UNITE has issued a press release.
UNITE has suspended all industrial action at Fujitsu while members vote on proposals tabled by ACAS to resolve the dispute over jobs, pay and pensions. Meanwhile the company has delayed Compulsory Redundancies that were due to take effect. The result of the vote will be declared on Friday 26th February.
UNITE has published an important announcement for Fujitsu employees on CafeVIK here.
* Strike on Friday 5th February is CANCELLED.
* Strike on Monday 8th February STILL ON.
Thanks to all the members who took part in the strikes and other activities over the last few days. The greater the level of participation, the better our chances of a fair deal on Jobs, Pay and Pensions.
Our elected Combine Committee is meeting again in London today to discuss the feedback from the company via ACAS. The aim of the campaign and the talks is to secure an offer from the company for members to consider.
Public Meetings and Rallies on Monday
For the strike on Monday 8th February we are focussing on building up the support for our campaign by holding a number of rallies and public meetings around the country. Please do your best to attend one of them, bring along your friends and family and encourage support from local trade unionists. The details are:
SOUTH:
Details are still To Be Confirmed, but it is likely that members meetings will be organised on lunchtime of Monday 8th February and a public meeting held in London on the evening of Tuesday 9th February.
MIDLANDS:
“Fighting Cuts” Public Meeting
6:30pm, Monday 8th February
UNITE, 211 Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1AY (map)
Speakers confirmed so far:
NORTH:
Fujitsu Strike Campaign and Solidarity Rally
Doors open 5pm, Meeting at 6pm, Monday 8th February
Solidarity buffet for strikers from 5:15pm
Mechanics Institute, 103 Princess Street (Major Street entrance), Manchester, M1 6DD (map)
Speakers confirmed so far:
Dispute Benefit
UNITE members on official strike are entitled to claim Dispute Benefit of £30 a day. All striking members are encouraged to claim Dispute Benefit – it isn’t charity – it’s one of the benefits of membership that we pay our subs for. If you struck, you are entitled to this support regardless of whether you took part in strike activities such as picketing and regardless of your financial circumstances.
If you don’t need the money, please claim it anyway and donate it to the strike fund to help colleagues in greater need. Interestingly a growing number of staff who aren’t striking are now contributing to the strike fund.
To claim your Dispute Benefit, you must send an email claim in for each strike day - members will have received details of how to do this in the email version of this notice.
Some of you will already have claimed for some of the strike days in response to previous requests. If you are sure that you have already claimed you do not need to claim again for the same day.
Our Combine Committee has also organised a fund to provide extra financial support for strikers. Members can apply for “Hardship Payments” if their financial situation means they would otherwise be unable to take part in the action.
Please claim your Dispute Benefit and any Hardship Payments promptly.
# Strike on Friday 5th February is CANCELLED.
# Strike on Monday 8th February STILL ON.
Following members’ successful lobby of parliament last week, a group of MPs wrote to Roger Gilbert, our Chief Executive, highlighting the issues in dispute and asking for a meeting. UNITE understands that Roger has agreed to meet them. Please keep asking MPs for support, including encouraging the sign our Early Day Motion (EDM 646), which 47 MPs from different parties have already added their names to. You can post reports (good or bad) on how you are getting on with your MP on www.enoughisenoughnow.net.
The company has put the redundancies “on hold” until Friday 5th February, to allow discussions with ACAS to take place. The company says that the number of staff remaining at risk is now down to 42. This strengthens UNITE’s argument that the dismissals are unnecessary, as a company of 11,000 staff could easily absorb such a small number of jobs. For the price of the £1.6m “compensation for loss of office” given to two directors last year, the company could spend £38K each to keep all these people employed while they seek alternative work.
The company is maintaining a public position that it can’t commit any more money for pay and benefits, but is clearly worried about industrial action, staff morale and retention. A sizeable group of staff working on VME (one of the stronger areas in the strike) have been told they will get a 20% retention bonus over two years. This is welcome, but the company needs to make an offer covering us all.
Fundraising continues to go well. This week’s highlight is from Saturday’s national Right To Work conference, where a bucket collection raised a magnificent £945 for our fund. Thanks to all the members who went along and helped raise the profile of our campaign. Hundreds of delegates also took away our campaign leaflets and collection sheets.
Well done to everyone who took part in the strikes on Friday and Monday. Today saw our first picket at LEW02, and we continue to see more members getting actively involved for the first time at various sites. Please keep posting your pictures on the web and sending in the links. There are quite a few new ones online from Friday at www.ourunion.org.uk/news.
Our elected Combine Committee attended a meeting with ACAS in London today, who presented a proposal (covering jobs, pay and pensions) which had been approved by the company. Committee members, along with our UNITE full-time officers, discussed the proposal and suggested a number of changes which ACAS is taking back to the company on our behalf. Reps hope to be able to provide a more detailed update to members in the next few days.
The Combine Committee welcomed the company decision to delay the redundancies by a week, and is awaiting a response from the company to UNITE’s suggestions about how to make the proposals acceptable to members.
As a conciliatory gesture, and to allow a slight breathing space for further discussions, the Combine Committee has decided that THE STRIKE PLANNED FOR FRIDAY 5th FEBRUARY IS CANCELLED.
While creating this breathing space, we must ensure we keep up the momentum to achieve a satisfactory settlement to the dispute.
The Combine Committee also decided to ask UNITE to call a replacement strike day for Wednesday 10th February, to take place if the company goes ahead with redundancy dismissals this week. Please note that at this stage, a strike on Wednesday has NOT been called. Members should only take action on Wednesday 10th February if official notice of action is issued.
Action short of strike continues, and the strike on Monday 8th February has not been called off.
Here are links to the photos we've had from some of today's pickets outside Fujitsu sites around the country: