To see an electronic copy of our latest paper one-per-desk leaflet on CafeVik, click here (a local version is here).
In the past, all members received the union magazine through the post, normally to their home address. The magazine has been updated to reflect the change from “Amicus” to “UNITE”. If you wish to continue receiving it, you need to:
You should have received by post a ballot paper on the proposed new union rulebook. Votes must be received by the independent scrutineer by 31st July. For more information, see www.unitetheunion.org.uk.
There has been extensive media coverage about UNITE merging again – this time with the USW, which is a general union operating in the USA and Canada. Though the merger was officially signed a couple of weeks ago, the complexities of forming an international union mean that this merger will be a gradual process. UNITE and the USW are encouraging other unions around the world to join the merger, with the intention of forming a global union able to tackle multinational companies more effectively.
This week many of our colleagues in UNITE, UNISON and PCS in other workplaces are taking action to defend their living standards by fighting for higher pay.
UNITE and UNISON members in local authorities have been striking on Wednesday and Thursday. UNITE members at Argos distribution centres (including Heywood in Greater Manchester) are striking on Thursday. UNITE members working as cleaners for Initial at Manchester Airport are striking Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
All these struggles are about whether working people will pay the price for the current economic problems, which were not of our making.
In Manchester, there will be a rally against low pay bringing together these struggles:
12:00, Thursday 17th July
Manchester Peace Gardens, St Peters Square, behind Manchester Town Hall
Many UNITE members have been involved in supporting Manchester mental health workers in UNISON who have been fighting for the reinstatement of their branch chair, Karen Reissmann, who was sacked for speaking out in defence of the NHS. Sheila Foley, the boss of Karen’s trust, has recently resigned in advance of the publication of a critical report about mental health services in Manchester. Karen’s employment tribunal starts on 1st September, and trade unionists from across the country will be gathering to show their support.
Pensions continues to be a key issue for trade unionists. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Old Age Pensions Act becoming law, and there is a campaign for an increase in the state pension.
Rally For Decent State Pensions
Manchester, Albert Square
Friday 1st August 12:00 - 14:00
The rally will be introduced by Tony Lloyd MP and includes various speakers. After the rally there will be music and refreshments. See union notice board for more details.
The next meeting of UNITE’s Greater Manchester IT branch will be:
6-7:30pm, Thursday 7th August
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, M4 4AA
[near the Shudehill Metrolink stop and the spiral ramp to the Arndale Car Park]
All branch members are welcome.
The deadline for deciding Your Choices for the coming year is 25th July, and many of you have been asking reps for advice.
Earlier in 2008, UNITE had warned employees that the Salary Swap scheme was “unsafe” because it required you to accept a declaration that could have given the company rights to make unwanted changes to your terms and conditions. This problem has been rectified, so you should seriously consider joining the scheme now.
This election period will be the last opportunity to opt out of Salary Swap for your pension contributions – you may be able to opt in at a later election period but, once in, you remain in.
If you had previously opted out and now wish to join Salary Swap, please remember that there are two parts:
Whether or not you want to change any of your selections, it’s worth logging in to Self Service on CaféVik to check that your set of selections listed are the ones that you want – although most selections made in February should continue until you choose to alter them, there are one or two that need re-selecting each time.
Other points to note:
UNITE has issued its third national Fujitsu leaflet of the year, which is currently going out at various sites across the country. If you’re off site and missed the Manchester version, you can read it online.
An important part of this leaflet was a tear-off form seeking views from employees, whether members or not. This covered views about:
· the loss of our bonus and possibility of a pay campaign
· lobby to protect NHS jobs
· Voluntary Redundancy
Please talk to your workmates about the leaflet and encourage them to return the slip.
Fujitsu put 672 staff at risk of redundancy on 20th June and started a consultation period which will last at least 90 days. Since then, UNITE has been working with the employees affected, other employee reps and the company to try to avoid or minimise the number of redundancies.
A good number of staff have now been redeployed, so the figure at risk now stands at 548.
The “Transition Assistance Notice” (TAN) has now been signed, which means that Fujitsu will continue providing support to the 8 live NHS trusts until 28th November. This will mean work for around 150-250 staff. Some of these will be brought out of scope of redundancy, the remainder having their consultation periods extended to reflect the extra work they are doing.
It is a matter of great frustration that Fujitsu is choosing not to communicate about the situation to the wider workforce. All the documents relating to the consultation and redeployment are held on a web site inaccessible to most Fujitsu staff. This makes redeployment more difficult and leaves staff on the account feeling more isolated.
As well as working hard inside Fujitsu to protect staff, UNITE has also been active outside. Press releases and briefings to MPs are helping put pressure on the government and NHS to end the current uncertainty about future suppliers. If all the staff can’t be redeployed within Fujitsu, UNITE believes they should transfer to other suppliers or to the NHS rather than being made redundant.
UNITE National Officer Peter Skyte also wrote on our behalf to Gordon Hextall, the Chief Operating Officer of NHS Connecting for Health, to press our case. As a result of this Peter Skyte and Ian Allinson (UNITE senior rep, Fujitsu Manchester) will be meeting Gordon Hextall and Robin O’Connor (Group Commercial Director) this week.
In a letter to UNITE, Gordon Hextall said “it is the intention to transfer the currently live services to BT, and that BT recognise for some of the people currently employed by Fujitsu, TUPE is expected to apply”. BT are now actively engaged in “due diligence” and it seems possible that consultation with staff over a potential TUPE could begin fairly soon.
We’ve already had quite a few responses to our suggestion of lobbying MPs and/or government over the issue, and we will be able to go forward with this if necessary.
With those at risk being spread across the country, the benefits of our “Annex 1” agreement in Manchester are being clearly demonstrated. For example, Manchester staff:
UNITE is seeking to get these advantages extended nationally, but this will ultimately depend on more people on other sites joining the union and getting involved.
Fujitsu has already agreed to pay all employees made redundant at least four weeks’ actual pay, regardless of length of service, reflecting one positive aspect of Annex 1.
Whether they are in Manchester or on other sites, UNITE members have access to individual support from their union, crucial in times like these.
One of the challenges is to ensure that the support given to members isn’t diluted by large numbers of people joining at the last minute and demanding individual attention. At a recent national meeting of UNITE reps in Fujitsu, it was agreed that while everyone will benefit from the work UNITE is doing at a collective level, reps will only give individual support (in relation to these redundancies) to members who join by “day 59” of the consultation, which is 18th August 2008. If you have colleagues affected by these redundancies, please encourage them to join as quickly as possible, so that they can get maximum benefit from their membership.
You can help your colleagues whose jobs are at risk by letting your reps know:
To see an electronic copy of our latest national paper one-per-desk leaflet (Manchester version) on CafeVik, click here (a local version is here).