Unite Fujitsu News

Report from Manchester members' meeting

Thanks to the members who attended today’s meeting. Below is a summary of the main points.

Update on Dispute

Good progress continues to be made in implementing many aspects of the 17th November agreement, some of which has already been reported.
In addition:

• Progress continues to resolve outstanding issues to allow Service Desks staff to move from the D1-D4 to the Rise+ pay system
• Individuals who had been paid less than they were entitled to in the August pay review are starting to report that they have received extra rises in their December pay packet, backdated to 1st August
• UNITE and the company have now agreed that the under-spend on the pay review for the Manchester bargaining unit was £25,952.92. This will increase the total spend for the bargaining unit from 2.57% to 2.65%, comparing very positively with the 2% the company claims to have spent elsewhere. A discussion will take place in the new year to determine which employees will get a share of this and how much.

More work is required in the following areas:

• Provision of pay data in line with the agreements (important for the future)
  
• Resolving the Out Of Hours terms for staff in the bargaining unit currently recorded as on IS or UK “interim” terms
  
• Reductions in contracted hours without loss of pay for employees in areas where 37 hours is the norm but who are currently recorded on greater hours

Two areas are causing significant concern:

• WINTEL Out Of Hours – where the company doesn’t seem to be sticking to the agreement
  
• Treatment of reps – there has been a flurry of new issues

EC nominations

Members decided to nominate candidates for the two new seats on the UNITE Executive Council created by the UNITE 2011 Rules Conference. These are a national seat for Disabled members and a national seat for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) members.

If there is more than one candidate for either seat, an election will be held with voting taking place between 30 January and 22 February 2012. All working members will be eligible to vote.

Further details are available on the UNITE web site.

Manchester : members' meeting, Tuesday 20th December

Don’t forget there will be a lunchtime members’ meeting for UNITE members in the Manchester bargaining unit:

12:00-13:00, Tuesday 20th December
Conference room 34GCR2

The agenda will be:

1. Update on dispute / negotiations
2. Nomination of candidates for the UNITE Executive Council
3. Election of additional reps

Please note that this meeting has been organised for lunchtime, not work time. You are welcome to bring your lunch.

If you are on a fixed lunch break that does not coincide with the time of the meeting, please ask your manager now to make arrangements so that you can attend. If you have any difficulty arranging the time to attend, please contact your reps promptly.

Fujitsu Manchester members' meeting, Tuesday 20th December

Don’t forget there will be a lunchtime members’ meeting for UNITE members in the Manchester bargaining unit:

12:00-13:00, Tuesday 20th December Conference room 34GCR2

The agenda will be:

1. Update on dispute / negotiations
2. Nomination of candidates for the UNITE Executive Council
3. Election of additional reps

Please note that this meeting has been organised for lunchtime, not work time. You are welcome to bring your lunch.

If you are on a fixed lunch break that does not coincide with the time of the meeting, please ask your manager now to make arrangements so that you can attend. If you have any difficulty arranging the time to attend, please contact your reps promptly.

Fujitsu Expenses

Fujitsu is proposing to make changes to its Travel & Expenses Guidelines. Not only would these leave many employees seriously out of pocket in the short term, they also break the fundamental principle set out in the policy:

“Fujitsu will reimburse employees with pre-approved costs, which are directly attributable to their responsibilities on behalf of the Company. Individuals should neither be disadvantaged nor gain profit from these reimbursements.”

The key issues are:

1. Fujitsu mileage rates would be pegged to HMRC rates which are not expected to keep pace with the rising cost of motoring
2. HOM99 staff would have an arbitrary up to 30 miles deducted from mileage claims

Many employees have already been complaining about the proposals. Anyone who drives for work could be impacted by point 1, and there are thousands of HOM99 staff in Fujitsu.

The company claims that the changes are driven by compliance with HMRC rules, but there is no evidence to support this. This looks more like an attempt to force employees to subsidise the company’s business activities from their own funds.

If we let Fujitsu establish the principle that we pay for the privilege of working, where will this end?

What you can do:

1. Sign the new online petition against the proposed changes: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/expenses/
   
2. Pass this email on to a few colleagues who may be interested
   
3. If you are one of those colleagues, please join the union – the steady erosion of terms and conditions will only stop if we get better organised
   
4. Give feedback on the proposals to your Fujitsu Voice reps
   

Fujitsu Expenses

Fujitsu is proposing to make changes to its Travel & Expenses Guidelines. Not only would these leave many employees seriously out of pocket in the short term, they also break the fundamental principle set out in the policy:

“Fujitsu will reimburse employees with pre-approved costs, which are directly attributable to their responsibilities on behalf of the Company. Individuals should neither be disadvantaged nor gain profit from these reimbursements.”

The key issues are:

1. Fujitsu mileage rates would be pegged to HMRC rates which are not expected to keep pace with the rising cost of motoring
   
2. HOM99 staff would have an arbitrary up to 30 miles deducted from mileage claims
   

Many employees have already been complaining about the proposals. Anyone who drives for work could be impacted by point 1, and there are thousands of HOM99 staff in Fujitsu.

The company claims that the changes are driven by compliance with HMRC rules, but there is no evidence to support this. This looks more like an attempt to force employees to subsidise the company’s business activities from their own funds.

If we let Fujitsu establish the principle that we pay for the privilege of working, where will this end?

What you can do:

1. Sign the new online petition against the proposed changes: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/expenses/
   
2. Pass this email on to a few colleagues who may be interested
   
3. If you are one of those colleagues, please join the union – the steady erosion of terms and conditions will only stop if we get better organised
   
4. Give feedback on the proposals to your Fujitsu Voice reps

Pensions progress

One of the issues which led to the industrial action in Manchester was the company’s failure to implement its commitment in the national ACAS agreement of February 2010 to set up a body to consult members of the FJUK Defined Contribution pension scheme. This was also one of the issues addressed by the joint UNITE-PCS pensions petition.

UNITE can now report that Fujitsu has agreed Terms of Reference for a new “FJUK Plan Consultation Group”. This is a very important step forward – well done to everyone who supported the campaign.

The first meeting of the new body will be held by the end of March 2012. Employee representation will comprise:

• Two chosen by and from the elected representatives of Fujitsu Voice
• Two representatives from PCS
• Two representatives from Unite
• Four employees directly elected for the purpose by and from the active members of the FJUK Plan

Please get in touch as soon as possible if you might be interested in taking part in the new body, so that UNITE can assist with training or the election process. Having won this new consultation body, it is important we make it work as well as possible.

UNITE has published a full copy of the Terms of Reference for the group here