UNITE-MSF SUBS 2003 - 20 December 2002

We're pleased to report that the union subs will remain unchanged for 2003. This means you'll be getting even better value from your union membership.

RELOCATION UPDATE - 20 December 2002

The latest consultation meeting took place on 2nd December. Ian Allinson and Phil Tepper attended for Unite. Other attendees included a number of Business Representatives, who were MAN05 staff who'd been given a brief by their management to represent the interests of staff in their individual businesses.

The main news is that Richard Christou has signed the lease agreement on the new buildings. Work on the site is anticipated to begin by summer 2003, and will take two years to complete - thus it's currently estimated that the actual move will not take place until summer 2005 at the earliest. However, if we want to influence the new site, we need to do it now.

Of the main areas of interest / concern raised to date by members:

• no decision has yet been made on whether everyone at MAN05 will move - in particular the future location of Datacentres is still being reviewed
• there will be 744 parking spaces available to a potential site population of 1200
• showers and changing facilities for cyclists will be provided
• provision of recreation facilities is still under discussion
• catering will be available in each of the three buildings, but the financial model for this provision doesn't give us confidence in the scale and quality of provision

Employee presentations involving the City Council and the developers are planned, at 2:30pm on Jan 22nd, and 9:30am on Jan 23rd. There will also be an exhibition which will remain on site, and a Cafe-Vik Community, so people who do not attend can have access to information and updates.

On the key issue of union recognition for staff moving to the new site, Fujitsu have clarified that the site will be Fujitsu Services only (i.e. no Fujitsu Consulting or other Fujitsu Group companies on site). This makes our negotiations in the coming months rather simpler.

Remember that there's a section on our CafeVIK community about relocation, including a link to a map.

SEA PAYMENTS FOR UNEMPLOYED MEMBERS - 20 December 2002

A number of the members who volunteered or selected for redundancy earlier in the year have been getting in touch with us, asking for guidance. Those covered by the union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) are entitled to extra payments from the company under section 5.1 if they are unemployed for a long time. You can read the SEA on our CafeVIK community or Internet site.

Members have been asking how to claim their payments. Firstly, they must have signed on as soon as they could. They must have been unemployed and seeking work during the period in question. The company won't contact them to arrange payment, members need to write in to their manager or HR to claim their payments. People who were in HPS can contact Rep Ian Allinson to find out who to contact about this.

These payments make up your income to 75% of your normal salary, so are well worth claiming!

TRAVEL & EXPENSES POLICIES - 03 December 2002

Fujitsu Services is updating its travel and expenses policies, and have provided copies for UNITE to comment on. Please send your comments by the end of the week to .

Drafts were circulated to members for comment.

BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 03 December 2002

Greater Manchester IT Branch is holding its Annual General Meeting:

6pm, Thursday 5th December
upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, 46 Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, M4 4AA

All branch members are entitled (and encouraged) to attend this important meeting.

FIRE BRIGADES DISPUTE - 03 December 2002

UNITE have been pressing Fujitsu to improve the quality of the fire risk assessments covering MAN05, to help ensure the safety of staff during the dispute. This work is still ongoing.

UNITE and the FBU organised a collection on the gates at MAN05 22nd November, which raised over £65.

A demonstration in support of the fire-fighters has been called for this Saturday, in London, and the TUC is organising transport from Manchester. Members who wish to attend can book tickets (£10 waged, £5 unwaged) by ringing 0161 224 1671.

The FBU website is at www.fbu.org.uk.

CHANGES TO RELOCATION POLICY - 22 November 2002

The company proposes changes to the Relocation policy. Drafts have been emailed out to members for their comments.

PAY and EQUAL PAY - 19 November 2002

To put an end to Fujitsu's pay freeze, UNITE is pursuing a pay claim for April 2003. We are currently at the stage of gathering information to help members decide what the claim should be. Because we are the recognised trade union at MAN05, UNITE has a right to information from the company to help in this process. We have now received from the company an anonymised spreadsheet including the roles, benchmarks and pay rates for 798 out of the 860 staff at MAN05. Reps are now beginning to analyse this data. The data itself is obviously confidential, but we will be reporting back to members the results of our analysis, to help you decide what pay claim you want to fight for.

Our last General Meeting decided the outline of the claim, which must include:

• A substantial across-the-board component of the pay rise to reflect increases in the cost of living and market rates since the last pay review
• Paid sick leave for all employees
• A commitment from the company to begin work with UNITE on an equal pay audit

UNITE has called a national demonstration on equal pay, in Manchester this week. At the current rate of progress, it would take 40 years to achieve equal pay for women. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the main employers' organisation in the UK, is opposing calls for equal pay audits to end sex discrimination. All members are urged to attend:

Demonstrate, 1pm, Sunday 24th November
CBI Conference, GMEX, Manchester

If you are planning to attend, please so that we can organise a delegation to meet up.

BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 19 November 2002

UNITE Greater Manchester IT Branch is holding its Annual General Meeting:

6pm, Thursday 5th December
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

All branch members are encouraged to attend.

This meeting is the key to the union's democracy, and will elect people to various roles, including:

• Branch President, Treasurer, Secretary
• Auditors
• Delegates to UNITE-MSF annual conference and the conference to decide the new rules of the merged UNITE
• Delegate to our Regional Council, Trades Council etc
• Branch Organiser

If you're willing to play a part, or want to nominate someone else, please .

FUJITSU CONSULTING - 19 November 2002

The recent Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum meeting covered a wide range of issues. Highlights (and UNITE comments):

• No across-the-board pay rises
• The company cannot confirm or deny that there will be further redundancies (there will!) Management were asked to consider following Fujitsu Services' lead in announcing an extra day's holiday on 27 December, and confirming the custom and practice of the afternoon of Xmas Eve being an extra half-day.
• There are currently no plans for common Terms & Conditions. However, work is underway to "harmonise" processes and policies which management claim are non-contractual, such as holiday year, sickness policy, disciplinary process etc. Some of these may actually be contractual, and protected by TUPE for staff who transferred from ICL.

REDUNDANCY FOR OVER-65S - 19 November 2002

Labour Research report:

An employment tribunal has ruled that men aged over 65 can pursue claims for redundancy and unfair dismissal. Two former clothing workers were dismissed from their jobs for being over 65, but, until this ruling, were not allowed to bring their cases to an employment tribunal. The tribunal ruled that excluding employees over 65 from taking complaints of redundancy or unfair dismissal amounts to indirect sex discrimination against men, contrary to European law. As there are far more men who continue working over the age of 65 than women, the cut-off point at 65 years discriminates against men. The government is appealing against the ruling.

SICKNESS PROCEDURE - 19 November 2002

Labour Research report:

Employers will need to re-examine their sickness absence policies in the light of a recent EAT ruling. This held that the employer's failure to follow its own absence procedure properly meant that it did not have the right to invoke the procedure to stop an employee's sick pay.

[Robertson v Rockware Glass EAT107/01]

PAY - 04 November 2002

At the General Meeting on 3rd October, you decided:

• To prepare a claim for the April 2003 pay review
  That the claim should include:
  • A substantial across-the-board component of the pay rise to reflect increases in the cost of living and market rates since the last pay review
  • Paid sick leave for all employees
  • A commitment from the company to begin work with UNITE on an equal pay audit
• To instruct Reps to consult with members inside and outside MAN05 before deciding the scope of the claim
• To instruct Reps to obtain information from the company to help formulate the claim
• To instruct Reps and officers to carry out research and to consult with members to help formulate the claim
• To mount an energetic campaign in support of the claim
• To ask our workmates to join UNITE, and join the campaign for the claim

Reps have explained the motion to HR, and are preparing a list of information we want from them to prepare the claim. Because we have union recognition at MAN05, we are legally entitled to information from the company for bargaining purposes. The information we are requesting will include:

• Proposed timetable, criteria and process for the April pay review
• List of pay scales (min, mid, max) for each professional community role and benchmark
• Dates of any planned reviews of pay scales
• Data on the current pay distribution (without names) for MAN05 staff, including Salary,
• Professional Community role, Benchmark, Length of Service, Age, Sex, Employee Hours, date of last salary increase, previous salary
• Any regional information the company may use in the pay review process
• Details of any roles or skills that the company has found difficult to fill, or suffering high attrition, at MAN05
• Any market-rate or other information that the company might be using in the pay review process

BRANCH MEETING - 04 November 2002

All members of UNITE-MSF Greater Manchester IT branch can attend the next meeting:

6pm, Thursday 7th November
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, 46 Shudehill,
M4 4AA (Manchester city centre)

As well as normal business, this is the meeting that will decide what motions will go forward from our branch to the UNITE-MSF national conference in June 2003.

KEEPING INFORMED - 04 November 2002

Fujitsu is a big company, and it's hard to keep informed. UNITE has produced some advice for staff, including how to tailor CafeVIK to give you the news you want. The guidance is on CafeVIK here.

TIMESHEETS & WORKING TIME - 04 November 2002

Your reps on Fujitsu Services' UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) have raised a number of concerns with management about timesheets, including:

• Managers telling staff not to book business travelling time
• Managers telling staff not to book more than their contracted hours
• Timesheets being filled in to reflect only chargeable time, rather than actual hours worked

Reps pointed out that according to the company's Conduct (disciplinary) policy, "falsification of time records" is an example of gross misconduct, which could lead to summary dismissal. It is therefore unacceptable for managers to be encouraging employees to falsify their timesheets.

To progress this issue, we now need some examples of how, why and where these problems are occurring. Letting us know will not result in individuals getting into trouble, but will allow reps and management to identify the problems and resolve them. Names will not be passed on without your agreement. If you have any examples please let Rep and European Consultative Forum Rep Ian Allinson know.

At the start of the redundancy programme, in autumn 2001, UKCF reps had asked to monitor working time before and after the redundancies, as a safeguard against those left behind picking up extra work to cover for those who left. Reps had chosen Mobile Engineers and Project Managers as pilot groups for carrying out this monitoring. The company has legal obligations to monitor working time for Health & Safety reasons, and it's deeply disturbing that HR are now claiming the data is unavailable.

RECRUITMENT COMPETITION - 04 November 2002

Remember that we are now running a competition to recruit new members into UNITE. You could win a prize for recruiting someone, and they could win too. For more information, see our web sites.

FUJITSU CONSULTING - XMAS HOLIDAYS - 04 November 2002

While Fujitsu Services has announced an extra day's holiday on 27th December, and confirmed the long-standing practice of having the afternoon of Christmas eve too, Fujitsu Consulting (FC) is taking a less generous approach.

In September, FC announced that it was "nominating" five days over Christmas which all employees had to take as leave - out of their normal annual leave entitlement. Most of the FC staff in the UK had come from ICL, where the normal annual leave policy allowed the company to nominate up to four (not five) days a year. Also, these had to be announced well in advance. On the odd occasions when ICL wanted to close a site, but decided late in the year, the closures were often given as extra days (as in Fujitsu Services this year), and not taken out of annual leave entitlement.

Ex-ICL employees had carried across their old Terms and Conditions to FC, protected by the "TUPE" regulations. The announcement was effectively an announcement of a change to contracts.

Reps on the FC Consultative Forum raised the issue with management, who then decided that "each part of the business will clarify the situation locally according to their customer commitments and previous practice". This welcome news should mean that FC honours the contracts of ex-ICL employees. However, we believe that this has not been made clear to all those affected. Any member whose manager insists on them using their annual leave entitlement for the shut-down, and who wants to challenge it, should contact their rep as soon as possible.

HAZARD REPORTING - 04 November 2002

A hazard is defined as "anything which could cause harm". There is no clear procedure throughout Fujitsu Services staff to report hazards - the first step to getting them removed.

Here at MAN05, staff can report hazards by filling in the form here.

For hazards which Site Services could fix, you should also report them by ringing 3333.

Following work by your UNITE Health & Safety reps, the MAN05 Health & Safety committee will be reviewing the hazard reporting process, with a view to establishing a single UK-wide process which is easy to use.

If you need any advice on Health & Safety, please contact your Health & Safety rep. It's easy to find out who covers your area. There's a plan of the site you can click on here. A table with the same information is on CafeVIK here.

We're urgently looking for more volunteers to join the Health & Safety reps, particularly because of the planned relocation from MAN05. This is the biggest Health & Safety issue staff have faced for years, and every area needs a Health & Safety rep to make sure your needs are considered. If you're interested, please contact H&S Rep Ian Allinson. Health & Safety reps are one of the many benefits employees have as a result of union recognition.

REDUNDANCY RIGHTS FOR OVER-65s - 04 November 2002

The November edition of Labour Research magazine carried the following report:

"An employment tribunal has ruled that men aged over 65 can pursue claims for redundancy and unfair dismissal. Two former clothing workers were dismissed from their jobs for being over 65, but, until this ruling, were not allowed to bring their cases to an employment tribunal. The tribunal ruled that excluding employees over 65 from taking complaints of redundancy or unfair dismissal amounts to indirect sex discrimination against men, contrary to European law. As there are far more men who continue working over the age of 65 than women, the cut-off point at 65 years discriminates against men. The government is appealing against the ruling."

SICKNESS PROCEDURE - 04 November 2002

The November edition of Labour Research magazine carried the following report:

"Employers will need to re-examine their sickness absence policies in the light of a recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling. This held that the employer's failure to follow its own absence procedure properly meant that it did not have the right to invoke the procedure to stop an employee's sick pay."

[Robertson v Rockware Glass EAT107/01]

WAR - 21 October 2002

We had announced our intention to organise a debate on the prospect of war with Iraq, and invited members to participate. Nobody has come forward to take the pro-war side of the argument, so we are instead organising a discussion around a short video produced by the Stop the War coalition. Members and non-members are welcome to come along, watch the video, and discuss their views:

12:30 - 1:30pm, Wednesday 23rd October, G8 meeting room, MAN05

There will also be a rally against the war on Monday 28th October:

7.30pm, Monday 28th October
Renold Building, off Sackville Street, UMIST, Manchester
Speakers: George Galloway (MP), Yvonne Ridley (journalist), John Rees (Stop the War Coalition)

31st October is "Don't Attack Iraq" day, with various activities taking place around the country against war. In Manchester, protesters will be gathering at 6pm at All Saints on Oxford Road. Reps are also discussing with the local Fire Brigades Union the possibility of some local activity in support of their pay claim, along the lines of "money for services, not for war". The action of the FBU is the most significant industrial dispute since the mid-1980s. A victory for the firefighters will accelerate the recovery and growth of the trade union movement. A defeat will hold it back. The more support we can offer to their pay claim, the more support we'll get for ours.

NB: There is a "Support the Firefighters" meeting in Manchester:

7:30pm on Thursday 24th October,
Friends Meeting House, Mount St (behind the Central Reference Library), Manchester.
Speakers include Bob Pounder (FBU Brigade Secretary)

UKCF REPORT - 21 October 2002

The Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum met on 17-18 October. A number of UNITE members are among the representatives: Ian Allinson, Simon Gavin and [hidden] from MAN05, as well as Robert Dimmick, Alasdair Lewis and John Garvani. A report of the meeting can be found here. Contact your reps if you want any further details.

BRANCH MEETINGS, XMAS SOCIAL, AND REGIONAL AGM - 21 October 2002

Branch meeting

Our next branch meeting (open to all branch members) is:

6pm, Thursday 7th November 2002
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

Branch Annual General Meeting and Xmas social

The branch AGM (open to all branch members) will take place:

6pm, Thursday 5th December 2002
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

The agenda will include election of officers for the coming year.

Following the AGM, we plan a social event for members. We will book a restaurant table for 8pm. Partners/Friends/Family welcome. Firm bookings are needed by Friday 15th November, but the sooner you respond the easier it will be to organise.

Regional Council Annual General Meeting

Delegates from each UNITE-MSF branch in the north-west meet every two months at the union's Regional Council. This is a key part of the union's democratic structure, and helps build its network within the region. This year, the delegate from Greater Manchester IT Branch is Ian Allinson. The regional council welcomes members attending as observers, who can take part in the meetings, but cannot vote.

The regional council plans its Annual General Meeting for Saturday 25th January. We intend to invite Derek Simpson, the newly elected Joint General Secretary of UNITE, as a guest speaker. The meeting will be followed by a social event in the evening.

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please as soon as possible.

PAY - 21 October 2002

On 4th October, The Guardian ran the following report:

Fat cat pay - 17% up

Executive pay has once again outpaced average earnings, climbing an average of 17% last year. In total 136 directors received total pay packages in excess of £1 million and seven received more than £1 million in golden handshakes, according to The Guardian/Inbucon survey.

The highest paid chief executive of an FTSE 100 blue chip company was Dutchman Bart Becht of Reckitt Benckiser, the Mr Sheen, Lemsip and detergent company. His total pay was more than £9million with more than half generated from share options. The average chief executive earned a total of £933,000 last year, but several companies have a raft of millionaire directors on their boards. Tesco and BP both have seven directors who earned more than £1 million last year. Unilever and mining group BHP Billiton each have six millionaire bosses.

If payoffs are taken into account, the biggest earner was Ken Berry, the ousted head of record group EMI. He was fired with a £6.1 million cheque after failing to find new acts and the disastrous signing of Mariah Carey, which ultimately cost the company £38 million. Mr Berry's salary package for the same year brought in another £3.7 million, making a total of £9.8 million.

Another executive who stands out is Italian Francesco Bellini, 55, who is a part-time, non-executive director of Basingstoke-based Shire Pharmaceuticals, a company which specialises in drugs for hyperactive children. He banked £19 million last year after selling his business to Shire. However, only £16 million came from the sale proceeds. He was also awarded £2.7 million for losing his job as chief executive and has been granted a far higher than normal annual fee of £220,000 to continue as a part-time director. Mr Bellini also picked up an additional £36,000 in "cash benefits".

Of the 17% average increase in directors' pay, 13% was the result of rises in basic pay, with 4% down to bonuses and share option gains. In last year's Guardian/Inbucon survey the average rise was 28%, with base salaries ahead 22%.

The survey finds few links between executive pay and companies' financial performance. Tony Ball, chief executive of BSkyB, earned £7.8m last year even though the company was the fifth worst performer of all those surveyed. During the period examined total shareholder return at BSkyB, which takes into account share price movements and dividend payments, fell by nearly half. But Mr Ball's package was twice what any executive earned in a top 10 performing company.

What Unite will be doing - 9th October 2002

Last week's General Meeting decided priorities for the union. The Reps committee have now met to discuss how to put these into action, and we report key decisions here.

Reps were allocated to lead on particular areas of our work (though others will be involved as required) as follows:

• Group organiser: Harji Panchani
• Relocation: Phil Tepper
• Pay: Ian Allinson
• Hazard reporting process: Ian Allinson
• Helpdesk Manifesto: [hidden], Paul D'Ambra, Saiqa Karim
• Union recognition: Lynne Hodge
• Pensions: Dave Francis
• Web: [hidden]
• Health & Safety, stress: Zahid Ramzan
• Helpdesk customer complaints procedure: Chris Morton

It was agreed to set a target of the end of October 2003 for a new union recognition agreement to cover the new Manchester site. The key dates for the next year are:

• 15 October 2002: Health & Safety day
• 24 November 2002: UNITE-MSF Equal Pay demonstration in Manchester
• March 2003: Group Annual General Meeting
• April 2003: Pay review
• 1-4 July 2003: Employment Tribunals over ICL redundancies (Protective Award claims)
• 26-29 August 2003: Employment Tribunals over ICL redundancies (Unfair Dismissal & Breach of Contract claims)
• end October 2003: Recognition agreement for new site

The motion passed at the General Meeting stressed the importance of strengthening union organisation, in order to deliver what members want. To aid this:

• Harji Panchani was appointed group organiser.
• A recruitment competition will be launched soon, to run until our Annual General Meeting in March.

We have restructured the Areas Of Responsibility of reps and Health & Safety reps. The new coverage is here:

• http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/respgroup.htm on the Internet, or
• here on CafeVIK.

We will be organising lunchtime "section" meetings in particular areas of the site, on the themes of pay, relocation and union recognition. These will be open to members and non-members.

We will be seeking a Health & Safety rep from every area of the site, to ensure that all staff are properly represented in the discussions over restructuring. If you are interested, please contact .

In discussion with union members on other sites, UNITE is also putting in place plans to strengthen our organisation nationwide. If you work outside MAN05 (in Services or Consulting), and might be willing to be a contact-point for the union on your site, please contact Ian Allinson.

Motivated? - 9th October 2002

The company wants to know how well motivated you are. There's a survey on CafeVIK - look in the bottom left hand corner of your home page (it's well hidden). Why not fill it in?

Pensions - 9th October 2002

Many members are worried about the future of the pension fund, with the closure of final-salary (defined benefit) schemes in the news. Unions are running major campaigns to defend pension provision. ICL took years of "pensions holiday" (paying nothing into the fund) when the stock market was booming. Members still carried on paying in. The company argued that they should get all the benefit of the surplus, as they would carry all the risk if the fund had a shortfall. Now that pension funds are struggling, companies seem to be forgetting this argument.

We now have two UNITE members on the company's Pension Consultative Committee (PCC) - MAN05 Rep Dave Francis, and Roger Dane. The latest official notes from the PCC are on CafeVIK here.

We understand that the company would not make any decisions about the future of the pension fund until after the next fund valuation, which is in 2003.

War - 9th October 2002

No members have come forward wanting to speak for the pro-war case in the debate we plan. Unless someone volunteers, we propose to use a short video from the anti-war campaign to provoke a discussion, as an alternative to a one-sided debate.

Unite Fujitsu West Gorton Group General Meeting Report - 4th October 2002

Yesterday's General Meeting at MAN05 heard reports from Reps and decided a programme of work for the union for the coming months.

On pay, the meeting heard that average earnings in the UK economy now stood at £23,800 per year, and £31,200 for male non-manual workers. Half the MAN05 workforce is now employed on helpdesks, on low pay. Most helpdesk staff here don't get sick pay for the first three days - below the minimum standards we would expect from our employer. In recent years the pay gap between the top and bottom has widened. Workers in a number of industries are now fighting for better pay. In the IT sector, employers' organisations still see skills shortages as a major issue when the economy picks up. Companies that freeze pay now are likely to see staff leaving rapidly when the job market improves. In Fujitsu, this would mean loss of key skills, and over-work for those remaining.

On relocation, the meeting heard that Reps had held their first meeting with management on Wednesday. The forecast date for the move from MAN05 to the new site is approximately 2 years. Reps had passed on the strong reaction from staff to the written answers from the company we'd circulated, which suggested sharp reductions in facilities such as catering, fitness, recreation, parking, and security. Reps believed that many of these answers were provisional, and that most decisions were yet to be made. To ensure that the move is positive, the workforce must press for good facilities, not sit back and wait.

There was considerable discussion about union recognition. MAN05 is the only site (so far) where the union is recognised by the management to represent the workforce. We have a recognition agreement:

• here on CafeVik, or
• http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/recognition.htm on the Internet.

This agreement is now quite dated, and only applies to the West Gorton site. On Wednesday, Reps had explained to management that they saw no point in spending time renegotiating the agreement, given the planned closure of MAN05. UNITE wanted to negotiate a new agreement to cover the new site. Reps asked HR to identify someone with authority to negotiate such an agreement. Members made it very clear that they saw maintaining union recognition as a point of principle. Without this, employees at the new sites would have much worse rights than at present. There would be no facility for union meetings, no right to openly circulate information, to have Reps carrying out duties in work time, no Health & Safety Reps, little access to information from the company, and no duty on the company to consult the union before making significant changes. It would be much harder to defend terms and conditions won by the union in the past, such as the Security of Employment Agreement.

We welcomed our two new Reps, who had been unopposed:

• Zahid Ramzan
• Paul D'Ambra

This brings the Reps committee to 11 - the maximum we are allowed by the company.

After an extensive discussion, and amendment from the floor of the proposal from the Reps committee, the following motion was agreed unanimously:

We note:

• The deferral of the Fujitsu Services pay review in 2002 from June to October, and then its cancellation
• The payment of bonuses to managers in 2002
• The promise of a pay review in April 2003
• The promise of a small bonus scheme for those of us not already on bonus schemes
• The company's expectation of no upturn on 2002-3, but the bonus being dependent on performance in this period
• That most helpdesk staff don't get paid sick leave from day one
• The increase in responsibilities and workload for many remaining staff resulting from the redundancies
• The company's expectation of an upturn in the market during the financial year 2003-4
• The company's intention to relocate staff from MAN05 and possibly other north-west sites to a new site.
• The need for every employee to be represented in the discussions about the relocation

We resolve:

• To campaign for union recognition from all Fujitsu Group companies on the new site. If Reps are unable to obtain this, they should report back to a Group Meeting, which will consider what action to take.
• To seek volunteers from each area of the site to become Health & Safety Reps, who would help ensure that the working environment of the new site reflects the needs of every employee
• To prepare a claim for the April 2003 pay review
• That the claim should include:
  • A substantial across-the-board component of the pay rise to reflect increases in the cost of living and market rates since the last pay review
  • Paid sick leave for all employees
  • A commitment from the company to begin work with UNITE on an equal pay audit
• To instruct Reps to consult with members inside and outside MAN05 before deciding the scope of the claim
• To instruct Reps to obtain information from the company to help formulate the claim
• To instruct Reps and officers to carry out research and to consult with members to help formulate the claim
• To mount an energetic campaign in support of the claim
• To ask our workmates to join UNITE, and join the campaign for the claim

What you can do:

• Make sure the interests of your area are represented in the discussions about relocation. Look here, and if there is no H&S Rep based in your area, volunteer yourself or find another volunteer.
• Can you spare a few minutes, about once a month to help the union's campaign? Why not volunteer to be a union "contact", who helps distribute leaflets etc from time to time? Contact Rep if you wish to become a contact.
• Talk to your workmates about the issues UNITE is campaigning on
• Ask a workmate to join UNITE

UNITE Membership forms and subs rates are available from our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289 or externally at: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/join.htm

Fujitsu Consulting News - 26th September

The Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum (FCCF) met on 5th September. The minutes comment on the persistent rumours of cutbacks in Fujitsu Consulting:

"The representatives confirmed that there was growing concern from employees that a further redundancy programme is likely. Andy Montrose confirmed that currently there are no plans to implement a further redundancy programme. Until the second half budget for the UK has been agreed it would be impossible to refute or confirm this view."

There was also news on office closures:

"The Leeds Office and Altrincham Office are closing and staff will be relocating to nearby locations. A review of the various Manchester Offices is currently being undertaken."

Fujitsu Consulting also indicated their pay plans, following the pay freeze in Fujitsu Services:

"Fujitsu Consulting review of pay remains on schedule for October and is being undertaken taking into account the comparison of independent benchmarked data, the market sector and the company's ability to pay, against current individual remuneration levels. This will not result in across the board increases, however some pay adjustments may be necessary."

Fujitsu Site Closes, Staff Redundant - 26th September

Yesterday staff at the Fujitsu Microelectronics site (on the MAN05 car park) in West Gorton were told that their site was to close, and that they were all at risk of redundancy. Staff are likely to be given their notice at the end of a 30-day consultation period, at the start of November.

The law permits a consultation period of only 30-days because the numbers at risk on the site are between 20 and 100. In the former ICL, the union negotiated the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) which guarantees a 90-day consultation period regardless of the numbers involved. Further evidence of the benefits of union organisation.

Multivendor Computing Sell Off? - 26th September

Fujitsu Services has not confirmed the continuing rumours and press reports of the impending sell-off of MultiVendor Computing (MC). Most of the staff are based in Warrington. The transfer would be covered by the "TUPE" regulations, which offer some protection to staff. One of the obligations on the company would be to consult the workforce prior to the transfer. Naturally, with no confirmation of the rumours, no consultation via the UKCF has begun. Members in MC are urged to contact reps immediately should any official confirmation be made.

The Labour Research Department (LRD), to which our branch is affiliated, has recently published an updated booklet on dealing with transfers and TUPE. This is available from the MAN05 union library, or from their online publications database at www.lrd.org.uk. Contact your rep for the username and password.

War - 26th September

We'd previously reported your Reps' decision to organise a debate about the likely war on Iraq. We had hoped to organise it before the national demonstration against the war in Iraq on Saturday. Due to the time taken up by organising the General Meeting this has proved impossible. In the meantime, members can read Tony Blair's "dossier", which is on the table in the union office (m.f1a, upstairs, phase 2). Leaflets for the demonstration, including local transport details, are also available there too. The demonstration is supported by our union branch.

Branch Meeting - 26th September

The next meeting of Greater Manchester IT branch will be:

6pm, Thursday 3rd October
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, M4 4AA (Manchester City Centre)

As well as normal business, workplace reports and discussion, a major part of the meeting will be given over to discussion on our special theme this month - "Employee Rights to be Consulted". This includes:

• Redundancies (much of our legal cases over the ICL redundancies are based on these rights)
• Transfers (TUPE, like the transfers to Fujitsu Consulting and possible transfer of MultiVendor Computing)
• Health & Safety (where the regulations are soon to change)
• European Works Councils (like our European Consultative Forum)
• National works councils (like our UK Consultative Forum)

The meeting is open to all members of the branch, and normally finishes around 7:30pm.

Equal Pay Demonstration - 26th September

UNITE-MSF nationally has been in the forefront of the campaign for equal pay for work of equal value. Women in Britain earn 18% less than men because of sex discrimination. The union has won several high-profile court cases, leading to significant pay rises for groups of members. However, we recognise that legal action is not the best way to win change. At the current rate of improvement, it would take around 40 years to achieve equal pay.

UNITE has been promoting "pay audits", which analyse the patterns of pay within a company, and identify any problem areas. There is currently a debate with government about whether such pay audits should be made compulsory. The bosses' organisation the CBI is opposing this measure.

UNITE has called a demonstration "Equal Pay Now - we won't wait a lifetime", at the CBI conference:

Manchester GMEX, 1pm, Sunday 24th November.

Anyone can attend, but it would be useful if you would let your reps know if you plan to attend, so that we can organise a group to go together.

Relocation - 24th September 2002

UNITE reps have now received answers to the questions we put to the company about the plans to relocate from MAN05 to a new Business Park. Please send any comments, or any follow-up questions relating to these, before 2nd October, the date of our initial consultation meeting with the company. As previously mentioned we will be reporting back on this to the General Meeting.

See here on CafeVik, in our MAN05 Union community, for the Q&A.

Reps Election - 24th September 2002

A reminder to potential candidates for our two vacancies on the Fujitsu Services' Reps Committee - if you're willing to stand, please:

1. Email group secretary Ian Allinson by Monday 30 September
2. State your name, internal phone number, department, and which area of the site you're based in
3. Include a short (no more than 100 words) election statement (old examples available on request)

Unite Supports Redundant Employees - 18 September 2002

Following the redundancies in ICL in early 2002, a number of applications were made to Employment Tribunals. These cases were:

1. Unfair Dismissal claims by individual UNITE members,
2. Breach of Contract claims by individual members, who believe their contracts entitled them to a better redundancy package,
3. Protective Award claims for Failure To Consult by UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) members who were UNITE members (Ian Allinson, John Garvani, Doreen Osborne and Reg Brackin). These claims are on behalf of all redundant staff (voluntary and compulsory) at the following sites: MAN05, MAN27, WAR08, WAR13, EDI06, WAK01, BRA01, BSN01, STE04, STE09. They could result in compensation of up to 90 days pay for each of the redundant employees - a large figure, given that about 700 ex-employees are involved.
4. A Protective Award claim for Failure To Consult brought by UNITE on behalf of the redundant MAN05 staff for whom the union had collective bargaining rights.

UNITE is providing representation in all these cases, through the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder. Naturally, this is at no cost to the applicants - one of the advantages of union membership. UNITE believes these cases are necessary for a number of reasons:

1. The company was unwilling to resolve the individual issues involved while the members were still employed
2. The company rejected out of hand UNITE proposals to avoid likely Protective Award claims in exchange for concessions to protect jobs
3. Bringing the cases will put pressure on Fujitsu to treat those still employed better
4. Success would result in compensation for redundant members

Ian Allinson (UNITE and UKCF rep), and our UNITE Regional Officer, Debbie Brannon, also attended. The company were represented by Mr Hills of Halliwell Landau solicitors, who are Manchester based.

The "directions hearing" for these cases took place on 29 August, in Manchester. A directions hearing does not discuss the merits of the cases, but the way the cases will be heard, evidence organised etc. The hearing went very well for the applicants. A number of sensible points were agreed with Fujitsu's lawyer at the hearing, and we won on the key contested points. The timescale for the cases, however, is very slow indeed.

Prior to the hearing, our solicitor clarified for us that disputes about who was covered by the Protective Awards (e.g. homeworkers allocated to a site) would be resolved if and when we won the cases. Interestingly, despite rumours (presumably put about by management) that the cases are hopeless and mere trouble-making, Fujitsu are not even attempting to claim costs except on one part of one claim.

It was agreed that the Protective Award claim brought by John Garvani covering WAK01 would be combined with Ian Allinson's other cases (since WAK01 also falls within Ian's UKCF constituency) to reduce administration, and simplify the hearings.

All the Protective Award claims will be heard under one 4-day tribunal, which is likely to be in early summer 2003. The UKCF and UNITE claims would not be heard together, but consecutively.

Fujitsu are not claiming that "special circumstances" prevented them consulting properly.

The hearing rejected requests by Fujitsu for us to provide, in advance, chapter and verse of what we were alleging in the Protective Award claims. The burden of proof lies with the company to prove that they did properly consult, not with us to prove they didn't. As a result, Fujitsu's witnesses will have to provide their statements first, to which our witnesses can respond, rather than the other way round or simultaneously. Further, Fujitsu's requests to know the alleged impact of the failure to consult on the redundancies, and any consequential losses, were ruled irrelevant to the success of the cases. They might impact on the size of an award, if the cases were successful.

It was agreed that Fujitsu would provide their statements by 31 December 2002. The applicants' witnesses would provide statements by 28 Feb 2003. The two sides would jointly prepare a chronology of events to assist the tribunal. If legal arguments were to be made, skeleton arguments should be provided 7 days before the hearing.

The two claims for Unfair Dismissal had to be heard. However, one of these applicants was also making claims of Breach of Contract. It was agreed that all the various Breach of Contract issues could be dealt with by hearing a further two individual cases. One of these cases had to be heard anyway, because the company has made a small counter-claim against the individual. Both sides agreed it likely that once these test cases had been heard, the other cases would be settled out of court on the same basis.

It was agreed to fix a 4-day hearing to cover the four individual test cases. This will be about 4 weeks after the Protective Award claim, to allow its implications to be considered. Statements are to be exchanged 28-days before the hearing.

All the cases will be heard at the Manchester tribunal. It won't necessarily be the same panel for the Protective Award and individual hearings.

UNITE tried to avoid the need for these cases before the redundancies took place, but the company was unwilling to reach agreement. We still hope that the cases can be settled before they reach court - reducing time and expense for the company, the applicants and the union. In any event, we hope that these cases will result in compensation for redundant members, as well as making the company recognise its legal duties to consult in future, helping improve job security for those left in Fujitsu.

Pay - 17 September 2002

Staff should now have received the botched announcement deferring the pay rise (again) from October to April 2003. We were pleased to see that the announcement had been revised slightly before its official publication. Unfortunately it had already been announced in many parts of the company. The final version of the announcement is here.

This announcement already shows some small movement in two areas as a result of points UNITE reps raised:

• Promotions and learning based increments continue
• Graduate and apprentice pay review to continue

Reps have had considerable feedback from staff expressing their disgust at being made to pay the price for the company's problems yet again. The payment of sizeable bonuses to some staff, including managers, in 2002, has not sweetened the pill. We believe that "exceptions" to the freeze have been authorised, including managers in UK Mobile Engineering, a unit that has carried out major cuts in the terms and conditions of its staff. We are seeking clarification on the criteria for exceptions.

Deciding a response to the pay freeze will be the main topic of our General Meeting - make sure you have your say.

Relocation, Health & Safety - 17 September 2002

UNITE reps are due to be updated on 2nd October on the plans to relocate from MAN05 to a new site near Oldham Road. We will be reporting back to the General Meeting.

The relocation will have a big impact on everyone working here. The list of issues we've already raised with the company include:

• Plans
  • What are the timescales for the move?
  • Can we have a copy of the plans, and all the submissions to the planning process?
  • What will happen to the MAN05 site?
  • Will everyone from MAN05 be moving?
  • Will the move from MAN05 be phased or take place all at once?
  • Which other sites will be moving?
  • How many people will the new site accommodate?
  • Which parts of Fujitsu will use the site?
  • What will happen to "lab" type activities?
  • What proportion of the site do you expect to be "hot-desking"?
  • The site is meant to be a high-tech business park. Are there planning restrictions to prevent alternative uses that might impact our environment?
  • What will happen if such tenants can't be found for the rest of the park?
  • Is Fujitsu committed to any timescales for leaving its current sites? What will happen if the new site isn't ready?
  • How much building work will be going on on the park after we move in?
• Facilities
  • What is the status of the proposed tram route, and when do you expect it to be usable?
  • What will the other public transport links be, and when do you expect them to be usable?
  • What guarantees does Fujitsu have for the transport links? Penalty clauses?
  • How secure will the new site be?
  • What catering facilities will there be?
  • Will there be a staff cash machine?
  • What recreation facilities will there be?
  • Will there be a gym / fitness centre?
  • Will we get new furniture, or re-use the old stuff?
  • Will staff have cupboards/storage space?
  • How many car parking places will there be, and when will they be available?
  • Will the IT infrastructure be better?
• Consultation
  • When will formal consultation between the company and local Unite reps commence?
  • Who will be involved (for the company)?
  • Who will locally be leading the relocation programme?
• Information
  • Will there be a CafeVIK community set up to post information about the plans?

There is also the key question of securing union recognition to cover the new site, as our current agreement with the company is specific to MAN05.

Many of the issues relate to Health, Safety, and the Working Environment. UNITE wants to ensure that the views and needs of every group of staff are taken into account. That means your team or area needs to be represented. We would like members in every floor or area of the site to put forward a "volunteer" to be the Health & Safety rep - just for their area. This is not a big job, but will make a big difference in ensuring everyone is properly represented. If you are interested, or want to propose a colleague, please . We need approximately 20 more H&S reps to provide adequate coverage for the site.

Reps Election - 17 September 2002

Three of our reps - Mat Taylor, Frazer Cooke, and Sean Lawson, have recently left Fujitsu (voluntarily). One of the vacancies for Fujitsu Services reps has been filled by Lynne Hodge transferring back from Fujitsu Consulting. As a result, we now have two vacancies for reps in Fujitsu Services, as well as vacancies for reps from Fujitsu Consulting.

Reps get work time to carry out their duties, which vary widely, but can include:

• Advising members
• Representing members
• Negotiating with management
• Researching issues
• Discussing issues with members, non-members and other reps
• Attending reps committee meetings
• Recruiting and organising
• Campaigning
• Writing newsletters

Full training is available.

If you want to find out more, talk to one of the existing reps, have a look around our web sites (see footer), or contact Phil Tepper and have a look at some of the information in the union library, such as the handbooks "Support for workplace reps" and "Bargaining handbook".

As we anticipate more than two candidates, we'll be taking advantage of the forthcoming General Meeting to hold an election there. If you're willing to stand, please:

1. Email group secretary Ian Allinson by Monday 30 September
2. State your name, internal phone number, department, and which area of the site you're based in
3. Include a short (no more than 100 words) election statement (old examples available on request)

General Meeting - 17 September 2002

There will be a General Meeting for all MAN05 members 3pm - 4:30pm, Thursday 3rd October, in the MAN05 restaurant.

Provisional Agenda

1. Pay
2. Relocation
3. Motions
4. Reps Election

Reps nominations, and any motions or other items for the agenda, must be received by the group secretary, Ian Allinson, by Monday 30 September.

This will be an important meeting for every member - please book it in your diary now. If you're in a department where your manager will need to organise cover for you to attend, please let them know NOW that you want to go.

War - 17 September 2002

It seems everyone on the planet is discussing the possibility of war with Iraq, and UNITE members are no exception. Many of you will have heard parts of the debate at the TUC conference on the subject.

Your reps committee plans to organise a lunchtime debate on the subject, in the next few weeks. If you'd be interested in contributing on either side of the debate, please contact Ian Allinson.

Report from Love Music - Hate Racism Carnival - 17 September 2002

One of the members who attended the carnival on 1 September kindly provided this report. The carnival was to have been held in Burnley, where 3 BNP nazis were elected as councillors recently, but the council refused permission for the carnival, which was then moved to Manchester.

"My cohorts and I arrived at Platt Fields at around one o'clock on a sunny Sunday to find roughly four or five thousand people with many more arriving by the minute. There was three music stages; a main stage where Billy Brag was ranting when we arrived, a second and third smaller stages for live dance acts and DJs from the likes of Radio 1 and Heartless Crew. There was minimal police presence, which added to the relaxed atmosphere. Towards the end (8 o'clock), apparently there were about 30000 people there. All in all a very good event that has publicised the Anti Nazi League and has helped encourage more anti-racist activity in local areas, there were also huge petitions drawn up against the bombing of Iraq. It has certainly put Burnley Council to shame for not allowing such a positive and peaceful event where it is needed most!"

Pay - 30 August 2002

In the midst of the redundancies earlier this year, ICL announced that the Fujitsu Services 2002 pay review was being delayed from June to October. Now management have announced that there will be no pay rise at all this year, because the company can't afford it.

When the redundancies were announced, MSF (as the union was called then) put out a leaflet saying:

"MSF wants to see a business plan to secure employment in the future, and a social plan to manage the impact on people."

No such plans were forthcoming. It now seems that the workforce was put through all the pain of redundancies, but management still can't get their house in order. What's their solution? More sacrifices from the workforce of course! This is the thanks for employees who stuck loyally with the company, and who often picked up extra work after the redundancies.

Fujitsu doesn't publish its pay scales any more, so employees can only imagine the sacrifices being made at the top. But we do know what's happening generally. The Financial Times recently reported:

"The typical leader of a FTSE 100 company received an 11.7% increase in total cash earnings over the past year, easily outstripping the 3.9% rise in average earnings for the workforce as a whole, according to the annual survey of top management salaries by the Monks Partnership. It found that the base salary of the average full-time chairman or chief executive increased by 9.3% to £574,000. Total annual earnings, including cash bonus, rose from £781,000 in 2001 to £869,000 for the past 12 months."

Meanwhile prices go up, and average earnings in the rest of the IT industry continue to climb. Pay researchers "Reward" forecast pay for staff working in IT rising by 3.2% in 2002, the same rate as last year.

In other industries, workers are fighting for decent pay. We need strong union organisation throughout Fujitsu to ensure that employees are treated fairly. UNITE will be consulting members to decide a response to the pay freeze.

Pensions - 30 August 2002

With the news full of stories about companies cutting back on pension schemes, rumours are circulating in Fujitsu too. ICL had already closed the final-salary (defined benefit) pension scheme to new employees, who are only offered a money-purchase (defined contribution) scheme. The company contributes far less to the new scheme, which provides lower benefits and less security to pensioners.

Many younger people starting work are already saddled with huge student debts, and can ill afford needing to save extra money to avoid poverty in retirement.

UNITE has heard of no plans by Fujitsu to close the final-salary pension plan to existing members, but employees should be on their guard.

It is good news that the two UNITE candidates were amongst the three new reps elected to the company's Pensions Consultative Committee. Thanks to everyone who voted for them, and congratulations to:

• Dave Francis (MAN05)
• Roger Dane (IRE02).

These UNITE members have access to training, support and advice unavailable to non-members, putting them in a better position to scrutinise the pension fund on your behalf.

Redundancies - 30 August 2002

Rumours abound of further redundancies in Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting, but we have heard nothing concrete beyond the usual trickle of redundancies in particular units.

In the meantime, UNITE is pursuing the legal cases arising from the ICL redundancies earlier this year. There are a number of individual claims for Breach of Contract and Unfair Dismissal, as well as several collective claims for Failure to Consult. One of these is being taken by UNITE, on behalf of our collective bargaining group (grades GSS17 and below at MAN05). Others are being taken by UNITE members who were on ICL's UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) at the time, on behalf of their constituents. These cases could result in compensation (up to 90 days pay) for all those made redundant (VR and CR) at the following sites: MAN05, MAN27, WAR08, WAR13, EDI06, WAK01, BRA01, BSN01, STE04, STE09 This would be a total of approximately 700 of the redundant staff.

The "directions hearing" for these cases took place on Thursday 29th August. This was a short hearing to discuss where, when and how the cases should be heard. We're pleased to report that we are being represented in these cases by the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder.

Taking legal action was a last resort. The law provides limited protection for employees against redundancy, and the remedies are inadequate. Prior to the redundancies, UNITE had pointed out to the company in negotiations that we believed there was a case for failure to consult. We'd pointed out the potential costs, and limited benefits of such cases. We'd offered to recommend to members that we forego such claims if ICL took a series of simple steps which we believed would reduce the likelihood and impact of compulsory redundancies. ICL dismissed this offer out of hand.

There is naturally no guarantee of success in any legal claim, but the pursuit of these claims is important both as an attempt to secure compensation for redundant staff, and to apply pressure to the company to consult fully in any future redundancies. The cases demonstrate some of the advantages of being represented on the UKCF by union members.

UNITE is very proud of the role it played in the redundancy programme, and our considerable success in avoiding redundancies for members who didn't want them at MAN05. However, we feel that much more could have been done if the company had shown willing.

There are already signs of the company trying to erode redundancy terms on other sites. The union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) guaranteed staff a minimum 90-day consultation period over redundancies, regardless of the numbers affected. In the past, ICL extended the same benefit to staff not covered by the SEA. With the spread of contracts with lesser redundancy terms (e.g. statutory minimum) to newer staff, Fujitsu is now beginning to look at individual contracts to determine the length of consultation period for each employee. On some other sites, Fujitsu has been giving non-union-members not on the SEA or M-grade redundancy terms only 30-days consultation period. This means less time to find another job, and less money. Staff should be on the alert against any attempt to "offer" only a 30-day consultation period. Your reps believe we can contest any such change, if the company "tries it on" with a member. We believe the 90-day consultation period became contractual even for staff not covered by the SEA by custom and practice.

The attack also underlines the importance of understanding your contract - many of the staff involved had signed up to new contracts without realising the implications. Always consult your UNITE rep before accepting any change to your contract.

Helpdesk Manifesto - 30 August 2002

Almost half the MAN05 population are now working on helpdesks. These staff face some issues specific to the helpdesks, as well as those that affect everyone else. For example, most helpdesk staff don't get sick pay for their first three days off sick. Supervision is typically closer than usual, hours are longer (40), and much of the time is spent on the phone.

As part of the process of improving working life for helpdesk staff, UNITE reps began work on a "Helpdesk Manifesto", gathering the key issues raised by our members on the various desks.

An early draft of the manifesto is on our "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community. Work on the manifesto was delayed by departure and sickness of several of the people working on it, but we aim to be back on track soon.

If you have ideas for the manifesto, please contact your rep.

Health, Safety & the Working Environment - 30 August 2002

The traditional image of "Health & Safety" is about people working up ladders or with dangerous machinery. There's much more to it than that - it covers your whole working environment.

A key issue in the coming months will be the relocation from MAN05 to the new site. Will the new site have adequate transport links? Car parking? A Staff Cash machine? Restaurant? Recreation and fitness facilities? Use of PCs throws up its own Health & Safety issues, with impact on eyesight, pains in the back and arms (RSI). UNITE is coming across more of these cases in Fujitsu than ever before.

What about the widespread use of mobile phones? Driving for long hours? Working on customer sites which are building sites, pubs or shops?

The UK Consultative Forum has set up a Health & Safety sub-committee to look at how H&S should be managed throughout Fujitsu Services in the UK. Please contact UNITE member Ian Allinson, who is on this subcommittee, if you have suggestions.

Here at MAN05, we are lucky to be the only UK site with a good network of Health & Safety reps. A H&S rep can inspect the workplace, and take up employee concerns with management over any H&S related issue. We're always keen to recruit more Health & Safety reps - we'd ideally want one working in every area - please get in touch if you want to know more.

Redundancy update - 28 August 2002

Rumours abound of further redundancies in Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting, but we have heard nothing concrete beyond the usual small groups of redundancies.

In the meantime, UNITE is pursuing the legal cases arising from the ICL redundancies earlier this year. There are a number of individual claims for Breach of Contract and Unfair Dismissal, as well as several collective claims for Failure to Consult. One of these is being taken by UNITE, on behalf of our collective bargaining group (grades GSS17 and below at MAN05). Others are being taken by UNITE members who were on ICL's UK Consultative Forum at the time, on behalf of their constituents. These cases could result in compensation (up to 90 days pay) for all those made redundant (VR and CR) at the following sites:

MAN05, MAN27, WAR08, WAR13, EDI06, WAK01, BRA01, BSN01, STE04, STE09

This would be a total of approximately 700 of the redundant staff.

The "directions hearing" for these cases is taking place on Thursday 29th August. This is a short hearing to discuss where, when and how the cases should be heard. We're pleased to report that we are being represented in these cases by the specialist employment lawyer Steven Pinder.

There is naturally no guarantee of success in any legal claim, but the pursuit of these claims is important both as an attempt to secure compensation for redundant staff, and to apply pressure to the company to consult fully in any future redundancies. The cases demonstrate some of the advantages of being represented on the UKCF by union members.

There are already signs of the company trying to erode redundancy terms on other sites. The union-negotiated Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) guaranteed staff a minimum 90-day consultation period over redundancies, regardless of the numbers affected. In the past, ICL felt obliged to extend the same benefit to staff not covered by the SEA. With the spread of contracts with lesser redundancy terms (e.g. statutory minimum) to newer staff, Fujitsu is now beginning to look at individual contracts to determine the length of consultation period for each employee. On some other sites, Fujitsu has been giving non-union-members not on the SEA or M-grade redundancy terms only 30-days consultation period. This means less time to find another job, and less money.

Members should be on the alert against any attempt to "offer" only a 30-day consultation period. The attack also underlines the importance of understanding your contract - many of the staff involved had signed up to new contracts without realising the implications.

Building the union - 28 August 2002

Life in Fujitsu continually underlines the need for a stronger union. The Unite-MSF Section Group at MAN05 have a vacancy for a new Rep from Fujitsu Services, due to one of our Reps leaving the company. Don't worry if you have never done anything like it before as there are ten other reps to work with and ask for help and advice - and we don't expect you to know everything from day one! Also, lots of training courses are available which can be taken within (paid) company time. Most important is the Reps Stage 1 course which is required before you represent anyone.

Reps can, if they wish, specialise in a particular subject. Possible areas include (amongst others): equal opportunities, equal pay, learning Reps (a new initiative by the unions), employment law, organisation, etc. - whatever "gets your goat!"

Being a Rep means that you get to make a difference, that you get to help members and ensure they get what they are entitled to. The issues we deal with are wide-ranging!

We are also in need of Reps for Fujitsu Consulting. Since the split of ICL into the two new companies we now have recognition in both companies at MAN05. However, our previous Fujitsu Consulting Rep has now moved back into Fujitsu Services, hence the vacancy.

If you are interested in becoming an Unite Representative at MAN05 then contact rep [hidden] on x2171 or by email to with a statement saying who you are, what you do, and why you think you would make a good Rep.

If you have any questions about what being a Rep involves, please feel free to contact any of us - we are:

• [hidden]
• Ian Allinson
• Phil Tepper
• Lynne Hodge
• Chris Morton
• [hidden]
• Frazer Cooke
• Saiqa Karim
• Dave Francis
• Harji Panchani

Love Music - Hate Racism - ANL Carnival in Manchester - 28 August 2002

Don't forget the Anti Nazi League's carnival on Sunday. There will be two stages, a dance marquee, kids area, stalls, food & drink, and the line-up includes:

Ms Dynamite, Doves, The Shining, Heartless Crew, Billy Bragg, Rodney P & Skitz, Miss Black America, Phi-Life Cypher, Nicky Blackmarket & MC Foxy, Shortee Blitz, Shaanti DJS Bobby Friction & Juttla, Killa Kela & Normski, Sona Fariq, Out Da Ville, Wesley J & MC Sharkey, Moorish Delta 7, DJ Woody, Krispy, Daze & Sappo, DJ Asha, MC Chickaboo, Bigga Fish DJs & MCs.

Following the disgraceful decision of Burnley council to refuse permission for this important anti-racist event, it is now taking place in Manchester instead:

March assembles 11am at Manchester Town Hall, to march to: The carnival in Platt Fields Park, Fallowfield.

Branch Meeting - 28 August 2002

The next meeting of UNITE Greater Manchester IT branch will be:

6pm, Thursday 5 September
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

All branch members are welcome to attend.

Pay - 28 August 2002

Pay rates for staff working in IT are set to rise by an average of 3.2% in 2002, the same rate as last year, according to the latest information from pay researchers Reward.

Despite all the talk of recession, pay for those at the top seems to know no limits. The Financial Times reports:

"The typical leader of a FTSE 100 company received an 11.7% increase in total cash earnings over the past year, easily outstripping the 3.9% rise in average earnings for the workforce as a whole, according to the annual survey of top management salaries by the Monks Partnership. It found that the base salary of the average full-time chairman or chief executive increased by 9.3% to £574,000. Total annual earnings, including cash bonus, rose from £781,000 in 2001 to £869,000 for the past 12 months."

"The increases for FTSE 100 leaders were lower than a year ago, when median base salaries rose 14.9% and total earnings were up 16.7%. Monks said the companies compared were not exactly the same because of changes in the FTSE 100, with some companies dropping out and others being added. A total of 87 companies were included in both the 2002 and 2001 analyses."

"Median bonus payments for FTSE 100 chief executives were equivalent to 46.5% of base salaries, only slightly down on last year's 46.9%. However, there were significant differences between industry sectors, with the heads of retail companies earning the lowest bonuses, with a median of 14.6% of base salaries, and pharmaceutical and chemicals chief executives earning the highest at 81.6% of base salaries."

In March, ICL announced the delay of the pay review from June to October. We expect a further announcement shortly.

Health & Safety - 28 August 2002

"This latest research confirms what the TUC has been arguing. We now live in 'Burn-Out Britain,' where one in six people work more than 48 hours a week and one in 10 men work more than 55 hours a week."

He added: "We are not mounting an argument for the work-shy but an argument for British business' productivity. Long hours are bad for workers and bad for business. This is case of shared responsibility: the government needs to ensure minimum standards and unions and employers need to work together to find flexible solutions to cutting long hours."

Long hours have been linked to higher sickness absence and illness rates.

The average British worker takes less than half an hour for lunch, does not take his or her full holiday entitlement, and has 10 sick days a year off work, according to three separate surveys of working life. Some labour market experts have claimed that hard-driving employers are damaging employees' health. Official statistics suggest the average full-time working week has hovered around 39 hours over the past decade, but survey evidence from the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that almost half of men and a third of women frequently worked extra hours on top of their basic week. The surveys, all published in the last week in July, were from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, business caterer Eurest and employment agency Reed.co.uk.

Fujitsu Consulting Redundancies - Update - 13th August 2002

The Fujitsu Consulting Rationalisation programme ended on 31st July. At the end of this programme, 216 staff were made redundant, with 89 of those people having taken Voluntary Redundancy (VR). Management have stated that the number of volunteers was higher than they expected. Unite reps, and Unite members on the Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum fought hard to persuade Fujitsu Consulting management to agree to a VR programme, and to publicise it. We are pleased that as a result the number of Compulsory Redundancies was significantly reduced.

During the programme there were also instances of people being refused VR and then asked if they'd accept a lesser package than they were entitled to in order to be allowed to leave. Unite raised HR's awareness to this practice and ensured that it wasn't being used at MAN05 (which has union recogniton).

From figures we've been given, 41 people formally appealed against their selection for redundancy. Fujitsu Consulting have stated that a number of people won their appeals, or have moved within the Fujitsu group. Of the two Unite members who appealed, we successfully reversed the selection for one member, who is based at MAN05.

Transfer Affecting Application Management Team - 13th August 2002

The 22 staff comprising the MAN05 Application Management team until recently delivered application development and support services, mainly to Co-Operative Group (tCG). When Fujitsu Services became aware that this contract would be terminated on 30th June, 14 of the staff were given notice on 10th June informing them that Fujitsu Services had earmarked them to transfer on 1st July, either to tCG or to a subcontract company.

At this stage there was much uncertainty over the terms of the transfer - tCG had not confirmed that TUPE (safeguarding existing terms and conditions) would apply and it was unclear whether there would be jobs for all staff transferring out. Several team members joined Unite and pressed the company for answers. Unite wrote to the appropriate HR manager pointing out that the legal requirement to consult a recognised union had not been fulfilled.

Staff concerns were resolved after it was confirmed that TUPE would apply and that only 8 people remained 'in scope' for transfer, leaving the remainder still under Application Management. The 8 people have now transferred.

Even though the situation was satisfactorily resolved, major questions remain over how the management and HR handled the issue and over the shortfalls in consultation. Unite will be looking at the lessons to be learned from this.

ANL Carnival - Banned in Burnley but on in Manchester! - 13th August 2002

In the last newsletter we reported on the ANL Carnival that was to be in Burnley on Sunday 1st September:

"Following the recent election of three nazi councillors in Burnley from the British National Party, the Anti Nazi League is planning a huge free carnival and music festival to provide a positive focus for the anti-racist majority in Burnley and the North West. The carnival will take place on Sunday 1 September, and will be a brilliant show of black and white unity against the nazis."

Burnley Council is disgracefully refusing to let the Anti Nazi League use one of its parks for the "Love Music - Hate Racism" Carnival.

The police did not object to the ANL's application, nor did they raise any concerns over health and safety or public order. Not one member of the public has objected to the carnival. The carnival was blocked by Burnley Council.

However, the Council is allowing the BNP to organise. On the same day that the Council blocked the ANL Carnival, they let the BNP go ahead with a public meeting with Britain's most notorious Nazi, John Tyndall, in the centre of Burnley, protected by a massive police presence. On 17/18 August the BNP plans to hold its "Red, White and Blue" Nazi rally in Lancashire. Their plans to hold it in Diggle, near Oldham, were successfully blocked by Diggle's residents. They now aim to hold it in Sawley, near Clitheroe.

The good news is that the Carnival will take place on Sunday 1st September, in Platt Fields Park in Manchester (Fallowfield). Please support the Carnival, if you can.

The Anti Nazi League (ANL) have launched an appeal for £60,000 to fund the carnival, and we encourage members to donate generously. Cheques should be made payable to "Anti Nazi League" and can either be handed in via your Reps, or sent direct to: Anti Nazi League, PO Box 2566, London, L4 1WJ. Collection sheets are also available.

Unions Win Ruling in European Court of Human Rights - 13th August 2002

[From the TUC]

Seven Judges at the European Court of Human Rights, including the UK's Master of the Rolls, today unanimously made a ruling in favour of trade union members Dave Wilson and Terrence Palmer, which will stop employers from penalising workers who want to be represented by a union at work.

The ruling states "It is the role of the State to ensure that trade union members are not prevented or restrained from using their union to represent them in attempts to regulate their relations with their employers."

Although there is legislation in the UK making it illegal to discriminate against employees on the basis of their membership, or non-membership of a trade union, this protection does not extend to making use of that union membership, that is, being represented by their union.

The cases arise from a journalist and dockers who were denied pay rises for refusing to sign 'personal' contracts accepting that they could not be represented by a union.

The NUJ and the RMT, backed by the TUC and the human rights organisation, Liberty, appealed to the Strasbourg Court under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says: "Everyone has the right to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."

The Court Judgement says "It is the essence of the right... that employees should be free to instruct or permit the union to make representations to their employer. If workers are prevented from so doing the freedom to belong to a trade union becomes illusory."

John Monks, TUC General Secretary, said:

"I am delighted that we have won such an important victory in the ECHR today. My congratulations go to the union members concerned and to the two unions which backed them. The TUC has given its full support to the unions from the outset and is proud to be associated with the case. It is outrageous that UK law continued to allow workers to be penalised for trying to make use of their union membership through representation. We now call on the Government to change the law so that workers are able to have their voice heard through their union without suffering worse working conditions."

Dave Wilson said:

"At moments over the past 12 years, I have thought, why me? But today I feel privileged to have been able to help to protect basic freedoms and strengthen workplace rights, especially for people who feel vulnerable and without a voice at work."

Harassment Directive Approved - 13th August 2002

[From the Labour Research Department]

The Council of Ministers and European Parliament have finally agreed the text of a new directive on the equal treatment of women and men, which includes new rules on sexual harassment.

It establishes a European-wide definition of sexual harassment as "any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature (which) occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment".

Other key elements are:

• a statement that sexual harassment constitutes discrimination, for which the employer is liable;
• a requirement on employers to take preventive measures against discrimination, particularly sexual harassment;
• clarification of the rules on indirect and direct discrimination;
• a requirement for member states to encourage employers to produce regular equality reports for employees and employee representatives;
• the removal of any upper limits on compensation; and
• improved safeguards for parents taking maternity and paternity leave.

The text is expected to be published shortly and the directive will come into effect in 2005.

Employers Short-Sighted on VDU Vision Risks - 13th August 2002

[From the TUC]

Over a third of screen-based workers are not being told of their right to a free eye test.

Speaking at the parliamentary launch of a week of action run by The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to draw attention to the effects of visual display units (VDUs) on people's eyesight, TUC general secretary John Monks said:

"Personal computers and other visual display units are revolutionising not just the work we all do, but the risks we run. Those risks bring with them responsibilities. The main responsibility lies with employers who must assess the risks and then inform and train their workers. In particular they should be informing them about their rights to regular breaks and regular eye tests. Unfortunately, Guide Dogs have found out that far too few employers - less than two thirds - tell their workers about their right to a free eye test."

Employees in Fujitsu are entitled to a free eye test. The relevant documents are available in the Occupational Health and Safety community on Cafévik. The process is here and the eye-test form is here.

Unite Election - 23rd July 2002

Quite a number of members have been contacting us following the extensive (and confusing) news coverage of the election for "General Secretary of UNITE".

Following the merger of MSF and the AEEU to form UNITE at the start of this year, UNITE has two "sections" - MSF and AEEU. Roger Lyons is General Secretary of the MSF section, and Sir Ken Jackson is General Secretary of the AEEU section. Both are Joint General Secretaries of UNITE. Under the terms of the merger, when Roger Lyons leaves his post, the General Secretary of the AEEU section will become the General Secretary of the whole of UNITE.

The recent election was for the General Secretary of the AEEU section of UNITE, so MSF members didn't get a vote. The AEEU section members elected Derek Simpson, who was standing against the Sir Ken Jackson. Derek will take office at the start of 2003. The result is of great importance to MSF section members, as Derek will go on to be the UNITE General Secretary when Roger Lyons leaves.

The reps committee at MAN05 sent the following message to Derek Simpson:

"Congratulations on your victory in the election for General Secretary of UNITE-AEEU. We hope the rest of the merger process goes well, and results in a strong, united and growing union, built on the rock of democratic control by an active membership."

Pensions: Election and Branch Meeting - 23rd July 2002

With the rash of bad news from the world's stock-markets, every worker should be worried about their pension. Though it is usually older employees who take greatest interest in pensions, it is the youngest who typically have most to lose.

The long-awaited by-election for reps on Fujitsu's pension Consultative Committee is underway. Ballot papers are in the mailroom, but we understand there are problems with delivery. The pensions department have currently set a deadline of 31 July (Wednesday next week!) to have received the returned ballot papers. While we have pushed for an extension to this deadline, which is doubly absurd in the holiday season, we urge members to vote and return their ballot papers as soon as they get them.

We have just heard that the deadline for the return of the completed form for AREA1/AREA2 has been extended until 09 August 2002 (see the first page of the Ballot Form to see which area you are in, only AREA1 & AREA2 has been extended). We still urge members to vote and return their ballot papers as soon as they get them.

You need trusted representatives on the pension fund Consultative Committee more than ever before. UNITE members Dave Francis from MAN05 and Roger Dane from IRE02 are standing - please give them your support and encourage your colleagues to do likewise. You will get 3 votes (as there are 3 vacant seats). However, the two UNITE candidates will have the best chance of being elected if you vote only for them.

The address specified for the completed form is the external postal address , you can also use:

Zahra Shah,
Pensions Dept,
STN02
Hub Code E

if returning via internal post. Pensions have advised that if you use internal post you may wish to use two envelopes to ensure security/confidentiality of your completed form (though the forms are anonymous).

UNITE's Greater Manchester IT branch is holding its next meeting:

6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 1st August
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

We will have a speaker and discussion on pensions this month. All members are encouraged to attend.

Fujitsu Consulting Redundancies - 23rd July 2002

Having survived the ICL redundancies earlier in the year, those employees who transferred to Fujitsu Consulting were put on 90 days warning of potential redundancy again, almost straight away. At MAN05, 2 members were selected. One of these appealed, and we are delighted to report that their appeal was upheld.

Objectives and Redundancies - 23rd July 2002

Some employers in the IT industry are trying to disguise redundancies. Redundancies usually result from employers failing to manage change effectively, and valuing their employees far below their shareholders. Some companies are trying to use objectives, appraisals, and "performance management" to dismiss employees without offering redundancy payments. Naturally, UNITE would resist any such attempt by Fujitsu. We would advise all employees to bear in mind this possibility when discussing objectives with their managers. We advise members to treat with extreme caution any objective (e.g. utilisation) that would mean that your job being redundant led to a failure to meet the objective.

UK Consultative Forum Report - 23rd July 2002

The official report of the meeting on 27 June is now available at:
http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=UKCF

The UKCF's Health & Safety sub-committee, which includes UNITE members Ian Allinson and Alasdair Lewis, will be meeting for the first time on Thursday 25th July.

The next full UKCF meeting is planned for 10-11 September, and the next European Consultative Forum (ECF) will be on 16-17 September.

ICL Redundancies - Legal Cases - 23rd July 2002

The legal cases against Fujitsu Services over the ICL redundancies earlier this year are progressing. A "Directions Hearing" to discuss each side's requirements and plans for the cases will be held in at the Employment Tribunals in Manchester on 29th August. No further action is currently required from the individual members involved.

European Social Forum - 23rd July 2002

When representatives of big business (including Akikusa of Fujitsu) met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss their plans and priorities, thousands of representatives of a range of social movements met at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil to develop an alternative vision of the future. The last World Social Forum meeting resolved to set up social forums in each continent, and the first European Social Forum (ESF) is planned for Florence from 7-10 November. Tens of thousands of delegates will be converging on Florence for hundreds of debates and discussions in many languages. Europe has never seen anything like it. Already organisations from the public sector union UNISON, Globalise Resistance, the Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers to the World Development Movement and War On Want are involved. Journalist John Pilger says "The ESF is a vital event in the growing campaign against so-called globalisation and the militarism that backs it up. I urge everyone to do their utmost to get there."

Our last branch meeting heard a speaker from the English mobilisation for the ESF. Your reps committee would like to send a delegation of members to Florence for the event. At the moment we can get flights for as little as £25 return, so we want volunteers as soon as possible. If you're interested, please take a look at:

• www.fse-esf.org
• www.mobilise.org.uk

and contact as soon as possible.

We'd also welcome views from members on whether we should financially contribute towards members' expenses for the event.

Love Music - Hate Racism - ANL Carnival - 23rd July 2002

Following the recent election of 3 nazi councillors in Burnley from the British National Party, the Anti Nazi League is planning a huge free carnival and music festival to provide a positive focus for the anti-racist majority in Burnley and the North West. The carnival will take place on Sunday 1 September, and will be a brilliant show of black and white unity against the nazis.

Acts already include Ms Dynamite, Belle & Sebastian, Sister India & Sona Fariq, Out da Ville, Moorish Delta 7, Phi-Life Cypher, Norman Jay, Shaant DJs & Bigga Fish DJs & Daze & Sappo. (more bands & DJs to come!)

The Carnival is being sponsored by the NME who will be carrying an interview with Ms Dynamite advertising the event. Book it in your diary now.

The Anti Nazi League (ANL) have launched an appeal for £60,000 to fund the carnival, and we encourage members to donate generously. Cheques should be made payable to "Anti Nazi League" and can either be handed in via your Reps, or sent direct to: Anti Nazi League, PO Box 2566, London, L4 1WJ. Collection sheets are also available.

Your Reps Committee - 4 July 2002

Sean Lawson has recently left the company - we wish him well for the future. The reps committee have co-opted Harji Panchani, so the MAN05 reps committee is now:

[hidden], Ian Allinson, Phil Tepper, Mat Taylor, Lynne Hodge, Frazer Cooke, [hidden], Chris Morton, Dave Francis, Saiqa Karim, and Harji Panchani

Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum - 4 July 2002

The Fujitsu Services UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) met last week, including the many newly elected delegates for the first time. UNITE members on the UKCF are:

Ian Allinson, Robert Dimmick, [hidden], Simon Gavin, Alasdair Lewis, John Garvani, Sarah Cooper

We're pleased to report that Robert Dimmick was elected as the chair of the employee reps.

Information on the UKCF can be found on their CafeVIK community:

• http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=UKCF

An official report on the meeting will appear on the community once agreed with management.

Issues covered included:

Relocations:

• Plans to rebuild Bracknell as "Thames Valley village" are proceeding - planning approval still awaited
• MAN05 relocation proceeding, contract expected to be signed soon
• Site on Crewe business park is now under construction
• WAK01 will not relocate - landlord is paying for renovation
• Beaumont sale imminent
• Datacentre strategy still not finalised
• Want to dispose of nearly half of the current office space

Health & Safety

A sub-group of the UKCF has been set up to look at Health & Safety. The sub-group includes Alasdair Lewis and Ian Allinson who are UNITE members.

Ian comments:

"The current arrangements for Health & Safety don't work. The company has reasonably good policies at the top level, but has no structures or procedures to implement them consistently on the ground. Risk assessments are patchy. When they happen, actions are often not carried out. Consultation with employees rarely takes place. Employees rarely know the basic information they need to play their part in ensuring they and their colleagues work in a safe and healthy environment." "MAN05 has a team of Health & Safety reps, and Health & Safety is managed much better here than on most other sites, yet even here it is not good enough." "I'd like to see a quick survey of a random sample of employees across many sites, asking a few simple questions about Health & Safety, so we can see just what the extent of the problem is. This would also give us a way of measuring whether any changes the company introduce make matters better or worse."

This sub-group can't possibly deal with every H&S issue on every site. It can, however, try to ensure that there are suitable local processes in place to deal with those issues. If you have ideas for the subgroup, why not contact Ian or Alasdair?

Redundancies & Sell-Offs

The UKCF reps were briefed about changes in headcount in Fujitsu Services in the UK. The company believe that the job losses earlier in the year met their objectives in terms of money saved.

Many employees will be aware that the Beaumont training centre in Windsor has closed, and is being sold off. In parallel to this, KnowledgePool are no longer employing in-house classroom trainers. Classroom training will be provided by a network of partners and contractors in future. This is leading to redundancy for approximately 70 out of 340 staff.

Reps raised the issue of why in the redundancies now taking place in KnowledgePool, some people were getting a 90-day consultation period, while most were only getting 30-days. Since 20-99 redundancies were proposed, redundancy law only requires a 30-day consultation period. However, people covered by the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) negotiated by the union are entitled to a 90-day consultation period regardless of the numbers involved. Most employees in KnowledgePool had signed up to new contracts which didn't include the SEA.

Reps raised two objections to this practice by the company:

• It had been company practice in the past to give all employees a 90-day consultation period, regardless of their individual terms and conditions. Would the company be taking this tougher line for everyone not on the SEA in future?
• Giving different lengths of consultation period to different people in the same redundancy exercise made the consultation a sham. If a unit had 50 people, with 49 on 30-days and one on 90-days, how could there be genuine consultation after day 31, when all but one employee had already left? The unit would not be viable, and most options for saving the job of the remaining employee would have been ruled out.

We did get an assurance from the company that people on M-grade terms, as well as those on SEA terms, were entitled to a 90-day consultation period. However, this still leaves the shadow of doubt over the increasing minority on "other" terms such as the statutory minimum.

[You can find a copy of the Security of Employment Agreement on the MAN05 Union community on CafeVIK: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289]

Employment Policies

UNITE and the UKCF have both been pressing for updates to several employment policies for some years. Some policies are lagging behind the law, while others are contradictory. Examples include Conduct (disciplinary procedure), Speak Up (grievance procedure), and the various policies on use of IT.

The company is developing a new policy structure. It wants to have broad company-wide policies, supplemented where necessary by country-specific guidelines or procedures. They also want to link to all the policies from one place on CafeVIK (some are owned by different communities, not all HR). UNITE sees two advantages to this:

• An opportunity to base policies on best-practice from across Europe, rather than on the (often less favourable) UK law
• An end to the confusion of local or departmental policies which contradict the main ones. This has been a particular problem with the IT use policies in the helpdesks.

Fujitsu Services intend to review the following policies in the very near future:

• managing absence
• sick pay
• business travel & expenses
• home based working

We also expect the following policies to be reviewed in the next phase:

• Equal Opportunities
• Conduct
• Capability
• Use of IT
• Unsocial Hours Policy (UHP)
• Recognition
• Car Policy

You can find most employment policies here:

• http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/Scripts/Links/SearchQLink.asp?SearchID=229

You can find the Unsocial Hours Policy (which forms part of the contract of many employees) here, if you have Internet access:

• http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/uhp.htm

Company Cars

The current contract for supply of company cars runs out at the end of 2002, so the whole supply and selection of cars is up for review. Among the many points raised were:

• The company gets a very large discount from suppliers because of the numbers of cars it buys. It is considering how it can pass this on to those employees who don't qualify for a business need or benefit car to allow any employee to buy a car through Fujitsu at a discount
• Reps reported that employees entitled to a business need car (e.g. mobile engineers) wanted the choice to take an allowance instead of a car
• Business needs cars should be provided where there is a business need, even if the annual mileage is less than 12,000 - managers and HR are supposed to apply the policy intelligently

The next full UKCF meeting is planned for September, and will take place in the midlands.

Branch Meeting - Thursday - 2nd July 2002

The next meeting of the Greater Manchester IT Branch is:

6pm, Thursday 4th July
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

The meeting is open to all members of the branch.

In addition to the normal workplace reports and discussions, we will have a guest speaker to tell us about plans for a huge European Social Forum conference, modelled on the World Social Forum events held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in recent years.

Pensions - 2nd July 2002

Pensions are much in the news, against the background of falling stock-markets. Many companies are changing from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution schemes. Fujitsu Services has already done this for new joiners. Unions are among many warning that cuts in pension provision could leave those starting work now in poverty in old age. So what does the jargon mean?

• A "Defined Benefit" pension scheme is one where your pension is based on your final salary. Your employer guarantees you a certain level of benefit when you retire, based on your length of service. For example, many people earn the right to a pension worth 1/60th of their final salary for every year they work. These are also called "Final Salary" schemes.
• A "Defined Contribution" pension scheme is one where you and your employer put a set proportion of your pay aside each month and invest it. When you retire, what pension you get depends on what pension those investments will buy. These are also called "Money Purchase" schemes.

The effect of moving from a defined benefit scheme to a defined contribution scheme is to shift the risk from the employer, onto the employee. Individual employees are in a worse position to manage that risk.

When Defined Benefit schemes were in surplus, only a few years ago, companies were happy to sit back and take a "pensions holiday". For years on end they contributed nothing at all to pension funds, while employees usually carried on paying in. Employers argued that since they were responsible for making up any shortfall in the fund, they had the right to take any surplus. Now that many funds are actually seeing shortfalls for the first time, employers seem to be conveniently forgetting this argument.

At the same time as dumping the risk onto workers, many employers are taking the opportunity to cut their contributions. For example, Fujitsu Services currently contributes over 18% of salary for each employee in the Defined Benefit scheme. The new Defined Contribution scheme only requires the company to contribute a few percent. This will directly result in lower pensions for newer employees.

Some other issues are :

• Discrimination against unmarried employees in the pension fund
• The creation of a new shared pension scheme for Fujitsu group employees in the UK

After the scandal of Robert Maxwell raiding the Mirror group pension fund, the law was tightened up to give employees more rights to scrutinize what was happening with their pensions. In Fujitsu Services, these rights are partly met through a Pensions Consultative Committee. Nominations were sought for some vacant seats some time ago, but the election was delayed because of the pensions department being relocated out of Beaumont before it closed. We now expect ballot forms to go out this week.

Please take the time to vote for the UNITE members standing for the Pensions Consultative Committee. Union members will continue have access to proper, independent training for their role - other candidates may not. The UNITE candidates are:

• Dave Francis
• Roger Dane

Occupational Health Service - 2nd July 2002

Fujitsu has now outsourced its Occupational Health Department, with services now being provided by an outside company. UNITE reps and Health & Safety reps have raised concerns that this will lead to a decline in the level of service available. We therefore read this TUC press release with interest:

Research for the Health and Safety Executive shows that in 1990, 50% of the workforce (over 12 million workers) had access to an occupational health service. The latest data shows that only seven million workers, about 30%, have retained access to such services. Three quarters of large firms provide workplace health services, compared with just a third of small firms (10-50 workers). 40% of employers spent under £1,000 a year on occupational health, but less than one in ten of such employers (9%) actually worked out whether they were saving money or wasting it. Even among employers who paid out over £30,000 a year, only just over half (59%) evaluated their expenditure.

Sickness absence due to workplace injury and illness amounts to 19 million days a year - forty times as many days as are lost through industrial action. That sickness absence costs the economy as a whole between £4-9 billion. Most of the costs fall on the victims and on the Government.

And 27,000 people leave the labour market for ever every year because of a workplace injury or illness - amounting to over a quarter of a million people in the last decade - one of the reasons why more people are off work because of disability and long-term ill-health than because of traditional unemployment.

TUC general secretary John Monks, responding to the findings, said:

"At a time when we need to get more sick and injured people back to work, it is a tragedy that employers are actually scrapping workplace health services rather than expanding them. Many employers don't even know how much money they are wasting by throwing skilled workers down the drain."

"Britain needs to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses, but we also need to help people who suffer them get back to health and back to work as fast as possible. Employers are shuffling those responsibilities onto the government and onto the victims, and it's got to stop. We need a legal right to workplace health services like they have in Scandinavia, and the government is going to have to step in and put some of the extra NHS money to work for people at work."

New Research Raises Safety Alert for Mobile Phone Users - 2nd July 2002

Unite Working Environment Secretary today warned members to "Go easy," in their use of mobile phones, pointing to new research findings suggesting mobiles could be harming our health.

Radiation from mobile phones causes changes in the brain which could pose risks to health, an authoritative two-year study has concluded. In ground breaking research on the effects of radiation on the brain - which has for the first time used human cells rather than rats - scientists found that even low level emissions from handsets affects cells. They believe the changes could disable a safety barrier in the body which is meant to protect the brain from harmful substances in the blood. The scientists are now calling for further research to discover how important the affects on health may be.

The study, conducted by the Radiation and Nuclear Authority in Finland (a country whose people both use and make more mobile phones than any other in the world) found that by exposing human cells to one hour of mobile phone use triggered a response which normally only occurs when cells are being damaged.

This led the cells which make up the blood vessel walls to shrink, allowing tiny molecules to pass through into the brain tissue. The report's conclusion warns: "The possible RF-EMF (radiation induced breakage of the blood-brain barrier), if occurring repeatedly over a long period of time, might become a health hazard because of extra capillary accumulation of molecules that might cause brain tissue damage."

The study is an important step forward in mobile phone research because it has proved biochemical changes, which were previously found to occur in rats, also occur in human beings. Scientists now need to discover how the human body reacts to such changes, whether it can cope or whether there are serious health threats arising from them.

Professor Darius Leszcynski, who will present the research findings to a conference in Canada later this month, said he could confirm that radiation from mobile phones does affect the delicate make up of human cells. "We have shown there are biochemical changes in human cells," he told the London Evening Standard.

The researchers do not claim conclusive evidence of actual harm as a result of using mobile phones, but their findings are consistent with advice issued two years ago by leaders of a Government inquiry into the use of mobile phones, that caution in their use was advisable. Despite expensive research conducted on the effects of the use of mobiles, evidence of the long term effects of using them is still far from clear. One survey of 11,000 people in Sweden and Norway found that many people using them suffer headaches and tiredness afterwards, and there seem to be strong arguments against using mobiles for long conversations. Texting messages involves the phones emitting signals for much shorter periods of time, and is probably a safer option, although again, authoritative research is lacking to substantiate or question this assumption.

Swedish cancer specialist, Lennart Hardell, suggested that using the old technology analogue mobiles, popular in the early nineties, increased the risk of cancer. His research is now at the centre of a lawsuit in the USA where the courts have to decide whether there is enough evidence of a causal link for claimants to succeed in damages claims against manufacturers of mobile phones.

Chris Ball Unite Working Environment Secretary commenting on the above research findings said, "It is important that research establishes as soon as possible whether there is in fact a causal link between the use of mobile phones and cancer. Certainly the accumulating evidence should make people exercise care in their use of these devices."

He went on, "On one hand mobile phones have changed our lives, but on the other they have brought dangers of which we should all be aware. They can be very helpful in the multitude of communications we make in our busy lives, and carefully used, they can help us to reduce some of the stresses and pressures being in contact on the move. But we need to be aware too that they can add to stress, pose serious dangers when being used wrongly by vehicle drivers, and there is this worrying possible link with brain cancer. It all adds up to a very clear sign saying, "handle with care."

"This emerging research evidence is not a final pronouncement on the subject by any means, but common sense suggests that it would be very wise for people to avoid using their phones for prolonged periods. Until we get more research evidence to clarify the position, I would say "Go easy on the mobile, make short calls or use text messages. Never hold long social conversations on your mobile - use a land-line instead."

"There is a need too for the manufacturers to significantly reduce the levels of radiation, and it is important that systems are developed which work towards this objective."

Computer Work is a Pain in the Neck and more - 2nd July 2002

From the TUC, research in the USA:

Neck and shoulder pain and stiffness and medical disorders linked to these symptoms are more widespread among computer users than previously thought, new research suggests. "More than half of computer users each year develop neck or shoulder symptoms and just over one-third develop an impairment or the loss of some function," said researcher Dr. Frederic Gerr of the University in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 40% of people develop a hand or arm symptom each year while using a computer and 21% actually develop a disorder, his team concluded. "People who type 20 hours per week more than others are a little more than twice as likely to develop a symptom or disorder in the hand and arm region," Gerr said. The study included 632 men and women newly hired in jobs requiring 15 or more hours per week of computer use.

Government Urges Work-Life Balance Improvements - 2nd July 2002

[Article from zdnet, by Andrew Swinton]

Research shows that UK employees spend more time managing their email than playing with their children.

Work-life balance (WLB) issues are beginning to be one of the key items on the agenda of many large organisations -- and a concern for workers everywhere. This means flexible working for most people and benefits for both staff and employers.

Statistics reveal that while the UK's employees spend nearly 49 minutes a day managing their email (based on Gartner figures), UK adults only manage to spend 25 minutes a day playing with their children, according to Office of National Statistics research.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Work-Life Balance Campaign has shown that businesses could do more to tackle the long-hours culture.

The DTI has relaunched its Work-Life balance site with new features including:

• Details on how to apply for government funding to implement work-life balance policies and practices;
• Advice on the various policies and practices that can help business achieve a healthier work-life balance;
• Access to research and statistics illustrating the benefits of work-life balance;
• A search engine that enables organisations to search for case studies, by sector, size or region.

The DTI site gives some examples of the a wide range of work-life balance options employers are developing, covering flexible working arrangements and flexible benefit packages. These include:

• flexi-time
• staggered hours
• time off in lieu
• compressed working hours
• shift-swapping
• self-rostering
• annualised hours
• job-sharing
• term-time working
• working from home
• tele-working
• breaks from work

The cost of stress-related sick leave and absenteeism in the UK is enough to pay for another two Millennium Domes -- sick days as a result of stress cost the British Industry £370m per year (equivalent to £7.11m per week) according to the Health and Safety Executive.

The average worker skips 24 minutes of his or her lunch break every day, the equivalent of approximately two weeks more holiday per year (figures from Data Monitor).

More than half the UK workforce is suffering from stress and one in four takes time off as a result (Research carried out by International Stress Management Association UK).

A DTI spokesman said: "Everybody can benefit from a better work-life balance. More flexible working boosts staff morale, improves employees commitment to their work, and benefits business through higher productivity."

According to the Health and Safety Executive, 6.5 million sick days are taken every year as a result of stress -- costing £7m per week and £1.4m per working day. It also states that on average it take 11 weeks to replace a worker.

Xerox (UK) estimates that it has saved over £1m over the last five years through enhanced retention due to better work-life balance policies, including flexible working and leave schemes.

Earlier this year Microsoft won an award for being the company with the best work-life balance in the UK. The software giant is recognised for encouraging its employees to limit the time they spend at work and keep their evenings free. There is a 9-5.30 club that gives 10p to the NSPCC as a reward every time they work these hours.

Legal Action on Redundancies - 5th June 2002

The documents listed below are urgent and vital reading for any member who was made redundant by ICL (any site in the UK) recently, whether VR or CR:

• Legal case update
• Unite case menu
• Fujitsu Services IT1 form

The documents are in Acrobat or "PDF" format. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available free of charge from www.adobe.com if you don't already have it installed.

Please feel free to pass on these documents to anyone you know who was made redundant but may not be on our mailing lists.

Marxism 2002 Conference - 5th June 2002

Marxism 2002 will be the biggest radical gathering in Europe this summer, with 250 meetings and the best speakers on the left from around the world. Mark Serwotka, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Lindsey German, Tariq Ali, George Galloway MP, Tony Benn and Mark Seddon are speaking. Last year around 6000 people took part in the event.

Haidi Giuliani, mother of murdered Genoa protester Carlo Giuliani, Vittorio Agnoletto, the Italian representative on the World Social Forum, Susan George from Attac, Boris Kagarlitsky from Russia, Mike Davis and John Bellamy Foster from America and Patrick Bond from South America will all be there, along with speakers from the Middle East and elsewhere.

The conference takes place in central London, and it is possible to attend for the weekend (5-7 July), or the full week (5-12 July).

In the past the conference has proved a valuable form of education, a great place to meet and discuss with other trade unionists, and has encouraged our members to get more involved. This year, the UNITE-MSF Greater Manchester IT branch has decided to pay for some tickets for members who've not been before. Five members are already booked up - do you want to join the delegation?

For more information about the conference, phone 020 7538 2707 or see www.swp.org.uk/marxism.

If you're interested in one of the limited number of free tickets for branch members, please or contact at work on (7272) 2175 internally, or 0161 223 1301 externally. First come - first served!

Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum Elections - 28th May 2002

The results of the Fujitsu Services UKCF and the Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum elections are now in. A big thank you to all of you who voted for unite members.

Fujitsu Services UKCF

The results are as follows:

Area 2 (Manchester/Warrington)

• [hidden] (unite member)
• Simon Gavin (unite member)
• Andrew Worthington

Area 3 (Midlands) - no election - uncontested

• Alasdair Lewis (unite member)

Area 4 (Stevenage)

• Robert Howard elected (no unite candidate)

Area 5 (Thames Valley)

• Jonathan Jenner
• Sarah Cooper (unite member)

Area 7 (Greater London)

• Robert Dimmick (unite member)

Fujitsu Consulting CF

The two people elected (out of nine nominations) were Alan Black and Paul Lewis. Alan is a rep in another union.

Fujitsu Consulting Redundancies - 28th May 2002

At the beginning of the redundancy programme in Fujitsu Consulting, management said they would not accept volunteers. Unite Reps pointed out that this would be in breach of our Security of Employment Agreement (the SEA) which states that management will consider volunteers who put their names forward through their trade union. Management have now accepted that they must consider volunteers.

This is a major achievement for our members which will reduce the numbers of compulsory redundancies.

Unite continues to work to minimise the impact of these redundancies on our members.

Unite Fujitsu Consulting members are recommended to check the Rationalisation database on Notes for the company's latest updates on the rationalisation process. Please note that we don't yet have the specific criteria for some of the pools.

Please contact our Rep in Fujitsu Consulting, , if you have any comments.

Unite met with Andy Montrose last Friday and put forward a comprehensive list of questions based on the issues that came up during the Fujitsu Services redundancy exercise. Answers to these should be available soon, and will be published on our MAN05 UNION Cafévik community.

Fallout from Fujitsu Services Redundancies - 28th May 2002

As part of our campaign against the massive redundancies in ICL in March, Unite highlighted a number of ways in which the company had not met their statutory and contractual obligations. Reps sought to use these shortcomings to negotiate avoidance of compulsory redundancies, but ICL would not strike a deal. As a result, we were left with no option but to pursue legal action on behalf of those made redundant.

On Friday 24th May MAN05 reps had another fruitful meeting with the union solicitor to discuss the various cases arising from the redundancies. We expect to be lodging a number of claims for "Protective Awards" for failure to consult. We will also be issuing a newsletter to redundant members who completed our "Legal Case Survey" with their contact details which will give details of how to make an application to an Employment Tribunal for the other categories of cases (Unfair Dismissal, Breach of Contract). The Protective Award claims are the potentially big ones - compensation of up to 90 days pay for each redundant employee covered by the claim.

Branch Meeting - Health, Safety and your Working Environment - 28th May 2002

Our next branch meeting will have a guest speaker and discussion on the topic "Health, Safety and your Working Environment". All branch members are welcome to attend.

The meeting is on Thursday 6th June, at 6pm, upstairs in the Hare & Hounds pub, 46 Shudehill, Manchester City Centre. M4 4AA (see here for a map).

Youth Weekend - 28th May 2002

Unite MSF-Section are organising a Youth Weekend for unite members 26 years of age or under. It's a chance to meet other members from across the country and it doesn't matter if you haven't been to any unite meetings or events before, or if you have been to hundreds - you'll still be welcome!

The Youth Weekend will include sessions on subjects like organising, recruitment, the union, and workshops on skills such ass public speaking and assertiveness.

The Youth Weekend is planned and facilitated by the National Youth Advisory Committee (NYAC). The NYAC consists of young representatives from across the union ensuring that the union's National Executives are fully aware of the concerns and interests of young people.

The course is Friday 30 August (evening) - Sunday 1 September 2002, at Whitehall College - MSF's training college in Bishop Stortford (map) It is about 35 miles north of London with good road and rail connections. Stansted airport is close by. See the Whitehall College website for more information about the college.

Please contact Rep for an application form. For further information about the course contact Dominic Hook, National Youth Advisory Committee Secretary. Tel: 020 7505 3051. Email dominic.hook@unite-m.org.

Legal Action over Working Hours - 28th May 2002

EU orders UK Government to change law over working time Directive in response to Unite-MSF complaint
From an MSF news release:

Unite has secured a startling victory in the fight for reduced working hours in the UK.

The European Union (EU) has upheld the union's complaint over the UK Government's unlawful and inadequate implementation of the working time directive and have issued Infringement Proceedings against the British Government giving them two months to comply.

Unite-MSF raised key issues of inadequacy with the Department of Trade and Industry in 1999/2000 but the DTI refused to review or change implementation regulations. The union on June 22nd 2000 made an official complaint (EU2000-4702) to the EU who have upheld the three principal complaints and commenced Infringement Procedures under Article 226 of the EC Treaty.

The three Unite-MSF complaint that have been upheld are:-

Firstly, under British implementation, the employer does not enforce workers rights to breaks and holidays. In theory this means that individuals could work 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. This was because breaks were interpreted as entitlements where the workers chose whether to take them. Unite-MSF believed from the beginning of the Directive in 1996, that it was the employer's responsibility to see that breaks were taken. The Commission would seem to agree with Unite-MSF and have opened the Infringement Procedure against the UK Government.

Secondly, in the UK implementation of the Directive workers can volunteer to work additional hours above normal working time, which is unmeasured by the employer, without records being kept and comprehensively undermines the intent of the directive. "In the UK this drives a coach and horses through the directive and in particular it effects Managerial & Professional occupations who are under pressure to volunteer and millions do so to the detriment of family and social life." said Roger Lyons General Secretary Unite.

Thirdly, in the UK overtime hours on night shift are excluded in the count towards normal hours. Thus overtime night shift hours are not included in the 48 hours count, in contravention of the Directive.

The formal Infringement Procedure to the UK government under article 226 of the EC Treaty gives the UK Government two months to comply.

Roger Lyons Unite General Secretary said,

"This is a historic victory for British workers which Unite has been pursuing for over three years. I will be seeking urgent discussions with the DTI to explain why we made the complaint and why the UK Government should now urgently change the law to comply with the Directive.

British workers work the longest hours in Europe, this decision will cut excessive working time considerably, will slash stress and will bring us closer to the level playing field on working hours already enjoyed throughout the rest of Europe."

Racism in Europe - 28th May 2002

TUC General Council statement on racism in Europe
TUC press release:

The following statement on Racism in Europe was agreed at the meeting of the TUC General Council on 24th April 2002.

Bradford/Burnley/Oldham

1. On April 18, the President, Gloria Mills and the General Secretary visited Bradford and Burnley (following an earlier visit to Oldham). Other members of the General Council managed to visit one of the towns and there were members of the Race Relations Committee also present. These town were the main centres of disturbances in the summer of April 18 and each are among the main targets of the British National Party in the local elections in early May.
   
   
2. The situation varied between the three locations (eg faith schools in Bradford but none in Oldham) but the picture was depressingly similar in other respects:
   
   
   • each location has had a battering as a result of the recessions in textiles and engineering;
     
   • although unemployment is low, social deprivation and poverty is widespread;
     
   • neighbourhoods are alarmingly segregated with different communities believing that the others secure most resources;
     
   • schools in the town centres whether faith or not schools are also predominantly either white or Asian;
     
   • the local authorities are struggling with these problems;
     
   • the BNP seem to have a chance in some wards if the turnout is low.
   
   
3. The General council are asked to support initiatives for a high turnout and affiliated unions are asked to alert members in these towns about the threat posed by the BNP.

France

4. The success of Le Pen in winning through to the second ballot in the French presidential election has cast a dark cloud across Europe. He is overtly racist and nationalist and has captured the attention of many dissatisfied voters who have found his message that foreigners are to blame for all France's problems to be seductive.
   
   
5. It is now vital that he is defeated resoundingly in the final run-off and it is suggested that the General Council convey their strong support to the French trade union confederations for their efforts to maximise the vote for democracy and the values of diversity and tolerance.
   
   
6. There are also wider lessons to be learned including voter apathy, the desertion of the Socialist Party (despite the success of the 35 hour working week) and the strengthening of the far Right in a number of European Countries. This makes it all the more important for the TUC to continue to combat the BNP and other similar racist bodies and to urge the Labour Government to do its utmost to boost its national support (and a good step was certainly taken in the 2002 Budget statement).

How to Join the ANL

The Anti-Nazi League is a broad based, mass organisation. Anyone who wants to stop the Nazis can join, regardless of political belief, religion or creed. They have one single aim, which is to stop the Nazis reaching a wider audience and growing.

Both our Branch and our Union are affiliated to the ANL. If you wish to join too, see http://www.anl.org.uk/join_us.htm for information.

Occupational Health - 3rd May 2002

There has been a major change in Occupational Health provision at MAN05. The on-site Occupational Health nurse presence is being discontinued, a policy which is being applied across all Fujitsu sites. We believe that this will have a negative impact on staff, particularly as the Occupational Health nurses dealt with a wide range of issues. The excellent service they provided covered both the physical and mental aspects of staff well-being. As such, the service was an essential "safety net", and was valued by employees and managers alike.

There has been little consultation about the changes and we are currently taking this up at the appropriate management level. The changes in service provision will affect employees in a number of ways:

• With no on-site Occupational Health nurse, the likelihood is that employees will have increased need to see the doctor. Within certain helpdesks, paid time off is not given for appointments and this will cause problems.
• Managers may seek more advice from first aiders, although most first aiders are not medically trained. First Aiders are trained to be able to recommend that an employee goes home/to a doctor/to hospital, but do not have the authority to require them to do so.
• Certain issues required the immediate involvement of on-site occupational health. The changes in service provision mean that an employee will have to make contact over the phone first and that face-to-face contact will be more difficult.

The new arrangements mean that instead of contacting the on-site nurse, employees will have to phone "Health at Hand" on 0800 003 004. They will initially speak to a trained adviser who will, if necessary allocate a triage nurse to the case. An on-site visit may well take place as a result of this, but the process will be longer and more difficult than having an on-site nurse. In addition, there is a separate central number for managers to call (7269 4201). This number is for direct access to an occupational health nurse and should be phoned for example if a manager requires guidance on whether an employee should be sent home or for DSE assessment advice.

Please let us know your views on these changes and what your experiences are under the new arrangements, or were when there was an on-site presence. The new arrangements have not been effectively communicated to employees and we are asking the company to address this as a matter of urgency.

Many of you will have seen the recent site notice advising that Fujitsu (as ICL) received a certificate of commendation in the workplace category of the Health Challenge Awards 2002 (www.healthchallengeawards.com). The aim of the HCA is to "acknowledge and share the work of those whose efforts make people's lives, and ultimately their health, better". Ironically the ICL entry centred on the provision of the Fitness Centre, Recreation Club and particularly the service provided by Occupational Health - as you've seen above, a recent casualty of the Fujitsu cost cutting exercise.

GET A REP! - 3rd May 2002

As Reps we deal with a number of disciplinary cases. Unfortunately not all managers and HR are fully conversant with the law or Fujitsu's policies, so it is important that all staff are familiar with their basic rights:

• All employees have the right to be represented by their union, irrespective of site, employer, grade etc. Legislation bans any employer from denying union members representation by a union official. Additionally, Fujitsu West Gorton has a union recognition agreement where Fujitsu accepts the right of unite/MSF members to be represented.
• The representative CAN play a full part in the hearing.
• If you appeal against a warning, it can't make things worse - an appeal can only uphold or reduce a disciplinary sanction.
• If your manager wants to discipline you, your manager will write to you to invite you to a disciplinary hearing. They should provide details of what the alleged misconduct is, a copy of the Conduct policy, and copies of any relevant evidence. Contact your unite/MSF rep straight away.
  
  You MUST be informed beforehand.
  
  The Conduct policy states:

  "Employees will be given at least 24 hours' notice of disciplinary hearings and where possible relevant evidence will be made available to them in advance. A copy of this Policy must be provided to the employee."

  
  If you find yourself, without warning, in a disciplinary meeting, GET IT ADJOURNED until you can get a Rep (or a colleague to go into the meeting with you, and they have given you the information mentioned above. You have this right - by not giving you at least 24 hours' notice they are breaking their own policy!

We would remind members to seek advice from a rep at the earliest opportunity if you may be the subject of a disciplinary hearing, whether you wish to contest it or not. We come across a lot of irregularities in the conduct of disciplinaries, which are often avoidable. It is a lot harder to correct a bad decision once it's been made, than to avoid it in the first place.

Having a trained representative can make a big difference - please DON'T leave contacting unite/MSF until you've already had the result of the disciplinary - it's much better for you to be represented at the first stage. IT IS YOUR RIGHT, and it's what you pay your subs for! So please, GET A REP!

Contact details of the West Gorton Reps are available at http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/viewer.asp?/content/0289/public/00002/repstable.htm and http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/respgroup.htm.

Site Relocation - 3rd May 2002

The following list of questions has been drawn up by reps, to be put to the company concerning the intended relocation to the North Manchester Business Park. We'd now like to encourage contributions from members, so please have a read through and email Rep with anything you'd like us to add.

• What are the timescales for the move?
• What will happen to the MAN05 site?
• Will everyone from MAN05 be moving?
• Which other sites will be moving?
• How many people will the new site accommodate?
• How many car parking places will there be, and when will they be available?
• What is the status of the proposed tram route, and when do you expect it to be usable?
• What will the other public transport links be, and when do you expect them to be usable?
• What guarantees does Fujitsu have for the transport links? Penalty clauses?
• How secure will the new site be?
• What will happen to "lab" type activities?
• What catering facilities will there be?
• Will there be a staff cash machine?
• What recreation facilities will there be?
• Will there be union recognition?
• What proportion of the site do you expect to be "hot-desking"?
• Will the IT infrastructure be better?
• Will we get new furniture, or re-use the old stuff?
• Will staff have cupboards/storage space?
• Will there be a forum set up involving union and H&S reps to be consulted over the plans?
• Who will locally be leading the relocation programme?
• Will there be a CafeVIK community set up to post information about the plans?
• Can we have a copy of the plans, and all the submissions to the planning process?
• Which parts of FJ will use the site?
• The site is meant to be a high-tech business park. Are there planning restrictions to prevent
• alternative uses that might impact our environment?
• What will happen if such tenants can't be found for the rest of the park?
• Is Fujitsu committed to any timescales for leaving its current sites? What will happen if the new site isn't ready?
• How much building work will be going on on the park after we move in?

Bureaucracy? - 3rd May 2002

It was a well worn line in ICL that people were sick of the bureaucracy and red tape. At the Fujitsu Services launch event at Ascot, people were invited to identify examples of bureaucracy that should be scrapped. The organisers were surprised at how few examples came forward. Do you moan about red-tape, or inappropriate processes? Have you just filled in a form that required 17 signatures? Does this add to the frustration and hassle of your job?

If you have an example of bureaucracy Fujitsu should scrap, please write up a short explanation and email it to Rep who will pass it on via the ECF.

Branch Meeting - Palesting/Israel - 3rd May 2002

Your unite/MSF Greater Manchester IT Branch next meets at:

6pm, Thursday 9th May, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

All members are welcome to attend. This meeting is a week later than usual due to the local elections the week before.

This month we will have a speaker who has seen for himself the situation in Palestine. Our UNITE branch was recently among a number to sponsor John McSweeney, a student at Salford University, on a trip to the region. He was in Bethlehem during the recent events, but is now safely back in the UK. John will be giving us a report at this meeting.

Fujitsu Consulting - Redundancies - 2nd May 2002

On Tuesday 23rd of April, staff in FJ Consulting were briefed that another Rationalisation programme would be taking place within the FJ Consulting company. Currently we are aware that they need to cut costs by 1 million per month, which equates to around 200 jobs. We have been provided with the following proposed target job losses:

Sales & General Admin:

40 job losses from 209 staff

Consultants:

160 job losses from 998 staff (which includes a proposed 10 job losses from 30 staff at MAN05)

The timescales for this programme are a 90-day period starting on the 1st May, with the selected staff transferring to Linkwise within the 90 days, and leaving on the 31st of July.

Although a Voluntary Redundancy scheme is available within this exercise, this was not communicated clearly at the initial briefings, and the process for volunteering is still not well defined. UNITE have got agreement that members can apply for VR through the union if they wish to.

UNITE reps, in conjunction with the Fujitsu Consulting Consultative Forum (FCCF) will be fighting to improve the terms of this programme and to try to reduce the number of job losses, and to push FJC to accept VR applications wherever possible. This new programme illustrates, being so hot on the heels of the last programme, how vital it is for employees to have union membership and representation.

Consultative Forum and Pension Fund Elections - 23rd April 2002

Fujitsu Consulting employees who are ex-ICL will be voting in elections for the Fujitsu Consulting Forum. There are two seats up for election, and the UNITE members standing are:

• Lynne Hodge
• Paul Macdonald

Please make sure there is effective representation in FJ Consulting as quickly as possible by supporting these candidates. Please see our briefing pack for more information.

Members of the ICL Group Pension Fund will shortly be voting for members of the Pension Fund Consultative Committee. In the north-west, there are 3 seats up for election. We already have two members standing:

• Dave Francis
• Roger Dane

We believe a seat in another area will also be up for election soon.

UKCF Elections - 16th April 2002

Fujitsu Services employees in most of the UK will be receiving ballot papers in the next few days, to elect new representatives for the company's UK Consultative Forum. This is an important election, and we urge you to use your vote to support fellow UNITE members standing for election.

The candidates are as follows:

Area 2 (Manchester/Warrington) - 3 to be elected

• [hidden]
• Simon Gavin
• Asad Mahmood

Area 3 (Midlands) - no election - uncontested

• Alasdair Lewis

Area 4 (Stevenage) - 1 to be elected

no UNITE candidate

Area 5 (Thames Valley) - 2 to be elected

• Edward Willis
• Sarah Cooper

Area 7 (Greater London) - 1 to be elected

• Robert Dimmick

The UKCF played a very important role in the recent redundancy exercise, and it will make a real difference if a good number of union members are elected to the body. We can make the UKCF more effective, and ensure that UNITE and the UKCF complement each other.

If these candidates were elected, it would make the UKCF much more representative of the Fujitsu Services workforce. It would include reps from the helpdesks and mobile engineering - currently unrepresented on the UKCF. It would involve some members for the first time, and bring in a mass of experience from others. Please support all the UNITE candidates in this election - make sure you have an loud and united voice.

For more information, see the briefing pack put together by our candidates, at http://www.ourunion.org.uk/ukcf.htm.

The UK Consultative Forum community is on CafeVIK at http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=UKCF.

Pensions Consultative Committee - 16th april 2002

Members of the ICL (sic) Group Pension Plan should have received letters about the Pension Consultative Committee.

This is an elected body of employees to keep an eye on your pension, to raise pensions issues, and help communication about pensions. At present there are vitally important issues about pensions, including:

• The closure of the ICL "Defined Benefit" scheme to new members
• The low level of company contributions to the newer "Defined Contribution" scheme
• The trend towards reductions in pension provision
• Discrimination against unmarried employees in the pension fund
• The creation of a new shared pension scheme for Fujitsu group employees in the UK

If you're in the "Defined Benefit" pension scheme, Fujitsu currently contributes money to your pension more than 18% on top of your salary, so pensions are a major part of your pay. Nobody should be fearing poverty in old age - good pension provision is vital to financial security.

In our region, which includes Scotland, Northern Ireland and North of England, there are now three vacancies. We are finding out if there are vacancies in other regions too. If you're interested in standing, please get in touch with as soon as possible.

Your Reps Committee - 16th April 2002

Following the redundancies and the split into Fujitsu Services and Fujitsu Consulting, your MAN05 Reps are:

Fujitsu Services:
[hidden] (elected Group Chair)
Ian Allinson (Group Secretary, UKCF Rep, ECF Rep)
Phil Tepper (Group librarian)
Frazer Cooke
Dave Francis (Pensions Rep)
Saiqa Karim
Sean Lawson
Chris Morton
[hidden]
Mat Taylor

Fujitsu Consulting:
Lynne Hodge (currently at MAN27)

Chestertons:
John O'Donnell (AEEU)

Dalkia:
John Kirk

Your MAN05 Health & Safety Reps are:
Ian Allinson
Mike Bamford
Michael Farrell
Chris Gardner
Patrick Hayes
Lynne Hodge
Zahid Ramzan
Norman Renwick
[hidden]
Mat Taylor
Phil Tepper
Paul Marsland
Chris Morton
George Worley (AEEU)
Saiqa Zulfquar

Israel/Palestine - 16th April 2002

Events in the Middle East are dominating the news. Our UNITE branch was recently among a number to sponsor John McSweeney, a student at Salford University, on a trip to the region. He was in Bethlehem during the recent events, but is now safely back in the UK. UNITE are organising an open meeting for members and non-members to discuss and debate the situation, and John has agreed to come and speak:

1:00pm, Friday 19th April
West Gorton Working Mens Club
(next to the row of shops the other side of Wenlock Way from the main entrance)

UNITE: Fujitsu West Gorton group - 2 April 2002

Welcome to the UNITE Fujitsu West Gorton group!

As of today, ICL no longer exists. Most former ICL employees are now employed by Fujitsu Services, and 755 have transferred to Fujitsu Consulting.

It was decided at our group Annual General Meeting last month that the group would now cover "Fujitsu" on the site, rather than being split. This site will provide news from both "streams" for the time being.

Management have opted to handle industrial relations separately for the two streams. This means we now have separate recognition agreements for the two streams, and will have an HR contact for each. It also means that reps will be "FJ Services reps" or "FJ Consulting reps", rather than "FJ reps". Quite a few key areas for industrial relations (e.g. payroll, pensions) will in fact be shared between the streams, so it's going to be interesting to see how Fujitsu handle issues there. HR have already accepted that they will have to work together in a single Health &Safety committee for the site.

Redundancy update - 2 April 2002

Many of you have been asking whether you are still "at risk" of redundancy, given that the company has put out no announcement saying that the "90-day" period has ended. We've now had written confirmation that:

"The formal 90 day period (97 days) ceased on March 21st therefore the only employees remaining at risk are those employees who have been notified as part of the 28 day individual consultation period and have leave dates after the 21 March 2002."

We're also getting queries from those who have left the company about what they need to do to progress any legal claims. As long as you've filled in and returned our "legal case survey", the answer is "nothing". Reps will be discussing the various cases with our solicitor again in the coming weeks, and will use the information on the survey form to contact you when necessary.

In addition to contacting affected members directly, we will be sending out news on the cases via our email newsletters, and posting some of the information on our external web site at www.ourunion.org.uk.

A number of irregularities are still coming to light about the redundancy programme. For example:

• A member, contacted by HR to ask him to pay back part of his redundancy package, which ICL claim they miscalculated.
• Advance charges being made for those holding Fuel Cards to cover for private fuel in Company Owned Vehicles for the month after someone leaves (and loses their company car!).

Members who are unable to resolve these type of issues should contact a rep for guidance. We'd also like to hear about other examples which might be of interest to other members.

Helpdesk Manifesto - 2 April 2002

At the group Annual General Meeting (AGM) in March, your reps circulated a draft version of a Helpdesk Manifesto. This Manifesto sets out the main points that members in the helpdesks would like to see changed. It was agreed at the AGM that it required some changes and additions making. We have been working on the document since and last Thursday Unite reps and Health and Safety reps from the helpdesks at Man05 met up to discuss the progress of the manifesto. We will soon have a revised draft ready to be sent out to all members for approval.

It is important that you read the manifesto and tell us what you think of it. If it needs further improvement let us know. It is also important that if you want to see the proposed changes made that you support the manifesto. You can do this in various ways. We are planning to have meetings for individual helpdesks where you can discuss the manifesto and the campaign to get it implemented. It is important that helpdesk staff attend these meetings. Also there will be a petition in support of the manifesto - make sure you sign it. And last but not least, talk to non-members about the manifesto and let them know that we can only realistically achieve these goals if we are collectively strong. That means talk to the non-members and get them to join the union and the campaign for better conditions. The members are the union - only by working together can we get results.

UNITE representation at MAN05 - 2 April 2002

Your reps are reviewing the coverage of reps and Health &Safety Reps across MAN05, and are looking for volunteers to get involved.

John Wood (a Rep and Health &Safety Rep) and Hilary Robinson (a Health &Safety Rep), were among those made redundant. The Reps committee would like to record their thanks for the hard work Hil and John have put in to improving working life for everyone at MAN05 over the years. We also need to review our coverage because we need adequate representation for both "streams" of Fujitsu - Services and Consulting.

If you're interested in getting more involved, please get in touch with Ian Allinson as soon as possible.

Relocation - 2 April 2002

It's a disappointment that Richard Reed's visit to MAN05 to speak to staff about the site relocation has been postponed. Over the coming months UNITE will be playing a major part in pushing to ensure that the move benefits employees with an improved working environment and minimal disruption. We'll be looking for members to get involved in a working group about the relocation - get in touch if you're interested. Issues and questions already identified by members include:

• What are the timescales for the move?
• What will happen to the MAN05 site? Will Fujitsu keep any of it? Will any people or equipment remain here?
• Will everyone from MAN05 be moving?
• Where will datacentres be located? Are they staying at MAN05?
• If any of the MAN05 site is staying open, what facilities will remain?
• Which other sites will be joining us on the new site?
• How many people will the new site accommodate?
• How many car parking places will there be, and when will they be available?
• What is the status of the proposed tram route, and when will it be usable?
• What will the other public transport links be, and when will they be usable?
• What guarantees does FJ have for the transport links? Penalty clauses?
• How secure will the new site (buildings, parking, access) be?
• What will happen to "lab" type activities?
• What catering facilities will there be?
• Will there be a staff cash machine?
• What recreation facilities will there be?
• Will there be union recognition?
• What proportion of the site will be "hot-desking"?
• Will the IT infrastructure be better?
• Will we get new furniture, or re-use the old stuff?
• Will staff have cupboards/storage space?
• Will there be a forum set up involving union and H&S reps to be consulted over the plans?
• Who will locally be leading the relocation programme?
• Who will be project managing the relocation?
• Will there be a CafeVIK community set up to post information about the plans?
• Can we have a copy of the plans, and all the submissions to the planning process?
• Which parts of FJ will use the site?
• How much security &isolation is required if the site has multiple occupancy?
• The site is meant to be a high-tech business park. Are there planning restrictions to prevent alternative uses that might impact our environment?
• What will happen if such tenants can't be found for the rest of the park?
• Is FJ committed to any timescales for leaving its current sites? What will happen if the new site isn't ready?
• How much building work will be going on on the park after we move in?
• Will there be adequate parking for bikes &motorbikes?
• Will the site be accessible for people with disabilities?
• Will the new MAN05 phone system relocate there, or will we need a new one?
• If the move is to be phased, which groups are likely to move first?
• What smoking facilities will there be?
• Will there be adequate rest areas?
• What density of seating is assumed?
• Will there be proper air-conditioning?
• Will there be offices for managers, or is it all open-plan?
• Will there be adequate noise absorption in areas to be used as helpdesks?
• Will there be supplies of drinking water within each area, including all helpdesks?

If you have other points for our list - please get in touch.

UKCF elections - 2 April 2002

ICL's UK Consultative Forum has played a significant role over the last few years, most notably in the recent redundancies. For more information about the UKCF, see: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=UKCF.

New elections for your reps are being held in most parts of what was ICL.

UNITE wants to help ensure that there are strong candidates in these elections. We list below the nominations the MAN05 reps already know about. If you are interested in standing for one of the other seats, please get in touch as soon as possible.

Fujitsu Services:

Manchester/Warrington:

3 seats

Thames Valley:

2 seats

Greater London:

1 seat

Midlands:

1 seat

Scotland &North:

no election

Northern Ireland, Wales &South West:

no election

Stevenage:

1 seat

Fujitsu Services employees in the constituencies where elections are to be held should have received nomination forms already. If not, please contact HR immediately to avoid being disenfranchised.

Fujitsu Consulting:

We're not 100% sure what the election arrangements to the Fujitsu Consulting Forum will be, but it seems likely there will be national seats based on the constituent companies.

There are likely to be 3 seats for ex-ICL people, one of which is currently occupied by Andy Spiceley who was on the ICL UKCF.

If you work for FJ Consulting, and are interested, please get in touch.

Stopping the nazis in Oldham - 2 April 2002

You will remember the alarming vote for the nazi BNP in last year's elections in Oldham and a few other towns. The growth of such groups presents a threat to every trade unionists, as they represent a threat to unity, freedom of expression and organisation. The MSF section of UNITE is affiliated to the Anti Nazi League (ANL) as part of our contribution to opposing racism and fascism.

A number of anti-racist organisations, including the ANL, Searchlight, and Oldham Trade Unions Against Racism and Fascism have called a mass-leafleting in Oldham on Sunday, and they are appealing for everyone to help. They want you to meet them:

12 noon (prompt), Sunday 7th April
Civic Centre car park
Rochdale Road, Oldham

For more details, ring the ANL on 0207 924 0333.

Don't wait until after the May elections to make a stand - let's unite to nip this menace in the bud.

Unpaid overtime - £28bn - 2 April 2002

Over 5.5 million British workers now do unpaid over-time, averaging more than seven hours a week and representing more then £5,000 a year worth of free labour to their employer. The total value of unpaid overtime done by British workers is £28bn a year according to a TUC analysis of official figures - an increase of £5bn since the TUC's last analysis in September 2000. The TUC says the huge amount of unpaid overtime more than compensates employers for the exaggerated costs of introducing decent minimum standards of legal protection.

The number of people doing unpaid overtime has risen to by over a quarter of a million to more than one in five workers (22%).

Women in professional occupations are the most likely to work unpaid overtime (57%) although men are slightly more likely to work unpaid overtime overall (23% compared with 21%). Overall, those in professional occupations are most likely to do unpaid overtime (51%) at an average of almost 9.5 hours a week, representing £7,316 a year. TUC general secretary, John Monks, said:

"Employer organisations are always whinging about the costs of what they call red tape, yet you never hear any gratitude for the vast amounts of unpaid overtime their staff put in. "The truth is that when employers talk about the benefits of flexible labour markets, they mean stripping away terms and conditions, as many are now doing with occupational pensions. They point to the US as their preferred model, but people at work in the UK should be warned that on average annual leave is just 10 days compared with 25 in the UK. "And of course employers never count the benefits of treating staff well in their back of the envelope calculations."

[TUC press release 20/3/02]

Redundancy update - 21st March 2002

Today is a sad day for ICL - hundreds of employees are due to be made Compulsory Redundant. They will all be missed, and the company will be the poorer without them. We wish all our members leaving the company the best of luck for the future.

At West Gorton, despite 202 job losses, we have achieved a situation where only 7 members are being made redundant against their wishes. This is 7 too many, but marks a great achievement in the circumstances. We are happy to report that at least one of the 7 has already got another job, and we hope the rest find employment quickly.

Your reps are satisfied that the union at MAN05 has done everything that could have been done, short of members wishing to take industrial action.

The preparation of all the potential cases for legal action will take some time. We understand that our plan to make a claim for a "Protective Award" for failure to consult at MAN05 will be a front-page story on a new Manchester newspaper being launched this week.

Pay 2002 - 21st March 2002

You will have seen ICL's announcement that the normal June pay review is being delayed until October. Via ICL's UK Consultative Forum, UNITE members have already:

• Highlighted how unhappy staff are about this announcement
• Asked whether the pay rise in October will be backdated to June
• Highlighted the particular plight of ICL's 2000+ helpdesk staff in the UK, who are low-paid, have been largely unaffected by the redundancies, and who already suffer staffing attrition of around 30-40%.
• Questioned whether the pay rises can legally be delayed for some of the staff "TUPE" transferred into ICL from other employers
• Questioned the timing of the announcement, during "Compulsory Redundancy week". It seems likely that this decision was taken some time ago, and the announcement delayed until staff reaction was likely to be most subdued.
• Clarified that the announcement relates to Fujitsu Services staff. Those transferring from ICL to Fujitsu Consulting are not within the scope of this announcement, though we have no statement on the pay plans for Fujitsu Consulting.

Recognition at MAN05 - 21st March 2002

A number of staff have been asking what happens to the union recognition agreement at West Gorton when ICL turns into Fujitsu Services on 2nd April, and other staff "TUPE transfer" to Fujitsu Consulting. The current recognition agreement will continue to apply within Fujitsu Services, and a "copy" agreement will cover the staff transferred to Fujitsu Consulting. This means your union rights are safe.

We still require clarification on some of the practical details of representation in FJ Consulting, and will be meeting HR to cover this and other issues relating to the transfer shortly.

Rally Against Compulsory Redundancies - 13 March 2002

The photos from yesterday's rally against compulsory redundancies are now on our web site at: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/fujitsu/rally.htm.

At the rally, Ian Allinson read out a job advert for a contractor to work for ICL. It was advertised on it.jobserve.com, and found by a member facing Compulsory Redundancy:

ITCS requires a VME Specialist to help run and maintain high profile/large Mainframe systems. Candidates must have a minimum of 5 years experience supporting large scale systems on VME. NOVA expereince is desirable, but it is essential that the candidate has a demonstrable background in end to end support and good customer facing skills.

Location: North West
Start Date: ASAP
Duration: 9-12 months
Agency: ICL
Contact: Sam Smallwood, Mark Bailey
Phone: 0870 234 5600
Email: ; itcs@services.fujitsu.com
Reference: JS/MB/VME
Posted Date: 11/03/2002 17:05:14

NOVA was developed here, and there are people with these skills facing Compulsory Redundancy. Instead of recruiting a new contractor, ICL should be avoiding a redundancy. When UNITE reps confronted ICL management about the advert at the Works Conference yesterday, they said they were unaware of the advert. We await a response.

At the rally, Debbie Brannon, our UNITE Regional Officer, referred to a letter of support received from the local MP, Tony Lloyd. In the letter he writes

"The steps taken by the union's negotiators to mitigate the effects of the company's announcement are much welcome. I hope, even at this late stage, restructuring can be achieved without compulsory redundancies, which in the end is in the interest not only of the work force, but the company as well."

What a shame that ICL management don't share the view that avoiding compulsory redundancies is good for the company. We will be writing back to Tony Lloyd to thank him for his letter, and to impress upon him the importance to our members of the UK government fully implementing the European legislation on Information and Consultation. The current situation, where UK government gives our members less protection against redundancies than many of our European colleagues, must end.

Redundancy Update - 12th March 2002

Thank you to all the members who signed the petition, or turned out for the rally at lunchtime, which was a great success. We had reporters from local radio and papers at the rally, following up from the good coverage yesterday and earlier today. Unfortunately the promised TV cameras were unable to come, as they were called away to an incident at Manchester Airport, but we understand that BBC TV covered the protests using library footage of the site. We will have photos from the protest on our external web site www.ourunion.org.uk as soon as possible.

A wide range of people have contributed to the UNITE campaign, in a wide variety of ways. All your help and support has produced a range of successes, including a VR programme, some improvements to redundancy packages, removal of sickness from the selection criteria, and improved appeal processes. The results of the redundancy programme would have been far worse, without all your efforts. Thank you.

This afternoon, your reps and your Regional Officer, Debbie Brannon, met with ICL senior management at a Works Conference - the final stage of our collective grievance procedure. We were extremely disappointed at the ICL response, which was not constructive.

Your reps had offered to recommend to our members that we should not submit a claim for a Protective Award (for failure to consult), if the company took steps to resolve some outstanding package issues, and delayed Compulsory Redundancies to allow more time for redeployment, further volunteers etc. This offer was rejected without debate.

The company refused to:

• Accept that they had failed to consult properly
• Delay any of the redundancies
• Re-advertise voluntary redundancy (though this is still available)
• Provide Pay In Lieu of holiday entitlement for staff on the SEA and 12 months notice
• Compensate the over 60s for their loss of 1% of pension for life for every month's notice they are being prevented from working
• Compensate staff who had a pay rise last year for the reduction in final pensionable pay caused by being prevented from working their notice
• Compensate staff over 50 for their extra pension reduction (3% per year) resulting from being prevented from working their notice
• Compensate staff for loss of pension accrual due to being prevented from working their notice
• Compensate staff for increased tax liability due to getting all their payments in the 2001-2 tax year, because of being prevented from working their notice

We submitted the petition, with 385 signatures, asking for delays in the redundancies into the new tax year. Richard Christou will respond to this himself.

The only progress made in the meeting was marginal to the main issues:

• Telephone StandBy (TSB) payments have not been consistently included in the calculation of weekly pay, for calculating redundancy and PILON payments. ICL agreed to correct such anomalies as we highlight.
• Overtime worked during TSB is not being included in the calculation of weekly pay. ICL agreed to look at this on a case by case basis to assess whether the overtime was contractual, and should thus be included.
• TSB is being paid below the National Minimum Wage. ICL had not fully considered this issue, and will come back to us later. They believe that for any staff who are made redundant prior to the company forming a view on this, it would be possible to compensate after the event.
• Employees who are approaching 65 have their severance payment capped at what they would earn if they worked until 65. For tax reasons, it is often beneficial for staff to work their holidays, to reduce the PILOB component of their severance package. ICL agreed to look at individual cases where people wouldn't have time to take their annual leave before they left, and would thus be paid in lieu.

If you fall into any of these categories, you must raise it with the company, to get it resolved. If you are at MAN05, and on grade GSS17 or below, you can do this by contacting your rep, who can notify the company. Other MAN05 members should be dealing with these issues through the union's Individual Grievance Procedure. Non-MAN05 members should be dealing with this through the company Speak Up procedure.

UNITE will now be issuing a further press release to expose the company's intransigent position. Your reps will be holding further talks with our Regional Officer, and the solicitor, to prepare a suitable legal response.

Your reps will continue to be representing individual members in their appeals against selection for Compulsory Redundancy.

We would remind those members who are VR or CR to complete the survey that we have issued. You should now have received this by email from the West Gorton group, and by post from the UNITE-MSF IT Professionals Association (ITPA). Unless you complete this survey, we won't know about your case, and you could miss out on any compensation. Even if you aren't interested in compensation, please complete the survey, to ensure UNITE has your latest contact details.

AGM - 8 March 2002

This is a summary of the results of our Annual General Meeting yesterday.

The following were elected as the reps committee:

Ian Allinson, Phil Tepper, John Wood, Lynne Hodge, Mat Taylor, Chris Morton, [hidden], Frazer Cooke, Saiqa Karim, Dave Francis, [hidden]

Since then, your reps have met, and elected Lynne Hodge as the group chair, and Ian Allinson as the group secretary.

The following motion was passed unanimously by the AGM:

We reaffirm our opposition to Compulsory Redundancies, and our determination to campaign to secure the jobs of those MAN05 members threatened with Compulsory Redundancy and who wish to stay. In pursuit of this goal, we:

1. resolve to build and attend a protest rally outside MAN05 gates on the lunchtime of Tuesday 12th March,
2. instruct our officers to use the press as part of the campaign,
3. instruct our union to pursue vigorously any potential legal challenges resulting from the redundancy programme unless a resolution is obtained to the satisfaction of all members at MAN05 facing redundancy.

There is likely to be media coverage (possibly TV cameras) for Tuesday's rally, so a good turn-out is essential. Don't let your colleagues down. We realise that there are a number of VR leaving-dos on Tuesday, but hope that people will join in the rally at 12:30 for a short while before going to the pub.

There was a good discussion on our draft "MAN05 Helpdesk Manifesto", which is here. A number of suggestions were made from the floor, which can be incorporated into the manifesto. We want helpdesk members to get involved in further improving the document, over the next few weeks, before we present it to management, and start to campaign for its implementation. If you have ideas or comments, please send them to Mat Taylor, one of our reps on the Pathway desk, via . Also get in touch if you want to get involved in preparing the manifesto, or campaigning for it.

LEGAL CASES AND VOLUNTEERS - 6th March 2002

Any members (who are not MAN05 staff on GSS17 or below) who may wish to pursue a Breach Of Contract claim should still lodge individual grievances over any issues with their package immediately. Any grievance will "die" when you leave employment, but you will have at least demonstrated that you have tried to resolve the issues using the appropriate internal procedures.

There is, of course, no guarantee that any individual claim would be successful. Our advice is aimed to ensure that if you do have a case, you have taken the necessary steps to ensure it is as strong as possible. The strength of individual cases will be assessed after the redundancies have taken effect.

The primary UNITE focus is on avoiding Compulsory Redundancies. We are continuing to press the company on the various package-related issues at a collective level, with a view to bringing forward more volunteers, and reducing the compulsory redundancies.

Nationally, the forecast numbers now stand at:
463 Compulsory Redundancies
843 Voluntary Redundancies
1306 Total

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 6th March 2002

Don't forget the group AGM:

3pm-4:30pm, Thursday 7th March, MAN05 restaurant

The agenda will be as follows:

1. Chair's report
2. Secretary's report
3. DISCUSSION / QUESTIONS
4. Redundancy Programme:
   1. Overview
   2. Packages
   3. UKCF and UNITE
   4. DISCUSSION / QUESTIONS
   5. Motion
5. Helpdesk Manifesto
6. DISCUSSION/QUESTIONS
7. Election of reps
8. Changes to group rules
   We propose a new set of rules, to take effect from 2nd April 2002.
9. Any Other Business
10. Summing up

RALLY AGAINST COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES - 6th March 2002

We will be holding a rally against compulsory redundancies:

12:30pm, Tuesday 12th March
MAN05, Wenlock Way entrance

Let's send a clear message:

• Compulsory redundancies at MAN05 are avoidable
• No Compulsory redundancies at MAN05

We will have the returned petitions at the rally, and will be presenting them at our Works Conference meeting shortly afterwards.

We want media coverage, so a good turnout is vital.

REDUNDANCY CAMPAIGN - 5 March 2002

UNITE is campaigning against compulsory redundancies in ICL. Please circulate the attached petition throughout ICL to show management the strength of feeling over this issue. Members and non-members are welcome to sign.

Please ensure that all petitions are returned by Monday 11th March [details on the form].

At MAN05 we have a Works Conference about the redundancies on Tuesday 12th March, as part of our procedure for resolving collective grievances. ICL will be represented by David Sillitoe, Deirdre Murphy, and Peter Bradley of the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF). Staff will be represented by UNITE reps, and our new UNITE Regional Officer, Debbie Brannon.

We also intend to hold a mass rally outside the MAN05 gates on Wenlock Way, to protest against compulsory redundancies. This will be at 12:30pm on Tuesday 12th March - just before the Works Conference. Book it in your diary now - don't let the company think you don't care!

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 5 March 2002

Don't forget to be at the group Annual General Meeting:

3pm-4:30pm, Thursday 7th March, MAN05 restaurant

The meeting will elect the reps for the coming year, decide on action over redundancies, and debate a draft MAN05 Helpdesk Manifesto.

Be there or have no say!

POSSIBLE LEGAL ACTION OVER REDUNDANCIES - 5 March 2002

In our note yesterday we said:

Before making a claim for Breach Of Contract, it is advisable to try to resolve the issue using the company internal procedures while you are still in employment. Failure to do so could substantially weaken your legal case later. UNITE at MAN05 will use its Collective Grievance procedure to do this on behalf of MAN05 staff on GSS17 and below. We are seeking agreement from the company that we can do this on behalf of other ICL staff, but this is not guaranteed.

We can now confirm that ICL are not going to formally discuss the breach of contract issues collectively, except for staff on GSS17 and below at MAN05.

THIS MEANS THAT ALL MEMBERS OUTSIDE MAN05, OR ABOVE GSS17, AND WHO MAY WISH TO PURSUE A BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIM AT A LATER DATE, MUST LODGE AN INDIVIDUAL GRIEVANCE NOW, AS OUTLINED IN OUR LAST NOTICE.

Of course, ICL must still allow members to be represented by their union rep at individual grievance meetings, regardless of grade or site.

ICL's decision will clearly waste a lot of everyone's time, and make no difference to the outcome.

ICL CONTINUES TO DISCRIMINATE ON PENSIONS - 5 March 2002

The ICL pension fund treats unmarried partners (whether heterosexual or homosexual) less favourably than their married counterparts. With a significant proportion of people living as unmarried partners, this is a growing issue. Of course, unmarried employees make the same pension contributions - they just get less for them.

An UNITE member has been pressing the ICL pension fund on this issue, and received the following response from Bob Coe, the ICL pensions manager, on 22nd February:

I can advise you that at its recent meeting ICL's Pensions Policy Committee (PPC) considered the issues that you have raised regarding nominated dependants' pensions. It understands the relaxation in the definition that the Inland Revenue will allow and decided, as a result, to take legal and actuarial advice on the implications of any change to the current definition.

After discussion at its meeting the PPC has decided not to make any changes to the definition of nominated dependent at this time. The Committee will, however, continue to monitor and review its decision. There are number of issues/complications about which the PPC wishes to take further professional advice.

ICL seems keen enough to follow the latest trends in pensions when that means closing the Final Salary scheme to new entrants, but not when it means ending discrimination to the benefit of members. What a shame that ICL has to be forced into the 21st century.

Pension schemes as diverse as the Civil Service and Barclays Bank are already making changes to end this discrimination.

Legislation will outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation by the end of 2003. However, there is still a dispute between the TUC and the government over the government's plans to exempt occupational pension schemes from its implementation of the European Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation.

For more information, see www.tuc.org.uk/equality.

PERSONAL ASSET OWNERSHIP FORM - 5 March 2002

Many employees have been asked to complete an audit of their personally allocated IT equipment. After completing this audit, employees are asked to sign and return a form confirming the details. This form also says that you accept ICL's "Acceptable Use of IT" policy, which you can find here: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/Scripts/Links/SearchQLink.asp?SearchID=229.

This policy is well out of date, does not fully reflect ICL policy, and contradicts a number of other, more recent policies, particularly on non-business use of IT. For example: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/viewer.asp?/content/0105/public/00002/Use%20of%20eMail%20and%20Internet%20Applications.doc from the IT Security community.

Once we have a little more time, we will be raising this issue with management. In the meantime, you may wish to delete this part of your confirmation form, or delay returning it for the time being.

We have previously raised the question of the warning dialog box when you log in, which also refers to the same out-of-date policy.

Whilst we don't accept that the Acceptable Use of IT policy is a fair reflection of ICL's policy, employees have been disciplined under it, so we urge members to err on the side of caution until ICL sorts out this shambles.

BRANCH MEETING - 5 March 2002

Greater Manchester IT Branch meets:

6pm, Thursday 7th March Hare &Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

All members are entitled to attend.

ARE YOU AT RISK OF COMPULSORY REDUNDANCY? - 1st March 2002

Your reps are considering what proposals to bring to our Annual General Meeting as part of the campaign against Compulsory Redundancies at MAN05. We need to hear from you if:

• You are MAN05 based, and
• You have been selected for compulsory redundancy, and
• You want the campaign to try to overturn your selection

If you meet ALL THREE of these criteria, please let us know.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 1st March 2002

Don't forget our Annual General Meeting for all members:

Thursday 7th March, 3pm - 4:30pm, MAN05 restaurant

Don't forget that if you want to be represented next year, you need to nominate the reps you want.

If you would like to stand as a rep, or would like to nominate someone else, please email including:

• Name of member to nominate as a rep
• Name of member proposing them
• A short (no more than 100 words) election address

Please send these in to arrive before the end of business on Monday 4th March.

There are 11 rep places to be elected at the AGM.

PETITION AGAINST COMPULSORY REDUNDANCY - 1st March 2002

Our petition is available on our CafeVIK community: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289 or from the union office: M.F1A, upstairs in phase 2 of the main building.

BRANCH MEETING - 1st March 2002

Greater Manchester IT Branch meets:

6pm, Thursday 7th March, upstairs room, Hare &Hounds pub, Shudehill

All members are entitled to attend.

As well as discussion on workplace issues, the meeting will decide any amendments to conference motions our branch might submit.

Compulsory Redundancy Appeal guidance - 24th Feb 2002

UNITE at West Gorton is campaigning against compulsory redundancies. However, we are leaving no stone un-turned to support our members, so your reps are also providing guidance to members selected for redundancies, and who may wish to appeal. This guidance has been put together by the ICL West Gorton reps to assist members selected for compulsory redundancy to lodge their appeal. Given that the outcome of a successful appeal is normally the selection of a different employee for redundancy, we ask members not to make this advice available to non-members, as doing so could result in the late selection of a member for redundancy.

Individual appeals against selection must be lodged within five days of the written confirmation of your selection (21st February for most people). The company documents are contradictory as to whether this is 5 days, or 5 working days. We suggest you play safe, and get your appeal in within 5 days if at all possible. We will try to get this confusion resolved before Tuesday, which would be the 5th day for most people.

If you want to appeal, make sure you submit it before the deadline.

All members should seek individual advice from a rep as early as possible if submitting an appeal. Once we know you intend to appeal, we can allocate a rep to assist with your case. Please don't leave this to the last minute. Your rep will need copies of all documentation relating to your case - please help us to help you.

While we encourage members who disagree with their selection to lodge an appeal, we must caution that this is probably not the most likely route to avoid redundancy. Actively seeking redeployment, our collective campaigning, and late volunteers also offer opportunities to remain with the company.

You should familiarise yourself with the key documents covering the selection process, as any deviations from the process described could assist your case. The key generic documents are:

• Selection Criteria Process (includes "Appendix A" - the score sheet)
• Redundancy Selection Process - Guidelines For Managers
• Informing Employees Selected for redundancy - Managers' Guidelines

If you don't have these already, they should be available from your manager.

The appeal must be submitted on this form.

ICL have provided these guidelines for employees on the appeal process.

These are the guidelines the manager hearing the appeal will be working to.

While these still leave a lot be desired, we're very pleased that since the first draft we have secured changes so that no evidence from your management should be submitted to the appeal except in writing (where you can get a copy), or at the hearing, where you have an opportunity to challenge it.

In order to submit an effective appeal, you need to be well prepared. We have therefore prepared two model letters, which you can adapt for your own use.

This is a letter to the manager who briefed you, requesting information you may need in preparing for your appeal. Hopefully you already have much of the information, or will be able to get it informally through your "individual consultation" meetings. We suggest you formally request any outstanding information in writing when you submit your appeal, to give you the best chance of getting it in time to prepare for your appeal hearing. The manager hearing the appeal will not provide information, so you must address this letter to the manager who briefed you.

This is a letter including some example grounds for appeal. Some of these may apply to your own case, and there may be others in your case not on our list. You'll need to modify the letter to fit your case. Don't make your letter exhaustive - just a summary. You can then write on the appeal form "See attached letter", and send the form and letter to David Sillitoe. Make sure you keep a copy, and details of how and when you sent it. If you email it, turn on delivery and read receipts.

Please remember - this guidance can only be generic. Please discuss your individual case with your rep as early as possible.

Update - 21 February 2002

ICL is still notifying staff who have been selected for Compulsory Redundancy. With a few exceptions, this will be complete by the end of today.

At MAN05, we believe 49 people are being put "at risk", and your reps have been very busy accompanying members at these meetings.

UNITE opposes Compulsory Redundancies, and believes they can still be avoided, if ICL shows a little flexibility. Compulsory redundancies wreck lives, as well as allowing managers to pick and choose who should go, which inevitably undermines union organisation.

As well as the collective campaign to prevent compulsory redundancies at MAN05, reps are offering individual support and guidance to members.

If you intend to appeal, please do NOT lodge your appeal just yet. We will be sending out a model appeal letter in the next few days, upon which you may wish to base your appeal. Remember that there is a 5-day time limit to lodge your appeal, from receiving your written confirmation, so if you intend to appeal you should start preparing your case without delay.

Here are the (company) guidelines for employees facing compulsory ("selected" is the ICL euphemism) redundancy.

Members facing compulsory redundancy should follow the "pairing" guidelines we have previously sent out, to maximise the chances of redeployment. Any employee rejected for VR is encouraged to update the information on the Rationalisation Programme Community about their job (see the MAN05 Union community for details of how to do this). Details here: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/viewer.asp?http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/content/0289/public/00002/pairing.htm.

There is an "outplacement" Resource Centre on TB03, which VR and CR staff can use. This is staffed by a consultant from Penna Sanders &Sidney, plus Liz Hitchen from Linkwise. It has PCs, Internet access, quiet areas, phones, copying and fax service, reference directories, newspapers, details of job vacancies etc. The area currently appears to be under-used (because most employees don't seem to know about it!), so don't be shy.

We are aware that Royal London Insurance in Wilmslow placed an advert today looking for ICL Developers and Systems programmers (details from the Resource Centre). Links from the MAN05 Union CafeVIK community: http://www.cafevik.fs.fujitsu.com/scripts/index.asp?community=0289

REDUNDANCY UPDATE - 18/02/02

This week, we expect ICL to tell around 472 people across the UK that they have been selected for compulsory redundancy.

At West Gorton, the current forecast is for a total of 202 jobs to be lost, including 153 volunteers and 49 compulsories.

Any MAN05 members invited to a meeting to discuss redundancy should ring the MAN05 Union Office on x2829 as soon as possible to arrange representation. If you are in a meeting, and it becomes apparent that you are being briefed about your selection for redundancy, you can ask for it to be postponed while you contact a rep.

Your reps sent this letter to Deirdre Murphy last week, setting out the current position with our grievance.

Your reps are actively pursuing further measures to avoid or reduce the compulsory redundancies. If these prove unsuccessful, and compulsory redundancies are still planned at MAN05, we will be consulting members at our Annual General Meeting on 7th March, considering possible action.

PAIRING OF REJECTED VOLUNTEERS WITH COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES - 18/02/02

In order to minimise compulsory redundancies, UNITE reps proposed a scheme for pairing employees, whose application for voluntary redundancy was not accepted, with those selected for compulsory redundancy. The goal would be for the selected employee to be redeployed into the job of the volunteer, allowing them to be released.

In response, ICL has set up a scheme for advertising the jobs of those volunteers who have not been accepted, hidden in the Rationalisation Programme CafeVIK community under "JOB OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE".

IF YOU VOLUNTEERED and were rejected, you should identify your job on the list. You may wish to correct or add to the information shown, to increase the changes of successful pairing.

IF YOU WERE SELECTED FOR REDUNDANCY, you should check the advertised roles from time to time, and apply for any you think might be suitable.

The original UNITE proposal allowed rejected volunteers a more active part in the process. Unfortunately, this part of the proposal was not properly considered until it was too late to implement it in full. As we write, it is unclear how much individuals will be able to amend the own words of "their own" job description. If you wish to provide more information, we suggest that you could place it on your CafeVIK "Connect" page, along with the keyword "VRPAIR". Those selected for redundancy can then search Connect for this keyword, for more information. Similarly, any employees selected for compulsory redundancy who want to make their CV information visible could put it on Connect along with the keyword "CRPAIR".

UNITE GOES FURTHER AT MAN05 - 18/02/02

Many of those selected for redundancy may be from selection pools containing people with different roles. It may therefore be possible to prevent a compulsory redundancy by redeploying someone else from the selection pool into the job of a rejected VR. This can't simply be done using a web page - it requires active effort. UNITE at MAN05 will be using the extra rights to information which arise from our recognition agreement to explore every avenue to prevent members being made compulsory redundant.

If you are selected - please make sure your reps know - we want to concentrate our efforts on members' jobs, and can only do this if we know about your situation.

CONFERENCES - 18/02/02

Our union branch (Greater Manchester IT) will be sending delegations to the following conferences. If you're interested in attending, or want more details, please contact branch secretary Ian Allinson as soon as possible.

Anti-Nazi League conference, Manchester, 9 March

Speakers include Glynn Ford MEP, and speakers from campaigns in Oldham and Burnley, Denmark and Belgium
www.anl.org.uk

The future of union political funds

organised by the Socialist Alliance, London, 16 March

Information & Consultation

organised by the Labour Research Department, London, 13 April
www.lrd.org.uk

Our branch is sending 6 delegates to the UNITE (MSF section) annual delegate conference this year. Our next branch meeting (6pm, 7th March) will consider amendments to conference motions. If you want copies of the motions to consider proposing amendments, please contact branch secretary - Ian Allinson.

REDUNDANCY UPDATE - 01/02/02

VR ACCEPTANCE RATES

Yesterday ICL started telling applicants for voluntary redundancy (VR) whether their application had been accepted, rejected, or put "on hold". Of the 1186 people who have formally applied for VR, ICL intend to accept 699 (59%) immediately. There is considerable variation in acceptance rates between the business units. In HPS, for example, where UNITE has had the strongest involvement, the immediate acceptance rate is 90 out of 99 applicants.

We don't think it's a coincidence that the VR acceptance rates look higher at MAN05, where the company is under close union scrutiny, than in parts of the company with less union organisation.

TOTAL JOB LOSSES

Because the profile of the volunteers tends to be those with longer service and higher pay, the accepted volunteers will produce a higher cost saving than the average employee. As expected, the target for total redundancies has now been reduced. The expectation for total job losses has come down from 1500 to around 1320, which is excellent news. We are working to drive this figure still lower.

COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES

ICL's target for what they call "selected" redundancies, now stands at 614, but we expect to push that down further, e.g. with more volunteers being accepted in the next few weeks. We don't currently have a breakdown of where those job losses will fall - ICL are dividing that target up by business division, and each division will then break their target down to selection pool level. We are told that this breakdown will be available from Tuesday.

GRIEVANCE

By putting in a collective grievance over aspects of the redundancy programme on behalf of MAN05 staff, UNITE presented ICL with a choice. They should have sought to resolve the grievance or exhaust the grievance procedure before taking any measures which were the subject of the grievance (keeping the status quo). This would probably have meant delaying parts of their redundancy programme. Instead they have chosen to press ahead with implementation of the redundancy programme with the grievance outstanding, which provides us with strong evidence that they are not consulting "with a view to reaching agreement" as the law requires.

Your reps will be meeting with the union solicitors on Monday to discuss various aspects of the situation, including ICL's slapdash approach to consultation.

AGREEMENTS

ICL's behaviour during this redundancy exercise raises vital questions for every employee. Even setting aside the questions of the legality of some of ICL's actions, ICL has broken two signed agreements:

1. The update to the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA), which clarifies when the 90-day period begins. ICL started its 90-day clock much earlier than the agreed point. If ICL honoured this agreement, this would allow adequate time for genuine consultation, as well as shifting the termination date for redundant employees into the next tax year. This would in turn increase the value of the package, increasing the numbers of volunteers.
2. The ICL West Gorton procedure agreement, in which ICL undertake not to engage in "coercive" action until the grievance procedure is exhausted.

[Both agreements are available on the "MAN05 Union" CafeVIK community, and via www.ourunion.org.uk]

This second point has wide-ranging implications. Does this mean that ICL believe they can take any action on site without trying to resolve issues first? Every employee in every department at MAN05 should be deeply concerned.

Your reps will be meeting HR later today to clarify their stance. If this is not satisfactory, we will be asking for every member to support a campaign to press ICL to honour their agreements.

VOLUNTARY AND COMPULSORY REDUNDANCY DECISIONS

Both UNITE and UKCF reps are unhappy that decisions to reject VRs have been taken before adequate consultation. Similarly, scoring for Compulsory Redundancy has begun, before people have had a chance to comment on much of the relevant documentation.

Please keep checking the UKCF and MAN05 UNION CafeVIK communities for updated documents - we need _your_ comments on the definitions of selection pools and selection profiles for where you are. You're the expert on your job, after all. We know that the selection pool definitions are confusing - the UKCF have formally asked for a definition sufficient for all staff to know which pool they are in - in the meantime, please do what you can.

We are asking for changes to be made the proposed appeal processes, which we believe are still inadequate.

APPEALS

If you are put in a position where you expect to appeal against a decision, please contact rep as soon as possible, so that we can plan our support for members. We hear reports of managers telling people that their appeal will make no difference. Please make a note of any such comments, and appeal anyway. If you don't appeal, you can't complain!

ICL have imposed a deadline of 5 working days for appeals to be lodged in writing. We are seeking to get this deadline extended, but advise members to work to it for now.

UNITE will be preparing a template appeal letter for members to adapt, and add in the points specific to their own case, which we will be circulating early next week.

UNITE will be running a 1-day training workshop at MAN05 on representing members appealing against their rejection for VR or selection for CR. This will take place on Tuesday 5th February.

Don't forget that as well as the formal "appeal", there are other routes to change the decision. UNITE is working hard to ensure we can "pair" rejected VR applicants with those selected for CR, to assist redeployment and avoid compulsory redundancies. The UKCF have agreed to set up a "pairing" sub-group to work with Jim Brice of Linkwise and Deirdre Murphy of HR, and Ian Allinson is a member of this group.

KEEP IN TOUCH

If you're leaving ICL, please let us know via so that we can ensure your membership records are updated appropriately.

REDUNDANCY UPDATE - 08/01/02

Reps met HR again on 7th January, to discuss the current redundancy situation. Subjects included:

• Comments on proposed selection criteria
• Redundancy packages
• MSF's role in the process
• Alternatives to compulsory redundancy

We formally requested a delay in the redundancy timetable. We feel this is necessary because key inputs to the consultation process are still unavailable. The missing information includes targets and budgets for the redundancy exercise, plans for Fujitsu Services structure, and a proper draft of selection pools and criteria which includes numbers. ICL seem to be backtracking on a statement agreed on 14 December, in answer to one of our questions about Pay In Lieu Of Notice (PILON) and Pay In Lieu Of Benefits (PILOB):

Q: Some employees may be better off working their notice, rather than getting PILON, if all their PILON would be paid in the 2001-2 tax year. What can ICL do to avoid this?

A: We are obliged to deduct tax in this tax year, if the money is paid this tax year. Some employees who have the right to work their notice may exercise that right to spread the money into the next tax year. Others have the right to ask the Inland Revenue to assess them, and refund some of their tax on the basis that it was really earnings for the next tax year. However, we can give no guarantees that this will be successful.

ICL are now suggesting that even where the contracts of redundant employees do not give ICL the right to pay PILON, they will terminate their contracts on March 14th, whether or not the employee wants to work their notice. Not being allowed to work your notice can be detrimental to some employees for the following reasons:

• PILON and PILOB would be paid in the 2001-2 tax year, causing those who earn less after leaving ICL to pay much more tax than if they worked their notice, at least until the new tax year.
• Employees would continue to accrue pension if they worked their notice, but ICL do not intend compensating them for this loss.
• Final pensionable pay (which determines pension) would typically be higher for those who work their notice until at least 12 months after their last pay rise.

For many employees, the loss due to this breach of contract could amount to thousands of pounds.

Our ongoing poll on the "MAN05 union" CafeVIK community already shows that just allowing people to work until the new tax year would make a significant difference to the numbers prepared to volunteer.

A delay in the redundancy timetable would address the tax implications, but we still believe ICL should be giving employees the option of working their notice. This can have significant benefits to the employee, and will help avoid compulsory redundancies.

The UK Consultative Forum is meeting on Wednesday. MSF reps at MAN05 will be meeting HR again on Friday. The European Consultative Forum will be meeting on 16th January. Please contact us with any input for these meetings.

BRANCH MEETING - 08/01/02

UNITE (MSF section) Greater Manchester IT Branch will be meeting:

6pm, Thursday 10th January

Upstairs room, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, Manchester City Centre

All members of the branch are entitled to attend.

Future branch meetings will be listed here on our website.

HEALTH & SAFETY - 08/01/02

The TUC wants you to write to your MP and ask them to attend a meeting in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 15 January at 4pm. The meeting of the All Party Group on Occupational Safety and Health will hear from Paul Noon, joint general secretary of Prospect, about the union's campaign to secure £35 million extra in resources for the HSE so that it can employ more HSE inspectors and enforce health and safety laws better.

Please urge your local MP to attend even if only briefly to hear about the case (they should all have received a copy of Prospect's campaign pack but if they haven't, the TUC can supply them with one) and to show their support. You could also ask them to make their support known to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown MP and to Stephen Byers MP, the Secretary of State for Local Government, Transport and the Regions (HSE's sponsoring Department).

This is urgent because parliament only comes back the week before, and a good turn-out could be crucial to the campaign. If you get a substantive reply to your letter, please send a copy to Owen Tudor at the TUC.

[Owen Tudor
Tel: 020 636 4030
Email: otudor@tuc.org.uk
Trades Union Congress
Congress House
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3LS]

AVOIDING COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES - 04/01/02

Our goal is to avoid or minimise compulsory redundancies. To this end, we will be looking at a range of options. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions.

Many people have pointed out that more volunteers would come forward if people left the company at the start of the next tax year, rather than the end of this. We are examining ways of making this possible. As part of our negotiations with ICL, it is valuable for us to have an idea how significant a difference this would make to the number of volunteers. We've set up a poll on our CafeVIK community - please take 10 seconds to answer the question.

Go here, and look under "POLL" in the left hand navigation bar. Once you've voted, you can see the results as they build up.

SELECTION CRITERIA - 04/01/02

Thanks for all your feedback on the first draft of the selection criteria. Here is the initial feedback we've submitted to HR (as Word comments).

We have since made additional comments on these criteria.