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.
Today's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) at Central Park discussed the company offer to settle the dispute. Members unanimously passed the following motion:
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We welcome the offer from the company to resolve the dispute and endorse the recommendation from our Regional Officer and the Reps’ Committee that the offer should be accepted. We resolve to:
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The open meetings will take place in MAN35 G CR2 on:
1) Friday 31st August, 12:30-1pm
2) Friday 31st August, 2-2:30pm
3) Tuesday 4th September, 10:30-11am
4) Tuesday 4th September, 12-12:30pm
The meeting also heard from Karen Reissmann from the UNISON Manchester Community & Mental Health Branch. Amongst many union bodies that had supported us during our dispute, Karen's had been one of the strongest. Members of the branch had been on strike at the same time as us and taken part in joint rallies and events.
After winning their campaign against cuts, job losses and downgrading, the branch now faces a fresh dispute after the trust suspended her on disciplinary allegations entirely relating to her union role. Members of the branch will be striking for Karen's reinstatement from Wednesday of next week. The meeting agreed to make a £2000 donation from our strike fund and a collection raised an additional £250.80.
More information can be found from www.reinstate-karen.org or supportkarenreissmann.googlepages.com.
Fujitsu Services employees contractually based at Central Park (and certain HOM99 staff) should have received a Company Announcement on Friday announcing that we now have an offer from the company to settle the dispute.
Members in scope are strongly urged to attend the UNITE:
Extraordinary General Meeting
2pm-4pm, Thursday 23rd August
MAN33-1-East (hot desk area)
The meeting will discuss the offer and take decisions on next steps.
Members are entitled to attend the meeting in work time. However, if your manager may need to arrange cover for release, please confirm your attendance with them as soon as possible. If you have difficulty getting release, please contact a rep as soon as possible.
An A3 “One Per Desk” leaflet is being distributed across the site which summarises the main points of the offer and advertises the EGM. An electronic copy of the leaflet is available on CafeVIK here or on OurUnion here.
Please encourage colleagues to come along if they are UNITE members, and encourage them to join if they are not. Don’t forget that you can earn a £10 HMV voucher if you get a colleague to join.
To save paper, copies of the offer will not be provided at the meeting, so if you want to refer to one, please print it off yourself. The offer is available in full from our CafeVIK community here or locally to this site here, protected with the password “proposalonly” to avoid it being mistaken for a live agreement.
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.
The issue of employers using agency temps with worse pay and rights at work affects nearly every sector of UNITE. At Central Park, many of us are employed by Adecco rather than directly by Fujitsu. UNITE campaigns for temps to receive equivalent terms and conditions to direct employees, and for jobs to made permanent wherever possible.
Our group had helped support UNITE members at Salford Council, who recently took industrial action over the abuse of agency temps. They won their dispute resoundingly, with the council agreeing to 100% service delivery by a permanent workforce. Extra permanent jobs are being created and some previously outsourced work will be brought back in house.
Many of us remember the support we received from the UNISON Manchester Community & Mental Health branch, many of whose members were on strike at the same time as us earlier in the year. Despite them securing a successful outcome to the dispute, their employer has suspended Karen Reissmann, the nurse who led their campaign and spoke at several of our rallies and meetings. The suspension came on the same day they promoted her, and clearly relates to her role in the union.
UNISON is balloting its members for strike action to demand Karen’s reinstatement – the result is due on Thursday. You can read more about their campaign on their new web site (www.reinstate-karen.org).
As part of their campaign, they plan a march and rally:
Assemble 1pm, Sunday 9th September
Peace Gardens, St Peters’ Square (by Manchester Town Hall)
Let’s return some of the support we had.
Because we have union recognition, we have the right to union Health & Safety Reps with strong legal powers, including the right to inspect the workplace. UNITE H&S Reps carry out regular inspections at Central Park, gradually improving the working environment.
You can read inspection reports (now including company responses) on CafeVIK.
The recent signing of our Learning Partnership Agreement has attracted publicity, such as this on UnionLearn.
UNITE has already begun building on the agreement by submitting an application for a grant to fund further expansion of our work here and through the election of another Union Learning Rep (ULR).
So far our ULRs are in Customer Services and P&PM – other areas would benefit more if they had their own ULRs. If you’re interested in getting involved, why not join the team?
Many of you will be aware that several long-serving catering staff who had been working at Central Park are leaving at the moment. All are UNITE members and we wish them well for the future.
Their departure has inevitably raised concerns about future catering provision at Central Park. We’ve already seen increases in prices and deterioration in choice and quality compared to MAN05.
UNITE took this up with the company, and has received assurances as you can see below:
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From: Upton Larry
Sent: 06 August 2007 09:33
To: Allinson Ian
Cc: Hawkins Marie
Subject: RE: UNITE: Catering at Central Park Ian I’ve spoken to Marie Hawkins about your concerns. The first thing to say is that there are no plans to change the catering provision on the Campus. The recent changes in staffing have been made by Eurest to give them a staffing structure that more closely reflects the existing catering provision on the site. I understand that restaurant prices have remained unchanged since the Campus opened; there are no plans for any increases. We would certainly consult with Unite if there were to be any proposals regarding the catering provision. In the meantime Marie and I would be happy to meet with you and/or other reps to expand on my comments above. I hope that this provides the reassurance you were seeking. Regards, Larry Larry Upton ____________________________ Larry, As we discussed the other day, people are raising concerns about potential changes to the catering service at Central Park, particularly in the light of the departure of a number of skilled and experienced catering staff. This comes in the context of people already being upset at the large prices increase and reduction in choice and quality since we left MAN05. People would love to see improvement. It would be helpful if you could contact group properties and remind them that there should be consultation with UNITE prior to changing catering provision here. We want to ensure this happens before any change is decided. It would be unacceptable, for example, if kitchen equipment was removed from the site before consultation had reached a conclusion, as this might make it hard to reverse any change. If you could then drop me a note saying that you'd done this, we could relay that to members as some level of reassurance. Reassurances about future price, quality and choice would also be welcome. Thanks Ian. Ian Allinson |
We’re pleased to welcome Pauline Bradburn as a new Rep and Teresa Meyer as a new Union Learning Rep. They were elected unopposed when nominations closed last week.
The draft agreements were sent to the company and union solicitors for checking. The negotiators have gone through most of their comments together, making minor changes to the drafts, and are meeting again today to continue the work. Both parties hope that a finalised formal offer from the company can be made shortly.
Our latest “One Per Desk” leaflet (entitled “Getting A Better Deal At Work”) highlights the general benefits of collective bargaining and some of the achievements in Manchester in recent years. It is available on CafeVIK and on OurUnion. Over the coming weeks your reps plan further leaflets to help secure a settlement to the dispute and ensure we take full advantage of it. Your assistance in distributing these leaflets would be much appreciated.
A number of issues that were discussed in dispute talks are being dealt with separately to the proposed offer:
* Excessive working hours. The Health & Safety Committee has now begun monitoring this.
* Lack of adequate Fire Marshal coverage, including the option of paying them (as for First Aiders). The Health & Safety Committee is now pursuing this.
* The 2005 MAN05 pay deal included commitments to address anomalies where people weren’t getting company cars, despite being in roles which normally attracted one. The company failed to honour the agreement, which said:
Amicus have identified 32 employees in the bargaining unit who they believe don’t get benefit cars when most of their peers do. The company will review the 32 cases on a case by case basis with the individuals identified. If the individual believes that they are being unfairly treated this will be reviewed with the individual. Where, in the Company’s view there is a possible justification for not giving the individuals a car, this will be reviewed with the individual to try to agree an alternative resolution and reported back to Amicus. The overall review will be completed by the end of May 2005 and where the company agrees that a benefit car should be provided, the decision will be communicated to the individual and the benefit applicable from June 1st 2005.
The original email included a table listing the roles affected and the company guideline car levels.
There seemed little point in the company making the same promises again in a new offer to settle the dispute, so the company have assured us that the implementation has begun and conversations with the individuals concerned will have taken place wherever possible before members come to vote on any new offer to settle the dispute.
If you were in the MAN05 bargaining unit in one of these roles at the time of the 2005 pay deal, please contact your Rep for advice as soon as possible.
You will have seen that UNITE members elsewhere in Fujitsu have voted to accept a new national protocol on organising. Members in WAR08 seem close to winning union recognition. Membership and organisation is growing rapidly in a number of other areas.
It seems unlikely that this national progress would have been possible without the efforts of Manchester members visiting other sites during the dispute, or the national organising campaign that followed.
Manchester members will clearly be in a much better position if other sites are unionised too.
If you know a few Fujitsu friends or colleagues who aren’t in the union yet but you think might be interested, why not point them at this web site?
If you’re one of those friends or colleagues, and are interested in finding out more about UNITE in Fujitsu, you can leave your details here:
www.ourunion.org.uk/interested
UNITE campaigns for Equal Pay. The fact that women still get paid (on average) far less for work of equal value is a disgrace. The divisions sown in the workforce by discrimination help keep everyone’s wages down, so this is a practical, as well as moral, issue for everyone.
As part of our campaign, we pressure companies to carry out Equal Pay Reviews, as well as pressuring the government to make them compulsory.
Intellect is the trade body and lobby group for IT and electronics companies. As part of Intellect's Women in IT programme, they have issued a survey looking at equal pay and the implications of equal pay audits on companies.
The survey looks at the 'perceptions' rather than the 'reality' of equal pay and whether women feel:
- they are being paid fairly in that technology industry compared to their male colleagues
- they are appreciated by their company
- pay issues impacts their loyalty to the company they work for
- that equal pay audits would create a better perception
The results will help understand the perceptions of female employees within the IT industry today.
Women are encouraged to take part in this online survey which should take no more than five minutes.
UNITE campaigning played an important part in getting the rules for Sharing In Success changed last year so that people should have known in advance if they weren’t getting it.
In the past, you could get a disciplinary warning (e.g. for being off sick) without any mention of a financial sanction in your disciplinary letter, but then find you’d had your bonus taken off you at the end of the year because of the warning.
The 2006-7 scheme rules made clear that “The potential reduction, withdrawal or suspension of any potential payment will have been documented to the individual as part of the process”.
Unfortunately, there are a few cases where managers have stopped the bonus in breach of the scheme rules. If you’re one of them, make sure you challenge the decision without delay.
More and more employees are feeling pressure to travel with work. Few people object to the odd trip, but being away from home most of the time doesn’t suit many people for long, especially if you have caring responsibilities.
It doesn’t help when instead of being appreciated and rewarded for putting yourself out, you just seem to get more hassle. Choice and quality of accommodation is an increasing issue as the company cuts costs.
All hotel room bookings through the Fujitsu system should meet at least the following minimum requirements:
However, Expotel offer an “Executive Plus” scheme (originally aimed at increased safety for women), which is available to all of us on request when booking (at no extra cost to Fujitsu). This adds these requirements:
If you find that your room does not meet these requirements – please complain so that the hotel can be taken off the list. Similarly, Expotel can go through the process of adding extra hotels to the list.
And don’t forget that your manager can authorise particular hotels if they want. Don’t suffer in silence.
After announcing its best ever financial results, it seems incongruous that many parts of Fujitsu Services are launching cost-cutting initiatives that would be more in keeping if we were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Some of them are bizarre and irritating (like avoiding having paper in printers) but others, such as restrictions on training, could have more serious consequences for the long-term future of the company and its employees. If the cost-cutting is genuinely causing you problems, make sure you raise them – those with a bean-counting mentality will keep cutting until people complain.
You’ll be relieved to hear that our company directors financial position is still secure. The TUC’s WorkSmart web site (which picks up information from company accounts) reports that last year:
* Two directors shared remuneration of over £5.8m – equivalent to £475 for every employee
* The highest paid director getting £1.87m in salary alone (including accrued pension and lump sum, if applicable)
As you may have seen in the Company Announcement (GEUK2007-038), the company has updated its Annual Leave policy and guidelines after consulting unions and the UKCF. The main changes are to give employees more flexibility in carrying over leave from one year to another.
On 3rd July we asked for your comments on the company’s proposed new policies on sickness absence – thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. The tone and content of the proposals seems to have upset pretty much everyone who read them. Instead of trying to support sick employees returning to work, the focus seemed to be on how to discipline and dismiss us. Following strong feedback from UNITE (as well as from PCS and UKCF reps), the company has decided not to introduce them at the moment, but to do another draft for further discussion.
Unfortunately good news on the policy front doesn’t mean all is well, however. Health-related problems (even including employees being sacked for being ill) form a major part of the caseload of our reps. Here’s some good advice if your health affects your work:
UNITE asked members across Fujitsu Services (apart from those already covered by union recognition) to vote on a proposal from the company for a national protocol on facilities for organising.
The summer period contributed to a low turnout, but nonetheless the result was clear by the time voting closed on Monday:
ACCEPT: 145
REJECT: 9
The protocol doesn’t commit the company to much in the short term, though there is a welcome “neutrality” statement from the company accepting that it is legitimate for employees to exercise their right to be union members and to take part in union activity.
Perhaps the most significant point is that this is the first national agreement we’ve ever reached with Fujitsu Services. Let’s build on that!
UNITE’s national organising campaign continues to bear fruit, with membership increasing around Fujitsu. Recent additions to the list of reps and contacts at the foot of this email are Kim Heptinstall in SOL10, Gary Anderson in IRE02 and Pauline Bradburn in MAN35.
A number of you expressed understandable reservations about the wooliness of the company’s commitments in the protocol. Of course, if it doesn’t work out, either party can terminate the agreement.
Time will tell whether the company will honour the spirit of the new protocol, and more facilities will be provided over time.
We made a good start yesterday with very well-attended on-site union meetings for employees in Warrington, where we already had a substantial membership and several reps and contacts.
Members in Warrington have already collected 62 signatures for a collective grievance over changes that would remove or significantly reduce many people’s shift pay. This comes after the company was dismissive of UKCF Reps to raising the same issue on behalf of employees.
The meeting also elected four more Reps - watch this space for more news on progress in Warrington.
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.
Unite the Union - Open Union Meetings at Warrington for all employees:
THURSDAY 9TH AUGUST
12.30PM, 1PM or 1.30PM
CONFERENCE ROOM 2 - WAR13
As part of the National Organising Protocol that union members have been voting on recently, the union have been allowed access to employees on site at Warrington. Sarah Holden and Terry Thompson, Unite the Union officers will be on site on Thursday 9th August, holding a series of meetings which will last about 30 minutes each. They will be at 12.30pm, 1pm and 1.30pm in Conference Room 2 in WAR 13. Please bring along the collective grievance petitions that have been signed so that we can present them to the company and get that process under way.
Remember to let your friends know about the meetings and encourage them to come along, in fact why not bring a friend along with you to the meeting so that they can find out more about what we are doing at Warrington?
For more information, see the "Amicus The Union" CafeVIK community, www.ourunion.org.uk or www.amicustheunion.org.
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 Warrington (WARxx) sites.
The draft Manchester agreements are now available for you to read.
These are likely to affect ALL Fujitsu employees contractually based at Central Park, plus some employees contractually based at HOM99.
Most of your Reps, Health & Safety Reps and Union Learning Reps have now completed a two-day training course examining the proposed new agreements.
Copies of them are available on CafeVIK here and OurUnion here. They are in a ZIP file with the password “draftonly” (to prevent anyone stumbling upon them through the CafeVIK search facility and mistaking them for live agreements).
Please take the time to have a look. In the ZIP file you will find a “READ ME FIRST.txt” document explaining what’s there. The other key documents to focus on are the draft settlement, recognition, Annex 1, Annex 2 and Annex 5 documents.
We expect to get the responses from the company and union legal teams shortly, after which the company offer will be jointly finalised.
UNITE will then hold an EGM for members to discuss the offer and decide how it should be voted on.