November 07, 2016
Fujitsu blog moving
We are in the process of moving to better software for this site. For the moment the most recent posts will appear on this temporary site:
http://ouruniontest.wordpress.com/.
This allows better integration with Facebook and Twitter.
November 01, 2016
Fujitsu strike day #1 and next steps
Well done to everyone who took part in today’s strike for pay, pensions and job security, particularly those who turned up for the pickets, which were well attended from early on.
The main focus for today, during Living Wage Week was calling on Fujitsu to become a Living Wage employer, but members carried placards highlighting the full range of issues.
Media coverage already ranges from ITV to The Register to the Manchester Evening News.
Lots of cars hooted their support, and supporters visited with money for the strike fund and snacks for the pickets. A mini-rally heard speakers from Manchester TUC, the Unite Executive and the Unite Community branch expressing their solidarity, as well as our own officer and reps – including Lynne Hodge, the rep whose job Fujitsu tried to take off her.
Meanwhile, Unite has been out leafleting Fujitsu sites in Belfast, Bracknell, Crewe, Derry/Londonderry, London, Solihull Stevenage, Wakefield and Warrington. The pictures below are from Solihull and Warrington. The leaflet highlighted national issues such as 1800 job cuts and the termination of Fujitsu Voice as well as linking them to the Manchester dispute.
What next?
The action short of strike continues. Our next strike days are a 48-hour strike from 00:01 next Monday 7th November – more details of campaign activities will be issued in coming days. There will also be a campaign meeting on Thursday lunchtime. Don’t forget there’s a Q&A about the dispute available online.
Please keep promoting the campaign on social media, using the hashtag #FujitsuFightback. We're on Facebook and Twitter.
On Thursday MPs will be debating the Living Wage and National Living Wage. Please write to your MP
encouraging them to take part in this important debate. Points you might like to make include:
- Fujitsu Services Limited, the main UK subsidiary, made £85.6m profit last year, but is refusing to become an accredited Living Wage employer
- The company paid one director over £1.4m last year
- It set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Fujitsu Services (Engineering Services) Limited (known as FSESL) that pays even worse, to undercut its own employees doing work for the parent company.
- FSESL paid its staff so badly that many received significant pay rises when the statutory National Living Wage (lower than the Living Wage) was introduced
- FSESL funded the National Living Wage by slashing staff bonuses, leaving many worse off than before
- Ministers said they would use all their power to pressure companies that tried to “evade the spirit” of the National Living Wage
- Fujitsu is a major supplier to central government