If you’re a member of the ICL Defined Benefit pensions scheme, you need good representation on the “ICL Pension Members’ Committee” (IPMC) which gives members a voice over the running of the scheme.
This is particularly important at the moment, when the company is discussing with the IPMC its concerns about the cost and risk of providing our pensions.
The term of office for your elected IPMC representatives ends in May 2008. The Company is therefore seeking nominations for representatives for the next four years.
If you might be interested in standing for election (or if you’ve already sent in your nomination form), UNITE wants to hear from you as soon as possible. The deadline for nominations is to be received by the company 5pm on 7th May 2008.
What is the IPMC committee?
The committee is open to members of the ICL Pension Plan Defined Benefit Section. Its main task is to discuss with Fujitsu Services any issues relating to our final salary pensions. In recent years this has included the effects of pension legislation and related tax legislation, the progress towards paying off the deficit, the impact of Salary Swap, and informal conversations about how the scheme might change in response to members' needs and preferences and the company's desire to keep costs and risks under control.
Minutes
IPMC minutes are published on the IPMC community on CafeVIK and give an indication of what is being discussed and the frequency of meetings.
Two UNITE reps in Manchester who are not IPMC members are also being briefed in more detail on the internal discussions the IPMC is having at the moment. We hope this will help the union to be better prepared should any proposals for changing the scheme emerge.
There are 12 seats on the committee for contributing members, plus three pensioners’ reps (who are currently not up for re-election). The constituencies are:
To protect all our pensions, we want to ensure that there are good candidates that all trade unionists can support for each of the seats, and to avoid a situation where union members stand against each other.
If you are thinking of standing or would like to know more, please get in touch as soon as possible. We would particularly like to hear from potential candidates for the Thames Valley constituency, as we know that the existing representative (Robert Dimmick, also a UNITE rep) is retiring and not standing for re-election.
One of the benefits of having union members on a body such as the IPMC is that UNITE can provide training on the more specialist aspects of all this, as well as giving you access to expert advice and support.
An ideal rep would also be:
Please come forward - your life after work could depend on it.
Completed Nomination forms for these posts need to be received by the company 5pm on 7th May 2008.
To see an electronic copy of our latest paper one-per-desk leaflet on CafeVik, click here (a local version is here).
UNITE reps, HR and line managers from across the business have monthly meetings to discuss matters affecting employees represented by UNITE in the north-west.
The minutes of these meetings are published on the “Amicus The Union” CafeVIK community.
Many of us complain that it’s hard to find the key information about working here. What’s the fax number for MAN35? Where is security? What do the green break-glasses by the doors do? What do those red light switches do? What’s the phone number for reception? How do I set up speed dial numbers on my Cisco IP phone? Where are the bus timetables? Which CafeVIK communities are useful? All this information and more is on one A4 poster that you can print off and pin on your desk.
On 31st March “Communicating” sent out the first “Fujitsu Manchester Newsletter”. This will be issued monthly and is jointly edited by UNITE, HR and Site Facilities. It is hoped that this will gradually reduce the volume of Communicating notices we all get by gathering many of them together in one place. This newsletter will be used for important information, so please take the time to at least skim through it. Isn’t it a sign of how much things have changed since the dispute that such a newsletter is possible!
On Friday 28th March HRdirect sent out personalised emails entitled “Update to employees in the UNITE Manchester Bargaining Unit” to people in the UNITE Manchester bargaining unit.
This email included vital information about your terms and conditions – specifically which redundancy provisions the company believes you are on. If you haven’t done so already, please keep it in a safe place, as it is useful evidence of your rights should you be in a redundancy situation in future.
It is also important that you check the contents and challenge any inaccuracies. It is inevitable that the HR database will contain errors and correcting these is one of the benefits of this exercise. A number of people have already had their records corrected – much better to do this now than when it matters!
The company know that there are a few people who didn’t receive the email, as their HR database record was blank. HR say they are working on this. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that rather more people didn’t receive the email. If you haven’t had it, we suggest you contact HRdirect to check that you’re on their list to sort out.
This week most Fujitsu Services employees in the UK are receiving a pay packet that buys less than the one they had a year ago, despite the continuing increases in company profits achieved through our hard work.
UNITE calculations from Fujitsu’s own data show that over the last four years typical pay for some roles has actually gone down in cash terms (i.e. even before allowing for inflation) and most have risen far below the 15-17% you would need just to have kept up with the rise in prices or average earnings.
The Manchester version of UNITE’s second national Fujitsu UK paper newsletter is available on CafeVIK, and this focuses on pay. Similar leaflets are being distributed at sites across the UK.
The reality is that Fujitsu’s so-called “performance related pay” system does not pay fairly. Most are getting pay rises far below inflation despite competent performance and a significant number even getting 0%. Those few who are getting real pay rises have generally had to take on far more work, skills and responsibilities to do so - the rises rarely reflect this adequately.
The secretive and arbitrary pay system is only benefiting those whose own generous pay and bonuses depend on boosting profits by driving down our wages year on year.
A few years ago the union published an entirely fictional story about Bodgit & Scarper PLC which illustrated how the scam of individual performance related pay works. Any resemblance to any real company is entirely in the mind of the reader.
The IT Sector Skills Council “e-Skills UK” conducted a survey which indicated that salaries for technology professionals in northern England grew by 4.8% during 2007, to an average of £30,333. They say our industry needs 140,000 new entrants per year until 2012 to cope with skills shortages and will need to attract half of these from other occupations.
Taking the sting out of the abolition of the 10% tax band
Many of those at the bottom of the pay ladder will also have been hit by the government’s abolition of the 10% tax band. The little known (and therefore hardly used) Working Tax Credit may help a little. This tax benefit is available to people who earn less than a threshold (which varies between £17,000 and £22,000 a year) and work at least 16 hours a week. It’s important to understand that it applies to those who don’t have children. That’s why it is different from the better known Working Families Tax Credit.
The basic benefit is £1,800 a year but there are many other types of payment depending on your own personal situation. It really is worth investigating to see if it applies to you. Full details are online http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/index.htm or by phoning the helpline on 0845 300 3900 or the textphone on 0845 300 3909. Lines are open every day (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Day) from 8am and 8pm.
Tomorrow’s Strikes
Fujitsu staff aren’t the only ones battling against attempts by employers to worsen pay and conditions.
Tomorrow, Thursday 24th April, sees teachers in the NUT, many civil servants in the PCS, further education lecturers in the UCU and UNITE members at Shelter taking part in national strikes to defend their living standards and the services they provide. They are being joined by union members in a number of local disputes such as council workers in Birmingham and Leeds.
We all remember how we benefited from the support and solidarity of other trade unionists during our dispute, including many of those on strike this week.
Why not pop along to a picket line near you on the way to work to show your support? Or if you’re not working (maybe because your kids are off school) why not go along to the various events in Manchester on the day:
If these campaigns are successful it is bound to raise the confidence of employees across Fujitsu to organise and campaign for fair pay.