, workstation assessor
- Tackling health and safety issues

The latest bizarre example to come to light is from Stevenage, where buildings are being refurbished, leading to a number of “false alarm” evacuations. In some cases, employees are being told to book the time as “available” (i.e. non-utilised). So not only are staff inconvenienced by the construction work – they may actually get marked down for appraisal and bonus too!

If you have any examples of utilisation causing problems, why not talk to your rep?

If you believe that the clumsy utilisation calculation has penalised you, this could be grounds for challenging your bonus or incentive payment.

Manchester Dispute Update

Thanks to everyone who attended the report-back sessions last week, and particularly those who brought non-members along too.

The union negotiating team reported on the various issues in dispute and the progress being made in negotiations. Though important issues remain to be resolved, they were cautiously optimistic that an offer from the company could be put to members in about 1 – 2 months.

As previously explained, our team do not believe it would be appropriate to make a written report on the specifics of negotiations at this stage because it might prejudice the talks.

One of the strong messages from members was that it would be unacceptable for the company to shift its position at the eleventh hour, or for the company to over-rule its own negotiating team. This message has already been communicated back to management.

Once negotiations conclude and both sides have carried out legal checks, the union aims to get any company offer witnessed by ACAS before publishing it for staff to consider. An EGM will then be held to discuss the offer prior to a vote. The EGM will decide how the vote should be conducted, which could be postal, electronic or by show of hands.

Further negotiations are scheduled for this week.

The union day out to Chester Zoo on Saturday was a great success, with over sixty people taking part. If only the weather had been that good when we were picketing!

One of the issues still to be addressed in the negotiations is pay. With inflation fluctuating between 4.5% and 5% in recent months, this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue for employees everywhere. The situation where companies are putting up prices faster than earnings are rising (for the first time in 30 years) threatens living standards for working people generally. For example, you may have seen that postal workers in the CWU union have just voted by a large majority for industrial action against a 2.5% pay offer.

Recent analysis by the Labour Research Department showed that remuneration for top company directors is still rising rapidly.

Here in Fujitsu, we’re starting from a position of being generally paid below market rates and then having below-inflation pay rises for many years. Fujitsu Services is now a successful company, with profits rising year on year due to our hard work. No bonus or incentive scheme can substitute for a proper level of basic pay.

Our negotiating team are trying to ensure that the company offer includes progress on pay.

Events and Campaigns

Some of you may wish to take part in some of the major events taking place in Manchester over the next few weeks.

Stop The War

The Labour Party is holding its leadership conference in Manchester, at which the result of the deputy-leadership contest (UNITE is encouraging members to vote for Jon Cruddas) will be announced. The Stop the War Coalition has called a national demonstration in Manchester on the theme “Change Policy, Not Just Leader”:

Assemble 12 noon, Sunday 24th June, Albert Square (in front of Manchester town hall)

If you’re thinking of going, please let your reps know so that members can march together as a group.

In preparation for this, they are also holding a rally in Manchester:

7pm, Thursday 14th June (stalls from 6:30pm)

Speakers include:
· Rose Gentle and others from Military Families Against the War
· Lindsay German, national convenor, Stop the War Coalition
· Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP

Carnival Against Climate Change

Last week’s branch meeting had an interesting discussion with a speaker from the Campaign Against Climate Change, which is organising a carnival in Manchester:

Carnival Against Climate Change
Assemble 1pm, Saturday 30th June
Peace Gardens, near St Peter’s Square, Manchester (by the town hall)

As well as a variety of speakers there will be a cycling contingent, samba band, African drum band, circus acts, stalls etc.

Sunvic Dispute

Last week’s newsletter reported on the UNITE members at Sunvic who had been out on strike for nearly three months. The reps committee sent them a message of support and a donation. We’re pleased to report that their employer has at last begun negotiations, so they are now back at work.

Monthly “Framework” Meetings for the north-west

One of the gains from the negotiations during our dispute has been the establishment of a framework for union reps and officers to meet a group of managers on a monthly basis to keep an overview of issues affecting staff in the north-west.

Minutes are agreed at the following meeting, so there does tend to be a bit of a time-lag before publication on CafeVIK. This has been exacerbated by the (sensible) cancellation of some meetings to give priority to resolving the dispute.

As a result, the last published minutes were from February. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 21st June, after which the April minutes should be published. If you have items for the agenda, please let us know as soon as possible.

Reporting Back on Dispute Talks

Don’t forget that UNITE is holding a series of meetings this week where our negotiating team will report back from the dispute talks. These are open to you and your colleagues (whether they’ve joined yet or not). Who can you bring along?

The talks continue to make progress, but important issues remain to be resolved. At this stage it would not be appropriate to make a written report, so please make the effort to attend one of the sessions that suits your diary:

If your manager might need to arrange cover for you to attend, please ask them for release straight away. Having six sessions rather than all going at once (like an EGM) should mean we can all attend without any difficulty. HR are writing out to all our managers encouraging them to release people. Any problems – please contact your rep without delay.

Once the company makes a formal offer, UNITE will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to discuss it in detail before it is put to the vote.