Thanks to everyone who attended today’s members’ meeting. This report covers the main points and decisions.
Reps reported on efforts to overcome current difficulties in the relationship with Fujitsu which are preventing issues being resolved promptly and leading to avoidable friction, and on delays in allowing reps outside Manchester time to work on issues and tasks affecting members both inside and outside the bargaining unit.
UNITE is awaiting updates from the company on many of the issues on the agenda for the members’ meeting.
Pay
Members discussed a report on the pay survey, the company’s plans for the pay review outside the bargaining unit, and on the progress of negotiations. Until yesterday UNITE had expected a company pay offer for members to vote on, but this was not forthcoming and a new timetable for negotiations has had to be agreed.
Concern was expressed about a new and unhelpful company stance on Agency Workers, which has delayed agreeing an updated Manchester Pay And Benefits Agreement which had been expected before negotiations for 2012 began.
The following motion was agreed unanimously:
| Motion 1: Pay Offer
The company’s suggestions for the 2012 pay review outside the bargaining unit are better than in recent years. The company only informed our negotiating team during this week’s pay talks that it had decided not to make an offer until it was ready to make one based on finalised standard company pay review guidelines. We do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to delay the agreed pay negotiation timetable in Manchester simply because the process elsewhere is running late. We believe that negotiations could have produced an offer for us to vote on today had the company been willing to base it on our claim rather than a confidential draft document. We note that UNITE members had decided their 2012 pay claim for the Manchester bargaining unit after discussing a company presentation on its standard pay review plans. Even if Fujitsu offers us something based on the “standard” pay review as an option, we also want a negotiated offer that better reflects the needs and priorities of employees in the bargaining unit. |
There was a discussion about the company’s failure to complete appraisals or provide information for collective bargaining in the agreed timescale.
The following motion was agreed unanimously:
| Motion 2: Disclosure of Information for Collective Bargaining
As every year, the company has failed to disclose information for collective bargaining promptly and in line with our agreements. When problems were highlighted the company failed to respond promptly or adequately. This consistent obstructive practice delays and hampers negotiations. We also note that despite requests, the company failed to inform managers of the need to complete appraisals for staff in the Manchester bargaining unit in the agreed timescale and failed to address this promptly when the lack of PACs was highlighted to them. All PACs were meant to be complete and informed to UNITE by 7th May 2012 and the failure to do so has also hindered and delayed negotiations. We note that in 2011 UNITE was forced to make a claim to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) over the company’s failure to provide the required information for collective bargaining, and that this resulted in an agreement lodged with the CAC. We note that the company is now in breach of this agreement. We welcome the latest company commitments to provide the information for collective bargaining this week. If the requested information is not provided to UNITE by the end of this week we instruct UNITE to lodge a claim with the CAC. |
Redundancies
Reps gave an update on the Business Operations and Business & Application Services redundancy programmes, including a number of successes in protecting members’ jobs.
Members agreed the following motion unanimously:
| Motion 3: Redundancies
We note that the company has handled the redundancies in Business Operations and Business & Application Services poorly, including breaking Annex 1 and the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) in a number of important regards. Despite UNITE raising problems through the redundancy forums, through the Joint Working Group and directly with Duncan Tait, the company failed to address them. We note that there are currently two employees in the Manchester bargaining unit at risk of Compulsory Redundancy in the near future and who are asking to stay. If these redundancies went ahead, they would be the first people in the bargaining unit forced out without their consent since Annex 1 was introduced in 2007. We welcome the fact that Fujitsu has finally arranged to discuss the situation with UNITE tomorrow morning and hope that outcomes acceptable to both employees can be found. If they are not, we instruct our reps to place the breaches of agreements and handling of these redundancy cases into the formal procedure for resolving collective issues. |
UNITE is awaiting a response from the company to our request to hold off issuing notice to the two employees (or to withdraw the notice if already issued) for a two week period which would allow the company to consider the points put forward at tomorrow’s meeting rather than forcing UNITE to go into formal procedure.
Other Business
UNITE has created a new Fujitsu North-West branch which will include all members in the bargaining unit, plus those elsewhere in the region, including Warrington and Crewe. This will give UNITE in Fujitsu greater resources. Its first meeting will elect all the branch officers and other roles and members are encouraged to attend: 5:30-7pm, Thursday 7th June, 34GCR2.
Members are encouraged to join a Unite Against Fascism “Unity Rally” on Saturday 9th June in Rochdale against the attempts by the EDL and BNP to turn the recent sexual exploitation crimes into a divisive race issue.
The Fujitsu Manchester UNITE group will be holding its annual meeting on 22nd June, where all reps are elected. This will also be the meeting at which members will vote on the “stage 2” pay offer, so members were asked to pencil this in their diaries now.
Christopher Jones, who has been a very active UNITE rep, has (voluntarily) left the company. His contribution has been much appreciated.
Members are encouraged to return the “Move Survey” which is being handed out to gather views on issues following the MAN35 closure. This is relevant whether you have personally moved or not. Please also encourage other members and non-members to complete the survey too.
There will be a lunchtime UNITE members’ meeting for London, tomorrow:
Tuesday the 29th May
12:00 - 13:00
The meeting will take place via conference call –
[the original email included details]
Agenda
There will be a lunchtime UNITE members’ meeting for London, tomorrow:
Tuesday the 29th MayThe meeting will take place via conference call –
12:00 - 13:00
020 3130 6799 with a Room ID of 1004 and a PIN of 9543.
Agenda
Most employees should in the next few days be receiving an external email from “Electoral Reform” inviting you to vote in by-elections for a number of vacancies on Fujitsu Voice, the company’s forum for informing and consulting employees at a UK level.
Please keep this email for reference until you have voted.
UNITE and PCS are urging employees to vote for the following candidates:
| Professional Community constituency | Please vote for: |
| Operations (OPC) |
|
| Service Delivery Management & General Management | Christine Williams (PCS, Swansea) |
| Finance and Human Resources | Roberta Kilty (UNITE, Warrington) |
| There are no by-elections in the remaining professional communities so employees will not receive ballot emails. |
After you have voted for the union-backed candidates, please vote for as many of the other candidates as you wish.
While Fujitsu Voice is no substitute for independent union organisation, it has an important role to play. The best outcome for employees is to have both strong union organisation and Fujitsu Voice working effectively. We need the two complementing each other and to avoid allowing the company to use one to undermine the other.
Electing union members onto Fujitsu Voice is good for all employees. They are in a better position to ensure Voice and the unions complement each other rather than compete. They have access to information and support from their union – including legal support when appropriate. And they can use the unions’ independent communication channels to help overcome any barriers created by the company.
For more information on Fujitsu Voice, see the briefing pack UNITE put together when Voice was first set up.
This is the first of the regular monthly Lunchtime Members’ Meeting.
Agenda
Please encourage all members you know to attend. Please make arrangements with your manager in advance for cover whilst you attend the meeting if this is necessary.
To: Employees in the UNITE Manchester Bargaining Unit
CC: People managers, pay planning managers, HR
Update to employees on 2012 pay review
UNITE has submitted its pay claim for employees in the Manchester bargaining unit, which you can read online here.
Fujitsu and UNITE have agreed the following timetable for negotiations this year to ensure that pay reviews can be implemented for 1st August 2012:
Stage 1:
|
Stage 2 (if required)
|
Stage 3 (if required):
|
All appraisals for employees in the Manchester bargaining unit should have been completed and PACs uploaded by the end of April, to feed in to the pay review process. However, it currently appears that the PACs for a majority of you have not been uploaded. We urge all managers to complete this process as quickly as possible, and all employees to check that their appraisal is complete on the online system and speak to their manager if it is not.
UNITE has used early responses to their survey to help determine their claim, but would still welcome further responses from employees as the information will be useful during negotiations. The survey will be closed in two days’ time.
| Fujitsu negotiating team: Catherine Kelly Chris Bridgeland Ellie Sims Richard Batty Stuart Chadwick | Unite the Union pay & benefits team: Ian Allinson Lynne Hodge Mark Norman |
Thanks to everyone who attended today’s members’ meeting.
The meeting opened with an overview of issues reps have been dealing with on behalf of members. The issues include:
Members discussed a more detailed report on the company’s plans for the pay review outside the bargaining unit this year, and a new confidential UNITE briefing which included updated median salaries and guideline bonus rates. The briefing is confidential and members are asked not to pass it on. It showed that median salaries have gone down for many roles, and many more have not kept pace with the size of pay “pots” never mind inflation.
One member queried the bonus shown for DEV/5 – reps can confirm this is the information provided by the company and it does not represent a change from previous years.
Reps thanked everyone who had already completed the paper or online pay survey. This had helped draft the pay claim, but more responses are still welcome – they will help with the negotiations too.
Members approved the pay claim as circulated earlier today, without making any amendments.
Data provided by the company shows that the majority of employees in the bargaining unit do not yet have a valid Performance Appraisal Category (PAC) uploaded on the system for this year. All should have been completed by the end of April. Members are urged to check and chase their PAC with their managers to avoid losing out in the pay review.
Members in Service Desks were reminded that their appraisal for this year should be against the D1-D4 system, not Rise+. For more information, see the joint notice sent out on 10th April from Joanne Ward.
Redundancies
Members discussed an update on the redundancies in Business Operations and Business & Application Services (BAS). Some employees outside the bargaining unit have already been dismissed. The company is adopting an inconsistent approach which makes Compulsory Redundancies far more likely. There is a risk that the company will force members in the bargaining unit out of the company through redundancy without their agreement for the first time since the Annex 1 agreement was introduced in 2007. Reps are concerned there could be further redundancies in other areas.
Out Of Hours
At the last members’ meeting it was decided to push for harmonisation of Out Of Hours terms (overtime, shift, standby, callout) rather than the gradual introduction of very unfavourable “interim” terms. The company was initially strongly opposed to this approach, but discussions have become much more constructive and both approaches are being explored.
Other Business
UNITE members in health, MOD and government departments are due to strike on Thursday 10th May in defence of their pensions. They will be joined by members of PCS, UCU, NIPSA and RMT. Members are encouraged to show their support. Details of picket lines, marches and a rally in Manchester are on the Manchester TUC web site. A collection raised £60 which will be taken down to the picket at North Manchester General Hospital on Thursday.
There was an update on the creation of a new Fujitsu North-West UNITE branch which will include all members in the Manchester bargaining unit, plus members in Crewe, Warrington and elsewhere. This should help bring more union resources closer to the members. Branch officers will be elected in June.
The existing branch (Greater Manchester IT branch) meets (probably for the last time) on Thursday 10th May at 5:30pm in 34GCR2. A guest speaker will discuss problems with employment law and government plans to make it even less favourable to working people.
Thanks to everyone who attended today’s members’ meeting.
The meeting opened with an overview of issues reps have been dealing with on behalf of members. The issues include:
Pay
Members discussed a more detailed report on the company’s plans for the pay review outside the bargaining unit this year, and a new confidential UNITE briefing which included updated median salaries and guideline bonus rates. The briefing is confidential and members are asked not to pass it on. It showed that median salaries have gone down for many roles, and many more have not kept pace with the size of pay “pots” never mind inflation.
One member queried the bonus shown for DEV/5 – reps can confirm this is the information provided by the company and it does not represent a change from previous years.
Reps thanked everyone who had already completed the paper or online pay survey. This had helped draft the pay claim, but more responses are still welcome – they will help with the negotiations too.
Members approved the pay claim as circulated earlier today, without making any amendments.
Data provided by the company shows that the majority of employees in the bargaining unit do not yet have a valid Performance Appraisal Category (PAC) uploaded on the system for this year. All should have been completed by the end of April. Members are urged to check and chase their PAC with their managers to avoid losing out in the pay review.
Members in Service Desks were reminded that their appraisal for this year should be against the D1-D4 system, not Rise+. For more information, see the joint notice sent out on 10th April from Joanne Ward.
Redundancies
Members discussed an update on the redundancies in Business Operations and Business & Application Services (BAS). Some employees outside the bargaining unit have already been dismissed. The company is adopting an inconsistent approach which makes Compulsory Redundancies far more likely. There is a risk that the company will force members in the bargaining unit out of the company through redundancy without their agreement for the first time since the Annex 1 agreement was introduced in 2007. Reps are concerned there could be further redundancies in other areas.
Out Of Hours
At the last members’ meeting it was decided to push for harmonisation of Out Of Hours terms (overtime, shift, standby, callout) rather than the gradual introduction of very unfavourable “interim” terms. The company was initially strongly opposed to this approach, but discussions have become much more constructive and both approaches are being explored.
Other Business
UNITE members in health, MOD and government departments are due to strike on Thursday 10th May in defence of their pensions. They will be joined by members of PCS, UCU, NIPSA and RMT. Members are encouraged to show their support. Details of picket lines, marches and a rally in Manchester are on the Manchester TUC web site. A collection raised £60 which will be taken down to the picket at North Manchester General Hospital on Thursday.
There was an update on the creation of a new Fujitsu North-West UNITE branch which will include all members in the Manchester bargaining unit, plus members in Crewe, Warrington and elsewhere. This should help bring more union resources closer to the members. Branch officers will be elected in June.
The existing branch (Greater Manchester IT branch) meets (probably for the last time) on Thursday 10th May at 5:30pm in 34GCR2. A guest speaker will discuss problems with employment law and government plans to make it even less favourable to working people.