Unite Fujitsu News

Strike Rally Today

Fujitsu strikers took part in a very successful strike rally today in Manchester city centre. The rally was hosted by the PCS (civil servants) and we were joined by UNISON healthworkers who will be on strike today too. The NHS and civil service are among Fujitsu's biggest customers.

We gathered in Piccadilly gardens and then had a short march to the venue for the very well attended rally, which was chaired by the secretary of Manchester Trades Council. There we heard speakers from the PCS union, our branch, the nurses, the NUS (students), the NUJ (journalists), Defend Council Housing, and others.

See here for pictures.

Report from NHS Picket Lines

I visited the striking nurses on Manchester Rd and explained who I was and offered my solidirity to them. The nurses asked me to stand on the wall and address the striking nurses, which I did.

Manchester Leafletting Report

From approximately 1:30 to 3:00pm on 31st January a group of approximately 15 people leafletted customers of Marks and Spencers, Orange and Tesco all in Market Street, Manchester.

We handed out around 1800 leaflets explaining the dispute and why it is relevant to those shops and their customers.

We told the shop managers what we were doing and why. Marks and Spencers management were the most edgy and I have confidence they will report the matter further within the organisation and account.

My personal experience was that those people who stopped and talked were interested and supportive of the dispute. We even had donations from the public outside Marks and Spencers. Even after we finished leafletting I saw a number of green leaflets being clutched as I went back to the car.

Strike Update and Plans

Key activities for ALL Fujitsu Manchester members during our 5-day strike:

- Wednesday’s lunch-time rally in Manchester city centre
- Friday’s morning protest outside Central Park, followed by the members’ meeting in the city centre which will take key decisions.

There’s plenty more you can do – see below.

Reports and updates are being posted on www.ourunion.org.uk/news during the strike.

STRIKE UPDATES
Our strike has got off to a great start, with more and more people getting involved in the campaign.

- One team which set off on Sunday night leafleted Fujitsu Footscray on Monday morning, then visited workplaces in London
- One team which set off on Sunday night leafleted Fujitsu Swansea and customer offices on Monday morning, then visited workplaces locally
- Picketing at Central Park 6:30am-10am Monday, then off for a brew and a chat in Asda Eastlands.
- "Picket visitor of the day" for Monday was a close tie between the guy who stopped his car to give us £20 and the UNISON member who dropped by with a flask of hot tea. Thanks!
- Media interest from Key 103, Tower FM, Imagine FM, WFM, The Register, ZDnet, Channel M TV, Swansea Evening Post, Report Digital
- Had a speaker at an Organising For Fighting Unions meeting in Sheffield Monday night
- Had a speaker at a National Union of Journalists meeting in Manchester on Monday night. Not only did they take a collection, but offered to pass on details of our dispute to their contacts.
- Picketing at Central Park from 6:30am Tuesday
- One team leafleting Fujitsu Bracknell Tuesday morning
- One team leafleting Fujitsu Slough Tuesday morning
- One team leafleting Fujitsu Warrington Tuesday morning
- One team leafleting Fujitsu Crewe Tuesday morning
- One team raising support at another big IT company, then touring workplaces in Sheffield on Tuesday.
- One team visiting workplaces round Manchester Tuesday morning

PLANS

Monday’s strike committee heard reports from the day’s activities, then made more plans for the rest of the week.

Remember that while while Amicus “Dispute Benefit” will be available to striking members regardless of participation in other campaign activities, “Additional Strike Assistance” and “Hardship Payments” are paid out of the money we raise through campaigning. They will only be paid to those who take part in at least some campaigning activity during the week (or notify reps of valid reasons for being unable to do so). The level of payments will take account of the number of days on which you participate – the more you put in, the more you get back.

Here’s what we can announce so far (not including the items covered in the reports above):

TUESDAY 30th
- Picket Central Park 6:30-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
- 11-2pm, phoning, writing etc at the Amicus Prestwich office
- Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office.

WEDNESDAY 31st
- Picket Central Park 6:30am-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
- Visit PCS and UNISON picket lines (some major ones listed below) to show our support and strengthen the links we've made
- Assemble by the Queen Victoria statue, Piccadilly Gardens at 11:30am to go to the http://www.ourunion.org.uk/news/archives/2007_01.htm#000897
at 12:00 in Methodist Central Hall. While Fujitsu's management seem happy to jeopardise the company and its customers by prolonging the dispute, we're working closely with civil servants and NHS staff - some of the biggest contracts Fujitsu has.
- 2pm: Distribute leaflets outside M&S, Tesco & Orange (3 of our customers) on Market Street
- Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office.

UNISON NHS picket lines:
- North Manchester General, corner of Beech Mount/Rochdale Rd
- Manchester Royal Infirmary, corner of Oxford Rd and Hathersage Rd
- Chorlton House, 70 Manchester Road, Chorlton
- Kath Locke, corner of Moss Lane and Alexander Rd
- Harpurhey, Beech Mount and Rochdale Road
(Harpurhey from 8am, others 7:30am)

Main PCS picket lines:
- Albert Bridge House, Trinity House, Ralli Quays (all near Salford rail station)
- Government Office North West, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1 4BE
- Department of Constitutional Affairs (the courts near Deansgate)
There will be many others, including Job Centres all over the city.

THURSDAY 1st
- Picket Central Park 6:30am-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
- Visiting workplaces in Manchester
- Visiting workplaces in Preston
- Visiting workplaces in Bolton
- Training session for members on campaigning and organising, 10:30-1pm, Amicus Prestwich office
- 11-2pm, phoning, writing etc at the Amicus Prestwich office
- Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office
- Amicus Greater Manchester IT Branch, 6pm-7:30pm, Hare & Hounds

FRIDAY 2nd
- Picket Central Park from 6:30am
- Assemble 9am outside Central Park: As the company won't come to the negotiating table, we'll take the table to the company.
- 10:30am Members' meeting at the Mechanics Institute. This is an important decision-making meeting which all members should attend.- Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office

If you’re going off on a delegation, we strongly suggest that you exchange numbers with the other people going with you and ensure your reps have all the details too.

Locations
- Fujitsu Central Park: Fujitsu Services, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP. Parking available on Church Lane behind the site. Map here.
- Amicus Prestwich office: Amicus, Parkgates, Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 0JW (entrance on Sedgley Park Road). Map here (note that the arrow is on the wrong side of Bury New Road to where the office is). Phone 0161 798 8976.
Press "AEEU" buzzer to gain entry to the car park. You can double-park. Please sign in on 2nd floor, leaving your vehicle registration. Gill Bolton will direct you to the space we're using on the 1st floor.
- Methodist Central Hall: Oldham Street, Manchester City Centre, M1 1JQ. Map here.
- Mechanics Institute: 103 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6DD. This is the TUC building – entrance on Major St. Map here.

Expenses
If you’re travelling, parking etc on strike business, please minimise costs as far as you can by sharing cars etc. Expense forms will be available at the members’ meeting on Friday 2nd February.

Report from Crewe delegation

Building on our first visit to CRE02, there were 2 more members, making 9 in all, which made quite an impact at the gate as our colleagues came in to work. This time, as expected, most people knew we were on strike, and many took time out to ask how things were going.

Our focus this time as well as updating them, was to highlight how the issues at the Manchester campus were just as relevant at the Crewe - for example below inflation pay rises, and non-negotiated erosion of rights. We also made a special effort to tell people to ask their manager for their role code pay info (min., median, max.) as that’s something we won after several years of campaigning for an open pay system. We also did a collection which raised over £50. Many thanks to our colleagues in Crewe who donated. It all helps!

After leafleting, we then went on to Bombardier, the French-Canadian firm who took over British Rail Engineering at Crewe. There we spoke with about 8 union reps from the firm, who not only listened sympathetically to how we were being treated, but also gave remarkably similar tales as to how they were treated!

Before we departed, they gave us £150 they had collected, to be used in the hardship fund (thank you, Bombardier colleagues).

In summary - a really worthwhile morning's work. If worse is yet to come from our negotiations with Fujitsu Management, and we resume our leafleting, then I think we can make good progress at Crewe in rallying yet more tangible support.

Report from Manchester Workplaces Delegation

Manchester Airport
Met the chair of the Amicus branch. He covers around 120 technicians direct. There are over 2000 other Amicus members on site who work for other companies. He agreed to advertise our situation and raise it in their next branch meeting.

Met the T&G full-time convenor for Manchester Airport. She is responsible for around 2300 members (including some senior management). She will speak direct to her Branch Secretary regarding our situation and requesting a donation (this doesn’t need to wait for their next branch meeting).

She told us about the issues they are facing in BA.

Simon Calves (Cheadle Hulme)
We left information at reception for the Amicus rep.

NXP (nee Philips Semiconductors)
We met briefly with the Amicus rep who took our leaflets and agreed to raise our situation at his next branch meeting.

MAN BMW Diesel
We met the main rep on site. He advised that the company had been shrinking and manufacturing was being moved abroad.

Stepping Hill Hospital
An administrator at the Unison office on site took our information and leaflets and will mention our case at the branch meeting on Thursday. We made a couple of new Amicus contacts.

South Wales Delegation Report - Part 2

We travelled across to Newport, South Wales and met up with a local Amicus member who helped us leaflet the Fujitsu helpdesk offices in Newport.

All help desk staff on the early shift were given leaflets and we left more material for new and prospective members.

Some members and non members came out for quick chat about the dispute and this also included temporary staff located there.

The response was very good and we collected quite a few email addresses of people who wanted more information or to set up a local meeting.

Our group moved onto Cardiff. After breakfast we moved onto the DWP offices in Cardiff city centre and met people from the PCS Union to discuss our dispute. They advised they would mention our dispute at their local meetings and send a letter of support with a possible donation.

After the meeting we set off back to Manchester.

London Delegation Reports

Footscray - Fyc01

We reached Footscray just before 8am where we were met by one of our new members.

Footscray is mostly a 24hr helpdesk site, which runs a number of the commercial heldesks as well as the NHS desk. The flow of traffic in Footcray was quite slow about 25 cars every hour. Most stopped and took leaflets.

Whilst leafleting we heard about the issues in Footcray:
* The lack of training which left most staff fustrated
* The number of temps fighting to be put on permenant contracts.
* Temps working shifts around the clock with no shift pay.
* The lack of responsibilty for health and safety
* A top down way of communicating with staff.
* Forums that can't discuss pay or staffing issues.

A number of people expressed interest in joining the union, and we managed to put other union members in touch with each other. One has agreed to become a rep and build the union locally. We left about 11 o clock feeling positive.

London - Defra

We were invited to meet the reps at the Department of Food, enviroment and agriculture. There we were met by a local PCS activist who was keen for us speak at their reps meeting. We introduced ourselves and gave out some leaflets. We spoke briefly about the dispute and how the reps in DEFRA could help us. The reps agreed to pass copies of the collection sheets to their reps across London. The PCS reps also asked lots of questions and also said that they were fighting job cuts and cuts in training and pay.

Chesterfield/Sheffield Delegation Report

Two of us arrived at the CSC offices in Chesterfield at about 7:30am. We met an Amicus Rep from CSC there, and someone from the local SWP. We took signatures and donations from the staff arriving on site till around 9:30am. We covered both pedestrians and cars.

From here we took a tour round Sheffield. It had been organised at short notice, so most of the day was ad-hoc with us turning up impromptu, unannounced at various places.

After a bit of a drive and getting lost we eventually arrived at Wortley Hall. Here various Union related conferences were going on. We visited various rooms, spoke and explained our issues and we had a whip round and took cheques. We received cash/cheques from the Fire Brigade Union and another group.

It was my first outing with the union and I wasn't very comfortable with this asking for money lark. I was surprised how ready to listen the people at Wortley Hall were and how ready they were to offer a donation in support.

From here we met up with a representative from another union in a Café before failing to find a government office we were looking for.

It was now starting to get late, we were all tired and deciding whether we were going to go home or carry on. We decided on a break then headed down to Sheffield University where a teachers' conference was due to start.

They gave us 5 minutes before the conference to explain the issues and to pass the bucket round. The teachers had recently been involved in a dispute of their own were ok with this - we raised around £100 here.

In total we raised over £600, mainly from the meetings we visited.

Targeting groups for donations/collections was much more successful than asking individuals rushing into work. Groups seem willing to donate due to the mutual support think, it all goes round as it were. I also found it quite interesting how the different union groups and organisations seemed to cooperate, the representative from the SWP having various contacts within the other union groups and therefore being able to liaise and introduce. Additionally, the welcoming support from the other groups and readiness to donate/support.

Report from Bracknell delegation

Two of us arrived on a cold and fairly dry morning, at 7am to leaflet the Bracknell Fujitsu Site. This is the main HR Direct site, so we were optimistic about how welcome we would be there!

We set up stall at the entrance, but soon the security came over to ask us what we were up to. He was pretty chilled out about it, but insisted that we stayed off the central reservation that split the two lanes of entrance.

We managed to give out a good number of leaflets, and even one or two who didn’t stop, came over before going into work to take a leaflet from us. From those that stopped, there was a very positive reaction and good wishes for what we were doing, and trying to achieve, but also there was one or two rather more abusive messages shouted at us, but I think that just goes to show how passing this information to other sites is so important, to educate those who don’t understand what it is we are trying to do and see the union as a bad thing rather than a good thing.

We also spoke to some customers who left the site and gave them a leaflet and explained what it was we were in dispute about, and they were also very positive in their support. One gentleman stopped and talked to us for about 5 minutes, as his father had a very strong history of trade unions and he was very interested in what we had to say. We packed up at about 9-45am when the car park looked pretty much at full capacity, and went in search of a well needed loo break and a warm drink. All in all, it was a very positive morning and we felt we achieved what we wanted to in spreading the word on our dispute.

Swansea delegation report

We were kindly put up by one of the PCS reps in Fujitsu on Sunday night.

Monday morning, leafleted Fujitsu Swansea 03 and the DVLA headquarters (Morriston) leaving out DVLA Oldway offices which would be leafleted at a later date.

At Swansea 03 we distributed plenty of leaflets to Fujitsu staff and did a collection. The response was extremely good.

On the DVLA Morriston site we leafleted at the main gates to the offices and the side entrance. Both gates were very busy as expected and all the leaflets were all taken at the main gate. The feed back was quite good and some people took time out to talk to us about the dispute especially in connection to the PCS strike in Swansea and Rally in Manchester on Wednesday 31st.

We met up again in Swansea and after breakfast we had a brief meeting at the Swansea Tax Office where we explained our dispute and provided some leaflets.

We moved on to Visteon (Ford motor Company) met six reps from Amicus, TGWU and GMB and who listened to our dispute and would mention it in their branch meeting and stated they would support and donate to our campaign.

We met union members from the DWP and the Land Registry at the Ramada Hotel, Phoenix Way. We presented and talked about our dispute to them and in return they would report back to their own branch committees about it. They advised they would make a donation. We made it quite clear that we would support them on their strike day in Swansea and the rally in Manchester.

We then visited The Swansea Evening Post and spoke to a journalist. We gave her a leaflet and explained our dispute in detail, including a local angle to the dispute.

Strike report (Monday) and plans for the week.

A brief report for now from a very lively day:

* One team which set off last night leafleted Fujitsu site in Footscray, then visited workplaces in London
* One team which set off last night leafleted Fujitsu sites in Swansea and customer offices, then visited workplaces locally
* Picketing at Central Park 6:30am-10am, then off for a brew and a chat in Asda Eastlands. We'll be repeating this Tuesday-Thursday.
* "Picket visitor of the day" was a close tie between the guy who stopped his car to give us £20 and the UNISON member who dropped by with a flask of hot tea. Thanks!
* Media interest from Key 103, Tower FM, Imagine FM, WFM, The Register, ZDnet, Channel M TV, Swansea Evening Post, Report Digital
* Spoke at Organising For Fighting Unions meeting in Sheffield
* Spoke at National Union of Journalists meeting in Manchester
* Another team headed off for an overnight stay away

The strike committee met at the Amicus Prestwich office, heard reports and made more plans (which are growing all the time as more and more people get involved):

TUESDAY 30th
* Teams off leafleting other Fujitsu sites around the UK, then visiting workplaces
* One team touring workplaces in Manchester
* Picket Central Park 6:30-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
* 11-2pm, phoning, writing etc at the Amicus Prestwich office
* One team collecting outside another major IT company, then touring workplaces to raise support
* Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office.

WEDNESDAY 31st
* Picket Central Park 6:30am-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
* Visit PCS and UNISON picket lines (some major ones listed below) to show our support and strengthen the links we've made
* Assemble by the Queen Victoria statue, Piccadilly Gardens at 11:30am to go to the 3-strikes rally at 12:00 in Methodist Central Hall. While Fujitsu's management seem happy to jeopardise the company and its customers by prolonging the dispute, we're working closely with civil servants and NHS staff - some of the biggest contracts Fujitsu has.
* 2pm: Distribute leaflets outside M&S, Tesco & Orange (3 of our customers) on Market Street
* Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office.

UNISON NHS picket lines:
* North Manchester General, corner of Beech Mount/Rochdale Rd
* Manchester Royal Infirmary, corner of Oxford Rd and Hathersage Rd
* Chorlton House, 70 Manchester Road, Chorlton
* Kath Locke, corner of Moss Lane and Alexander Rd
* Harpurhey, Beech Mount and Rochdale Road
(Harpurhey from 8am, others 7:30am)

Main PCS picket lines:
* Albert Bridge House, Trinity House, Ralli Quays (all near Salford rail station)
* Government Office North West, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1 4BE
* Department of Constitutional Affairs (the courts near Deansgate)
There will be many others, including Job Centres all over the city.

THURSDAY 1st
* Picket Central Park 6:30am-10am, then off to Asda for a brew and a chat
* Visiting workplaces in Manchester
* Visiting workplaces in Preston
* Visiting workplaces in Bolton
* Training session for members on campaigning and organising, 10:30-1pm, Amicus Prestwich office
* 11-2pm, phoning, writing etc at the Amicus Prestwich office
* Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office
* Amicus Greater Manchester IT Branch, 6pm-7:30pm, Hare & Hounds

FRIDAY 2nd
* Picket Central Park from 6:30am
* Assemble 9am outside Central Park: As the company won't come to the negotiating table, we'll take the table to the company.
* 10:30am Members' meeting at the Mechanics Institute. This is an important decision-making meeting which all members should attend.
* Strike committee (open to all members) 2pm-3pm, Amicus Prestwich office

LOCATIONS:
Details of all venues are in this previous entry.
At the Amicus Prestwich office press "AEEU" buzzer to gain entry to the car park. You can double-park. Please sign in on 2nd floor, leaving your vehicle registration. Gill Bolton will direct you to the space we're using on the 1st floor.

Messages of support & donations - UPDATED

Support continues to pour in for our campaign from working people across the country.

In addition to the 3 pdf files of messages and letters of support that we've already published:

• file 1
  
• file 2
  
• file 3

we now have 2 new pdf files:

• file 4
  
• file 5
  

Please keep the support coming - see here for a dispute summary, appeal, collection sheet etc.

Plans For 5-day strike - UPDATED

Our strategy for winning relies not just on refusing to work (striking), but on the campaigning activity we can build around that.

To get the dispute settled as quickly as possible we need the maximum participation from everyone.

While Amicus “Dispute Benefit” will be available to striking members regardless of participation in other campaign activities, “Additional Strike Assistance” and “Hardship Payments” are paid out of the money we raise through campaigning. They will only be paid to those who take part in at least some campaigning activity during the week (or notify reps of valid reasons for being unable to do so). The level of payments will take account of the number of days on which you participate – the more you put in, the more you get back.

If you haven’t already replied to the email notice (Thursday 18th Jan) about financial assistance for strikers, please do so without further delay.

Thanks to members writing letters, several MPs have already protested to David Courtley about Fujitsu’s unreasonable behaviour. Other unions in Fujitsu (from PCS in the UK to the CGT in France) have protested to the company too, as have the employee reps on Fujitsu’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF).

Plans are taking shape – please let Phil Tepper know what you can do:

Sunday 28th: members head off around the UK, ready for Monday morning

Each Strike Day: Picketing from 6:30am – 10am

Each Strike Day: Strike Committee Meeting (open to all members who wish to attend) 2pm-3pm, First Floor Conference Room, Amicus Prestwich office. This will discuss reports on activity and decide further plans during the strike.

Each Strike Day: Groups writing letters, making phone calls etc from the Amicus Prestwich office.

Monday 29th Jan: Leafleting other Fujitsu sites locally and across the UK. Touring workplaces to raise support. More members head off around the UK, ready for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday 30th Jan: Leafleting other Fujitsu sites locally and across the UK. Touring workplaces to raise support.

Wednesday 31st Jan: Visit picket lines of striking PCS civil servants and UNISON health workers. We have now arranged a joint strike rally at 12:00 in the Methodist Central Hall. This will be a major opportunity for media coverage for our dispute, and we need as many people there as possible. Meet at the statue in Piccadilly Gardens at 11:30 to enter the rally together. Details on our web site here, including a leaflet and a map.

Thursday 1st Feb: Training session for members on campaigning and organising, 10:30-1pm, Amicus Prestwich Office. Amicus Greater Manchester IT Branch meeting, upstairs, Hare & Hounds, 6pm-7:30pm

Friday 2nd Feb: As the company refuses to come to the table, we’ll bring a table to the company. We want as many members as possible outside Central Park at 9:00am for a protest and photo-opportunity. We’ll then go to a members’ meeting at 10:30am in the hall on the 2nd floor at the Mechanics Institute. This will be a decision-making meeting, so all members should attend to have their say.

Contact Details

If you’re going off on a delegation, we strongly suggest that you exchange numbers with the other people going with you and ensure your reps have all the details too.

Locations

- Fujitsu Central Park: Fujitsu Services, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP. Parking available on Church Lane behind the site. Map here.

- Amicus Prestwich office: Amicus, Parkgates, Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 0JW (entrance on Sedgley Park Road). Map here. Phone 0161 798 8976.

- Methodist Central Hall: Oldham Street, Manchester City Centre, M1 1JQ. Map here.

- Mechanics Institute: 103 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 6DD. This is the TUC building – entrance on Major St. Map here.

- Hare & Hounds: 46 Shudehill, Manchester City Centre. M4 4AA. (Tel: 0161 832 4737). The venue is near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park. Map here.

Expenses

If you’re travelling, parking etc on strike business, please minimise costs as far as you can by sharing cars etc. Expense forms will be available at the members’ meeting on Friday 2nd February.

Trades Council report on Thursday's meeting

Manchester Trades Union Council has issued the report below on the "Public Service Not Private Profit" meeting on Thursday 25th January.

It's worth noting that Mark Serwotka, the PCS General Secretary, promised to raise our strike at the PCS National Executive and seek financial support as well.

Trades Council Press Release:
Over a hundred trade unionists, from a dozen different unions, including PCS, UNISON, AMICUS, TGWU, filled the Cross Street Chapel in Manchester last night, Thursday 25 January. One of the best trade union meetings in the city in years, the slogan of the evening was "Enough is enough!"

Strong contributions came from a wide range of speakers, including Mark Serwotka, general secretary of PCS, Manuel Cortes, TSSA NEC, Ruth Winters, FBU president, Karen Reissman, UNISON NEC, and mental health nurse, on strike in Manchester with 250 colleagues on 31 January and Sulayman Munir from the AMICUS Fujitsu workers, on strike for 5 days from Monday 29 January.

The central argument was put by all that only solidarity across unions can stop this government in its destruction of public services which combines cuts in services, attacks on union recognition, PFI, anti union laws, outsourcing, pension swindles and above all, privatisation. The strikes on Wednesday 31 January against job cuts, unfair pay and privatisation will see an excellent start to this task with dozens of picket lines across the city and a joint union strike rally in the Methodist Central Hall, Oldham St at noon.

Geoff Brown
Secretary
Manchester Trades Union Council

07857610426
0161 773 6211

Union Busting at Fujitsu

As usual, as we approach the strike, HR are “acting tough”, hoping we’ll give up and they can impose whatever settlement they like.

The emails, managers’ conference calls and employee briefings are all straight out of the union busting handbook. Will it be “one-to-one” meetings, DVDs of nice HR people sent to our homes, or loaded questionnaires next?

Employers nearly always act tough until the moment they crack. This is exactly the approach Fujitsu has taken in the past.

Meanwhile, HR’s email is still trying to pretend they aren’t anti-union, and “have good relations with recognised unions elsewhere in the country, including Amicus”. The latest “One Per Desk” leaflet going out in Manchester now reports what the PCS (second biggest union in Fujitsu) wrote to the company about our dispute. We’ve had donations and/or messages of support from all the other recognised Amicus groups in Fujitsu. The company may think all is well, but staff don’t seem to agree.

On 10th January the company said they were “unlikely” to want to reconvene the disciplinary hearing for Ian Allinson, our senior rep, and the allegations were likely to be dropped. Yesterday the company wrote to reconvene the hearing for Tuesday 6th February.

The timing reinforces that this process has nothing to do with Ian’s conduct, but everything to do with the dispute. It appears that the company felt unable to concede that Ian had no case to answer in present circumstances. Instead, they want to keep the threat of disciplinary action hanging there – leaving their options open depending on the effectiveness of the 5-day strike.

Meanwhile, Amicus has had to highlight to the company that its refusal of any time at all for our Union Learning Rep to carry out her duties is blatant breach of the law. This is particularly unreasonable given that the learning role should be one where there is strong cooperation between employees and the company, not conflict. At a meeting last week Amicus set the company a deadline of today to reverse their decision or face legal action – we await a response.

Interested?

If you work for Fujitsu and are interested in finding out more about Amicus in Fujitsu, you can leave your details to request more information via www.ourunion.org.uk/interested

Manchester Dispute - national newsletter

You will have seen that the dispute in Manchester has escalated. The company are still unwilling to negotiate, despite being contacted by both ACAS and Amicus. Members have decided to respond with a 5-day strike from Monday (29th January).

This is a big step involving financial sacrifice by our members in Manchester, who are determined to ensure they are treated fairly.

Amicus doesn’t believe that the strike action on its own will be sufficient to bring about a swift resolution to the dispute, so the union has adopted a three-pronged strategy:

1. The industrial action itself
2. External campaigning (e.g. media coverage, raising support across the trade union movement, political pressure, customer pressure)
3. Demonstrating that the company’s failure to settle the dispute will increase union strength across Fujitsu, rather than weaken us

If you work outside Manchester, please do at least one thing to support the campaign, and ask at least two colleagues to do the same. There are lots of ideas in the leaflet summarising the dispute. Here are two of the easiest:

- Send a message of protest to Roger Leek or David Courtley (please send a copy to us).

- Make a donation to alleviate the hardship of our Manchester members (cheques payable to “Manchester IT Workers Group” to John Wood, 301 Bolton Road, Bury, BL8 2NZ, or donate using online banking to Account Number: 00980539, Sort Code: 30-91-48.

Manchester members are travelling the length and breadth of the country on strike days, to help staff on other sites get organised. The company wants to level Manchester rights down (and then push the rest down lower), but the dispute is also an opportunity for the rest of us to level up!

If colleagues are asking you what the dispute is about, or asking questions about Roger Leek’s company notice during the last strike, you can point them at the leaflet summarising the dispute or suggest they read the agreed report on ACAS talks and subsequent correspondence and make up their own minds.

Individual Representation

HR attempts to reduce rights to individual representation from the standard provided by the Manchester union recognition agreement to the bare legal minimum is one of the causes of the current dispute.

Amicus has now discovered that Larry Upton, the new “Employee Relations Manager”, has been sending out emails encouraging managers on other sites to break the law by reducing representation rights to below the legal minimum.

The emails tell managers that reps not covered by recognition have no right to officially accompany members at individual grievance or disciplinary meetings and that they can only go as “colleagues” instead. This is not true and is a restriction not allowed by law.

The company hasn’t raised any issue about the actions of our reps across the UK with Amicus, nor directly with the reps, but chose to go behind their backs to their managers.

This example shows how HR is trying to stifle union organisation across Fujitsu, and encouraging managers to make life difficult for our reps. It also shows how if the company succeeds in breaking union organisation in Manchester, things are likely to get worse for staff right across the company.

Pay Scales Victory

HR have now published their guidelines for managers carrying out the April 2007 pay review, affecting most UK employees. These now say:

Individuals may request details of this internal comparator information relating to their own role from their Manager. Managers should provide the information requested with an explanation of how the comparators are constructed and used.

This is an important victory, which has only come about because of tenacious campaigning by Amicus members over several years.

This only came about because Amicus in Fujitsu:

- Carried out pay surveys to expose the huge pay disparities

- Won test cases under the Data Protection Act to force the company to give you your own comparators

Getting access to your own comparator information should help generate some progress for the most grossly underpaid.

This is an important step in the right direction, but Fujitsu still has a very long way to go to achieve a fair and transparent pay system.

Unfortunately, past experience shows that only providing the information on a one-to-one basis tempts some HR and line managers to give false information. Publishing the scales would be a far better solution.

HR intend to provide no benefit information at all, despite this being included in what members have forced out of the company with help from Amicus.

Employees also want to know how their pay and benefits could be affected by changing roles. Only having access to information your current role prevents this. As one member commented “My car benefits were much better in 2004 then they are now. Also if my role was not supposed to have changed when regraded from to how come my benefits are not as good? I feel that Fujitsu has done a sneaky on me by not telling me that about the reduction in benefits. Just another example of Fujitsu being very devious and conniving with regards to the reduction in car benefits”.

Amicus provided a mass of information to members for the 2006 pay review. Since then the legal cases have helped us fill in some of the gaps.

Information about some roles have been included in the confidential paper mailing sent to Amicus members last year. You can put in your own request under the Data Protection Act to obtain the information for your role. Members can get a model letter for this from Amicus. Once you get your response from the company, don’t forget to feed the results back to your reps so that Amicus can build up a general picture of Fujitsu pay and benefits. This in turn will help Amicus provide you with better information, advice and support.

Inflation and Pay

Whether it’s the multimillion bonuses in the city (the best paid Fujitsu Services director had to scrape by on a package worth £1.7m last year) or rises in the cost of living, inflation and pay are rarely out of the news at the moment.

While the government wants us to focus on the “Consumer Price Index”, this excludes housing costs – hardly a realistic estimate in the rise in the cost of living for many of us. By December, the more realistic Retail Price Index (RPI) was rising at 4.4%, while earnings in the private sector (including bonuses) were rising at 4.2% in November (the last figures available). See the National Statistics web site for more information.

How people are affected by changes in prices varies enormously. If you’re low paid with big energy bills, you’ll have been hit very hard in the last couple of years. National Statistics have set up a Personal Inflation Calculator that helps you work out your personal rate of inflation.

Will Fujitsu try to get away with another round of below-inflation pay rises this year? One thing’s for sure – senior management will pay out the least they think they can get away with.

Remember, Fujitsu’s pay “pots” are worth far less than the headline figure, because they include promotion and progression. In many cases pay rates for particular jobs have actually gone down or stayed the same over several years. Amicus published this story to illustrate how this works.

Latest Fujitsu Manchester Leaflet

To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet called "Is This Really Necessary?" on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here).

This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.

Strike Rally in Manchester, Wednesday 31st

Fujitsu strikers will be attending a strike rally at noon on Wednesday 31st January, at the Methodist Central Hall, Oldham Street, Manchester City Centre, M1 1JQ.

The rally will be hosted by the PCS (civil servants) and we will also be joined by UNISON healthworkers who will be on strike that day too. This is particularly appropriate given that the NHS and civil service are among Fujitsu's biggest customers.

Chair: Geoff Brown (Secretary, Manchester Trades Union Council)
Speakers:
Sue Bond (PCS Deputy President)
Sulayman Munir (Chair of Amicus Reps, Fujitsu Manchester)
Karen Reissmann (Community nurse and UNISON branch chair)

Doors open from 11:30am.

You can download a leaflet here. (Requires Acrobat Reader, free download from www.adobe.com).

Here is a map to the venue:

For more information on the PCS and UNISON disputes see www.pcs.org.uk and www.stopthecuts.co.nr

Who's refusing to negotiate?

Amicus today sent this letter to Fujitsu's negotiating team, copied to the ACAS conciliator who had been assisting talks last year:

From: Allinson Ian
Sent: 23 January 2007 13:24
To: Upton Larry
Cc: Brian Sykes (ACAS); Terry Thompson (Amicus); Morgan Howard; Bull Richard
Subject: AMICUS: ACAS talks

Larry,
We’ve read media reports quoting an un-named Fujitsu source claiming that Amicus has refused to negotiate over the outstanding issues. Of course, it is possible that this is inaccurate reporting – we know that many of the reports haven’t correctly reflected what Amicus says either.

Our understanding is that ACAS (copied on this email) contacted both parties suggesting further talks, that Amicus responded that we are happy to talk at any time, but that the company has not responded positively. Our understanding is that the position on further talks has not changed since the agreed report of the ACAS talks and exchange of correspondence in mid-December (http://www.ourunion.org.uk/news/archives/AMICUS%20Update%20on%20dispute%2014%20Dec%202006.doc).

I wrote to you again after our members meeting on Wednesday 17th January, reporting that members had endorsed our continued willingness to continue negotiations at any time.

In the circumstances, both our reps and our Regional Officer, Terry Thompson, believed it was appropriate to contact you directly once again to establish whether in fact you are now willing to talk, or whether the media reports of the company’s view were false.

Amicus believes it is in the interests of the company, its staff and its customers to secure a reasonable negotiated settlement to the dispute as swiftly as possible. All those affected would like Fujitsu’s senior management to take the same view.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Ian Allinson
On behalf of Amicus Fujitsu Manchester

Strike Next Week

In line with members’ decision last week, Amicus has now issued the formal notice for strike action on five days from Monday 29th January to Friday 2nd February 2007. The action involves those

employed by Fujitsu Services with a contractual base of MAN05/33/34/35, and those contractually based at home (i.e. HOM99) who are more closely associated with one of those sites than any other Fujitsu site

The formal notice will be posted on union noticeboards, CafeVIK and here.

A five day strike is a big step for us, but also a big step for the company. Members decided on a five-day strike as the next step in the dispute for a number of reasons, including:

- The need to escalate the pressure on the company to bring the dispute to a swift conclusion

- It will attract more financial and practical support from other people than taking action in smaller blocks

The week chosen builds on the momentum of support from our two-day strike and allows us to deepen our cooperation with staff in the civil service (our main customers, in the PCS union), who are expected to be on strike on Wednesday 31st.

Campaign Diary

Plans are gradually forming - this is what we can announce so far:

Thursday 25th: 6pm, “Public Service Not Private Profit” Rally at Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester, M2 1NL.

We need as many members as possible at this meeting, which will attract many of our local supporters. Leaflet here on the Internet. Map of venue here.

This is also a meeting you can invite your friends and family along to – the more they understand, the more supportive they will be.

Sunday 28th: members head off around the UK, ready for Monday morning

Each Strike Day: Picketing from 6:30am – 10am

Each Strike Day: Strike Committee Meeting (open to all members who wish to attend) 2pm-3pm, First Floor Conference Room, Amicus, Parkgates, Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 0JW (entrance on Sedgley Park Road).

Each Strike Day: Groups writing letters, making phone calls etc. Details TBA.

Monday 29th Jan: Leafleting other Fujitsu sites locally and across the UK. Touring workplaces to raise support. More members head off around the UK, ready for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday 30th Jan: Leafleting other Fujitsu sites locally and across the UK. Touring workplaces to raise support.

Wednesday 31st Jan: Visit picket lines of striking PCS civil servants and UNISON health workers. Joint lunchtime rally, Manchester City Centre, to be confirmed.

Thursday 1st Feb: Training session for members on campaigning and organising.

Friday 2nd Feb: Members’ meeting

More plans are being put in place, but aren’t ready to be announced yet.

We can’t have a few people doing everything – we all need a break. We do want every member doing something, to share the work as widely as possible.

Remember that our strategy for resolving the dispute depends on the campaigning activity, not just staying off work – we want to maximise the pressure on the company to get the dispute settled as quickly as possible.

Please discuss with your rep to work out what you can commit to doing during the strike. Rep Phil Tepper is coordinating this again - please contact Phil to discuss what you can do.

To qualify for “Dispute Benefit” you will only need to strike. Participation in the activities will be taken into account in allocating both “Additional Strike Assistance” and “Hardship Payments”. All members who took strike action are reminded to reply to the notice on Thursday 18th to ensure you receive the money you are due.

We’re also getting inundated with invitations to send speakers to meetings where people want to support us. If you have any free time when you could help with this, please get in touch. Often this is in the evening, but if you’re available during the day, that’s useful too, especially if you're away from Manchester.

Misinformation

Some of the media reports on our dispute suggest that the company is (off the record) saying that Amicus is refusing to negotiate! It is of course possible that the reports are inaccurate – it wouldn’t be the first time.

After the EGM last week, Amicus wrote to the company informing them of the decisions, including reiterating our willingness to talk.

The notice on Friday 12th from the company HR boss to all UK employees led to a few questions. Amicus tries to avoid getting into tit-for-tat exchanges – it’s not constructive. It’s usually more effective to publish the facts and let people make up their own minds.

Before Christmas, Amicus published the agreed report from the ACAS talks, the company update and the Amicus response. This is a good document to point people at if they are confused by the company misinformation.

There have also been a few misleading rumours circulating about the results of our delegation to Sandwell Council. UNISON told our delegation that Fujitsu’s anti-union stance had been a major deciding factor in the company losing the bid last year. It’s worth pointing out that Amicus had drawn this risk to the attention of the company at the time, but the response was dismissive:

At a meeting with Amicus last Thursday, a senior manager came up with yet another “alternative explanation”, that Fujitsu had lost on cost.

The message is clear – far from Amicus jeopardising the company’s future, the union consistently acts responsibly to protect our futures. It is the anti-union and dismissive approach of senior management that threatens contracts.

Official notice of 5-day strike issued

Today Amicus issued the official notice of action for the 5-day strike from Monday 29th January.

Fujitsu Manchester Dispute - Summary & Appeal - Updated

You can download an updated leaflet summarising the dispute and suggesting ways you can support us.

Please also look at the bulletin about the rally in Manchester on 25th January, which we encourage you to attend.

Building solidary in Manchester, 29 Jan - 2 Feb

The Amicus Fujitsu Manchester Reps Committee have written this letter encouraging local trade unionists to attend the "Public Service Not Private Profit" rally called by PCS for 6pm, Thursday 25th January.

The rally offers an unrivaled opportunity to build solidarity which can help ensure the various important campaigns going on in Manchester are successful.

Five-Day Strike Agreed (EGM results 17th Jan 2007)

A packed meeting of Amicus members this afternoon decided:

1. To elect Dean Burn as a new Rep.
2. That we should continue to be available for dispute talks at any time, but that unlike in November, we should not suspend the action unless there was tangible evidence of good prospects of success, to avoid further time-wasting.
3. That we should escalate the campaign, which includes industrial action, campaigning through the media, political contacts, customers etc and our efforts to help Fujitsu colleagues on other sides get organised.
4. That we should strike for five days from Monday 29th January to Friday 2nd February, as this gave the maximum impact on Fujitsu for the least cost to ourselves, and so the best chance of a speedy resolution to the dispute.

More detailed information will be available soon.

Media coverage of Jan 11-12 strike

Locally, the strike received coverage on Manchester's "Channel M" TV station, local radio Key 103 and the North East Manchester Advertiser.

Fujitsu are more likely to be concerned about the coverage in trade press like Computer Weekly, ZDnet and The Register.

Coverage in Socialist Worker and the Morning Star helps us gain support from other trade unionists.

This is in addition to previous coverage.

EGM and Dispute Update

Don’t forget the Extraordinary General Meeting, 2pm-3:30pm Wednesday 17th Jan, MAN33-1-East (hot desk area).

It is crucial that all members do their best to attend as important decisions will be made about the dispute and industrial action. Please come along and make sure your colleagues come too.

All members should attend who are in scope of the dispute:

Those employed by Fujitsu Services and contractually based at MAN05/33/34/35 or contractually based at HOM99 but more closely associated with one of those sites than any other Fujitsu site.

On Wednesday 40-50 staff protested outside the disciplinary hearing for Ian Allinson, our senior rep, which the company adjourned fairly early on. The company said it is likely the allegations will be dropped. No chickens should be counted yet – we await a formal response.

On Thursday, despite weather so stormy it was sometimes hard to stand, more members took part in picketing Central Park than in November and the mood was excellent. Council workers at the old West Gorton site were leafleted. More members and supporters gathered for the lunch-time rally. A members’ meeting discussed how the day had gone and how to win. Groups of members headed off around the country to raise support, while others protested and leafleted the public outside M&S, one of Fujitsu’s major customers, in the city centre.

On Friday, as well as picketing Central Park, strikers, assisted by Amicus officers, leafleted Fujitsu sites in Bristol, London, Stevenage, Solihull and Crewe. More strikers distributed a joint leaflet with the PCS at civil service offices in Manchester in Blackburn. Strikers visited workplaces around the country and locally in Manchester, raising support.

The campaign is now attracting wider and wider support, as well as coverage in the press, TV and radio.

The efforts of members last week forced Fujitsu to respond to the campaign at national level. For the first time ever, the company issued a notice about it to all 14,000 UK staff, raising the profile and support still further. The company misinformation, along with the bizarre and aggressive behaviour of management at some sites who seem desperate to keep their staff in the dark, shows we rattled HR.

Please make sure Amicus has your mobile number if you haven’t been getting occasional SMS text messages from your reps. It’s a very useful way of getting urgent messages out.

So many members did so much last week, we aren’t able to include it all here. Additional reports, photos etc are gradually being posted on the news section of our external web site. Members will also be able to give verbal reports at the EGM.

Practicalities

If you took part in picketing or delegations last week and didn’t sign the attendance register, please let us know what/where you took part immediately, to ensure you are on the list for Dispute Benefit and/or Hardship Payments. You should also get in touch if you have valid reasons (e.g. health) why you were unable to participate, but were on strike.

If you incurred expenses for strike activities, please provide details and receipts to Ian Allinson.

Report from Crewe leafleting

It was an early start on a windy but dry morning for our group of willing volunteers, some never having done this type of thing before, to meet the Fujitsu employees at Crewe as they came to work first thing Friday. The plan was to let them know a little more about the strike taking place at Manchester and many of us were apprehensive, not knowing what kind of reception we would get generally.

We needn’t have worried – support was tremendous:- ranging from words of encouragement; promising to read the leaflet; taking stickers and Amicus lanyards to demonstrate their support; through to contributing to the strike fund!

Although nearly everyone knew about the dispute, many did not know that we were on strike at the Manchester campus that day, nor necessarily all the reasons why. I feel we made a very worthwhile contribution in filling in some of those gaps, showing everyone, whether they supported us or not, that this is an active campaign that we care about, and that the issues we are fighting for are just as relevant at Crewe, as at any other Fujitsu location.

My overall impression is that the action we took today was as important for those giving out the leaflets as it was for those working at Crewe, and it will all help to bring forward the time when sensible discussions take place between Fujitsu Services management and Amicus, for the benefit of everyone, including Fujitsu Services.

London delegation report

Thursday 11th January 2007
After the meeting at the Velodrome, we drove down to London arriving at our host’s house in Hackney at about 9pm, getting lost a couple of times.

We were provided with excellent accommodation and an evening meal. Thanks to our host Peter Gillard.

Friday 12th January
Picked up Keith, our guide for the day and drove to Fujitsu head office at Baker Street arriving at about 8am.

Leafleting outside Fujitsu head office, reception was mixed, some interest, some antagonism, mainly apathy.

One person came out and warned one of us, fairly aggressively, that ‘if we stepped over the line he would call the police’ he didn’t explain where the line was though. He also asked how long we would be staying.

Later another person (John Lucas) came out and spoke to us, he had a much friendlier manner and wanted to check our names against the list of reps on the leaflet. Neither of us were on the list - we are new to this!

Left Baker street just after 9am (parking meter running low). Drove to London University to a Unison meeting at the Students’ Union. We were not allowed into the actual meeting , but met most of the reps in the room next door. We explained the situation and they took a collection.

Drove to meet the T&G shop steward at Holloway bus garage. We had some useful discussions about Union Learning. We were given a donation from the branch.

Set off back to Manchester, arriving home at about 5:30pm.

Bristol delegation report

Two of us travelled down on Thursday night and arrived in Bristol City Centre in the evening to meet local union activists, Dick North, (N.U.T), and Jerry Hicks, (RESPECT Candidate and Ex-Convenor at Rolls Royce).

After receiving a warm welcome and total ‘solidarity’ of support, we explained our dispute to the group and as a result, received a letter of support from the Lockleaze Bristol RESPECT and a donation £50 cheque from the AEEU Rolls Royce Stewards Committee.

The following day (Friday 12th January), we continued our schedule of events with the help and support from Dick North, Jerry Hicks, Jo (Jerry’s partner) and Meg, (local Amicus RO), leafleting outside Fujitsu Bristol (BRS10) offices.

There were two entrances to cover. However, it became apparent that most people coming to the offices were on foot as the car park has limited space and this proved to be to our advantage.

There was a very good response from people entering the building, (not all of the building is Fujitsu it is multi-occupancy) and people walking past and some people in cars driving through to the car park.

Even before we started to leaflet, one person introduced himself as a new member, and said several people in his department had just joined, and wanted help over shift work holiday entitlement. We asked him to email his query!

In another particular instance, an employee refused a leaflet from Jerry Hicks, claiming Amicus’s position over Peugeot had been “frankly xenophobic” – but after a discussion the employee then decided to take the leaflet!

It was all very encouraging.

At 09:20 AM we arrived at the BT Central Telephone Exchange, and explained the dispute to the local CWU activists. They told us that their branch had already sent us a donation.

At 10:30 AM we moved to RMT HQ, and explained the dispute to a leading activist, who gave us another contact in Liverpool.

From 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM we waited at the G.M.B offices and then briefly met someone. She was very apologetic that they couldn’t accommodate us at this time as a crucial meeting was taking place about pensions. She hoped they could fit us in later in the day but this didn’t happen. Nonetheless our hosts assured us that they would brief the GMB as to the dispute and were sure they would support us.

At 1:15 PM we moved onto the CWU Postal Union and met an NEC member and the Regional Secretary and explained the dispute to them. They handed us various contact lists for the CWU in Manchester and additionally to contact the North West Regional Secretary. It was recommended we contact latter to see if we could speak at the regional meeting.

Also, it was suggested we contact CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes to seek support via the NEC.

Further Recommendations

Overall it was a very good Union trip to Bristol with excellent support for our campaign from other unions and good feed back from Fujitsu staff.

It was mentioned that we should continue with our ‘Union Road’ trips and perhaps monitor and gain more news coverage through the TV, Press and media until an amicable sensible agreement can be reached with the company over the issues - hopefully very soon.

Sandwell UNISON

We met Tony Barnsley (Unison Joint Assistant Branch Secretary). He was very welcoming and interested to hear how our dispute was progressing. He had just finished a meeting with the local MP (Deputy Speaker in the House of Commons). She rushed past, but Tony advised that he had already discussed our situation with her so she is well aware of the dispute.

Tony made it clear that a major deciding factor in Sandwell & Dudley Council offering the tender to BT/Liberata was because of Fujitsu’s poor relationship with its unions and its apparent anti-union stance.

At the time the tender was being reviewed, Unison made representations to the Council to confirm that any proposed engagement with Fujitsu would result in industrial action. Tony confirmed that this action directly influenced the Council’s decision on the contract.

He intends to promote our situation at the next Unison branch meeting (25 January) and seek a donation.

Report from Solihull leafleting

We succeeded in handing out a reasonable number of leaflets, mostly to Fujitsu staff but a number of Centrica staff and other building tenant employees.

A couple of the Fujitsu staff stated that they weren’t aware of any industrial action taking place in Manchester and were appalled at the situation. One commented “this is awful and Fujitsu shouldn’t be doing this”.

Site security were clearly under some pressure to make it hard for us to leaflet, but didn't cause any major problems.

Report from Manchester workplace tour - group 1

We visited 2 bus station depots and spoke to the T&G union reps. The reps there will be inviting us to their branch meetings, writing a letter of protest to David Courtley and doing a collection at their workplace.

We also visited Moss Side Fire station and spoke to the union members there, they will be raising the issue with their local FBU rep.

We went to Wythenshawe Hospital where we spoke to the Unison convenor who was extremely supportive and said not only would they write to David Courtley, but because the NHS are customers of Fujitsu they would also write to head of their trust and encourage him to write to Fujitsu to seek a resolution with the union.

We also visited an electronics firm they will also be inviting us to their branch meeting and hope to do a collection as well.

Throughout the day we were very well received from all unions from all sectors as well as the general public.

Report from civil service leafleting in Manchester

Four strikers, along with PCS members and Tony leafleted outside the HMRC Revenue office in Manchester. We gave out close to 1000 leaflets and received a good response from PCS members and civil service employees. Many people wanted to know more detail. After taking the leaflets and reading them some people came back out to talk to us.

Report on EGM Thursday 11 Jan 2007

Comments on the Campaign

• Copies of some of the more recent messages of support were passed round. So many messages and donations had been coming in since the 2-day strike was announced, but Reps hadn’t yet had time to include the latest ones.


• Though the diabolical weather was unwelcome, it actually made the turnout and involvement all the more impressive. The company would have to accept that staff were really determined to be treated fairly.


• Many senior staff were very unhappy with the way the company was handling the dispute, escalating it unnecessarily rather than resolving it.


• A large number of those going in to work made clear that they supported our campaign, but felt unable to strike. We should make sure they knew that financial support was available if they joined the union.


• Quite a few non-members had joined in the protest outside Ian’s disciplinary.


• Though the leaflets, web site etc were important, speaking to our colleagues is the most effective way of making sure they understand the issues.


• With so many staff not being on site on the strike days, Eurest, who provide catering at Central Park, wanted to close two of the three canteens but Fujitsu refused this. Amicus would have ordered the food & drinks for pickets from Eurest, but Fujitsu banned Eurest from supplying us.


• Members who had written to MPs were already getting a positive response, and members who hadn’t done so were encouraged to do this.

Reps and members discussed the plans for the rest of the 2-day strike. Reports on what happened are elsewhere in this notice.

At times over the last week the reps had wondered whether we were being over-ambitious, but that the response from members in volunteering for the various activities had been astonishing. Plans had been extended rather than cut back, and the main limitation had been the ability of the Reps to make the necessary arrangements in the short time available.

Thankfully, the response from members was being matched by the response from trade unionists across the country, who were putting up our members in their homes and taking time off work to take them round to raise support.

Our Amicus officers have also risen to the occasion, producing thousands of leaflets and providing people to help the Fujitsu campaign across the country.

The reps stressed that the correct approach in life was to try to avoid getting into a fight, but if you had to fight, to make sure you won. Being half-hearted would be disastrous.

There was a discussion about escalating the strike action, but Reps wanted the decision on this to be taken at the meeting the following Wednesday, rather than immediately.

It was important that the company could clearly see that the campaign would continue to escalate until they behaved more reasonably. If we continued action at the same level there was a risk the company might misinterpret this and think they could sit back and wait for our determination to wane.

Reps stressed that the aim was to bring the dispute to a successful conclusion with the minimum strike action possible. That was the thinking behind the three-pronged strategy:

1. The industrial action itself
2. Visibility of the campaign (e.g. media coverage, raising support across the trade union movement, political pressure)
3. Demonstrating that the company’s failure to settle the dispute will increase union strength across Fujitsu, rather than weaken us

Members reported that the action short of strike was being effective in some, but not all, areas. Discussion in each area about how to make it effective is key, as work patterns vary. Taking proper breaks for lunch and from VDU work would have a real impact on the company, as well as improving your health and the general atmosphere at work.

There was a suggestion for a lunchtime protest outside the site on a non-strike day, possibly shortly before any future strike action.

The meeting endorsed the plans already in place and proposals to step up the work in three areas:

1. Political pressure on the company. In addition to members writing to MPs, we would ask our officers to back this up using the political contacts through the Amicus structure. We could also consider a lobby of parliament during any future strike.
2. Pressure from customers and potential customers on the company, building on our work with PCS and the protest at Marks & Spencer.
3. Protests at high-profile events involving Fujitsu senior management (e.g. award ceremonies).

Getting Involved

The key task is talking to people – members and non-members, inside and outside work. It is important that members take the excellent mood on the picket, rally and EGM and the experiences from the other planned activities back in to work to raise other people’s confidence.

With hundreds of members involved in the dispute, we have a massive network of friends, family, clubs etc we can tap in to. Many were wishing us luck with the dispute, because they didn’t know how they could help.

We don’t need luck – we need support!

We can ask them to protest to the company, do a collection at work, write to their MP, ask their union to invite a speaker to a meeting etc. The summary of the dispute and appeal for support is on our web site and periodically updated. This gives practical ways people can support us.

It would also be possible to raise support by leafleting other local workplaces before work in the morning, speaking at meetings in the evening or during the day etc. Members willing to help with these activities should discuss with their reps.

There are many other ways members can help, using their initiative. The report on Key 103 local radio came about not from an Amicus press release, but from the initiative of a member who listened to the show contacting them.

We discussed making the action short of strike more effective. You can help by doing things like:

• Talking to work colleagues inside and outside Manchester about the dispute, encouraging them to support the campaign or join the union


• Sending a letter of protest to the company


• Wear your pass on an Amicus lanyard, display a campaign sticker and use an Amicus mousemat (all available from your Rep or from the union office area (desk 55, MAN34-G-E)


• Taking part in picketing, leafleting and/or delegations


• Contacting your MP


• Writing to local newspapers, ringing radio stations etc


• Raising money


• Get more involved in the union by standing as a Rep, Health & Safety Rep or Union Learning Rep. Full training is provided.

Rally report

Fujitsu staff and supporters braved storms to stage a rally outside Fujitsu's Central Park offices during Thursday's strike. A number of supporters brought donations and collections along with their banners.

Ian Allinson, our senior rep, introduced the rally, which was addressed by:

• Graham Goddard, Amicus Deputy General Secretary and North-West Regional Secretary


• Antony "Chub" Czubkowski, Amicus convenor at E.ON, one of the first groups to invite Fujitsu reps to speak at their meeting, where members donated generously to a collection. Chub is currently suspended from work, but members are backing him strongly. This leaflet summarises Chub's case.


• Geoff Brown, from Manchester Trades Union Council.


• Karen Reissman, from UNISON Manchester Community & Mental Health - a branch which has donated £500 towards our strike fund. Karen talked about their current campaign against cuts in the health service, which have led members to ballot for industrial action, a big step for health-workers.

Ian read out messages of support from Graham Stringer, the MP covering the Central Park site, who was unable to attend in person, and Gerald Kaufman, the MP for Gorton.

Photos are here.

Photos from Thursday & Friday's strikes

Here are some photos from Thursday, covering the rally, donations being made, a car heading down to the members' meeting, and leafleting the public at the protest outside Marks & Spencers.

A photo from the leafleting at Stevenage.

Stevenage leafleting report

Two of us headed off on our adventure down to Stevenage on Thursday 11th January after the meeting at the Veledrome. We were heading towards St Albans to our home for the night, a very welcoming Dave Barnes from the SWP and TSSA. We arrived there about 8pm, after some interesting journeys down some rather dubious B roads, which turned out to be more like dirt tracks! Whose idea was it to follow the Sat Nav shortest route!

After an evening of good food and some very interesting discussions about all sorts of issues with Dave, the two of us got a few hours sleep before awaking for our mission on the Friday.

We headed off early to arrive at Stevenage site STE04 at 7:30 am to meet up with a friend of Dave’s called Chris and an AMICUS Full Time Officer called Dave Monaghue from Stevenage.

We split up and two headed off to STE09 round the corner to leaflet. We were met by security, who were less than happy for us to leaflet at the barriers to the site, but we managed to get a fair amount of leaflets over to staff entering by car and some on foot, before the heavy hand of management came out and asked us to move on. By this time the other two had returned from STE09 as they were plainly told to leave the site, seems they were ready for us there!

We stood our ground leafleting to those who chose to stop. The management further insisted we moved on, saying we were trespassing etc, but we clearly knew we were not on Fujitsu land, and not causing any obstruction. It obviously showed that we had them rattled there. We were threatened with the police, and approx 15 minutes later, they did turn up, and after FJ management gave their side they came over and asked us to move on. We argued our case with the police, but to no avail we were to move on, or suffer the consequences. By this point it was close to 9am, so we decided it wasn’t worth getting arrested!

The Amicus officer used to be on Stevenage council, and we bumped into another councilor and the mayor, both of whom took leaflets. The officer said he'd make an informal complaint about being moved on, which had been completely unjustified.

We made some contacts to help leaflet STE09, where access had been difficult.

We headed off then for some hearty breakfast and discuss what had happened and our plan for the rest of the day. We had arranged a meeting with a shop steward from a defence company, and discussed the various issues that we were facing, and he told us about the issues they have come across, and how similar it all sounds. He had said that their branch was going to be making a donation, and we gave him leaflets and Amicus lanyards to pass round to members.

We had planned another workplace visit, but time didn't allow us to do that. However, we made contact with the local Amicus officer, to get details to them our of dispute, and pass the word around.

Manchester workplace visits - group 2

Three strikers were taken round workplaces by Dick Brown.

We went to the FirstBus depot on Queens Road, where we left material and got the phone number for the union office.

We had a quick chat with the PCS rep at Cheetham Hill Job Centre plus, and left material. She was already aware of the dispute, from an email from another PCS rep.

We talked to a GMB rep at B3 Cable Solutions, who took leaflets and collection sheets.

At Brimar we met the Amicus convenor and had a useful discussion.

We met four Amicus reps at Zetex in Chadderton, who also gave us a cheque for £100 from their last branch meeting.

We visited the Grimshaw Lane council depot, found out the names of the reps and left leaflets and collection sheets.

There were many more places we could have visited if we'd had more time.

Manchester Members' Meeting

Don't forget that there is an Extraordinary General Meeting for all Amicus members employed by Fujitsu and contractually based at MAN05/33/34/35 (including those contractually based at home but more closely associated with MAN05/33/34/35 than any other Fujitsu site):

2pm, Wednesday 17th January 2007, MAN33-1-East

This is a very important meeting which will decide further industrial action - all members should attend.

Leaflets from the strikers

This is the leaflet pickets gave out at the Central Park site in Manchester on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, we distributed this leaflet aimed at council workers at our old West Gorton site.
On Thursday afternoon, we protested outside Marks & Spencer in Manchester city centre. We handed out this leaflet which highlights M&S and many of Fujitsu's other commercial customers.
On Friday morning, we handed out this leaflet at other Fujitsu sites across the UK.
On Friday morning we also distributed this joint leaflet with PCS for civil service workplaces in Manchester and Blackburn.

Photos from rally

Strikers and supporters braved horrendous weather today to picket and rally.

Amicus Deputy General Secretary Graham Goddard addresses the rally.

UNISON nurse Karen Reissmann speaking.

Senior Rep Ian Allinson speaking.

Important - Manchester Dispute Plans

This article provides details about the plans for our campaign this week, as well as for members' meetings. It is vital that Manchester members read it fully and act promptly on it.

The overview of activities is:

Wednesday 10th:

- Protest outside Ian Allinson's disciplinary hearing, 4pm, MAN34GCR3

Thursday 11th:

- Picket from early morning.

- Rally outside Central Park, 12:30pm.

- Decorate cars and drive down to the Velodrome for a members' meeting.

- Delegations of members set off to raise support around the country.

- Protest in Manchester City Centre at one of Fujitsu's customers, making the public aware of our dispute.

Friday 12th:

- Picket from early morning.

- Leafleting other Fujitsu sites and customer sites.

- Touring workplaces in Manchester and round the country raising support for our campaign.

Members decided on a strategy for the campaign that didn't just rely on the industrial action itself. We all want to get a fair settlement to the dispute as quickly as possible, so a strike day is not just a day-off.

The support coming in for our campaign is absolutely inspiring, and is allowing us to respond to the company's unreasonable behaviour in a way which would otherwise be impossible. Many more of the letters of support are now available for you to read on our web site. In addition, many people have begun writing letters of protest to the company, contacting MPs etc.

Reps will only be asking for Dispute Benefit or Hardship Payments for members who participate in picketing or delegations, unless they are notified of a valid reason why a member cannot take part.

Dispute Benefit is totally separate from Hardship Payments. Dispute Benefit is "strike pay" from Amicus, whereas only those in need should claim Hardship Payments, which are additional and paid from money we raise.

We will be holding another members' meeting (EGM) on site at 2pm on Wednesday 17th. The agenda will be different to that at the EGM on the strike day, so members should attend both.

Wednesday: Ian's disciplinary

Our senior rep, Ian Allinson, is being threatened with disciplinary action, and the hearing is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4pm in 34GM2 (MAN34, Ground, West) and staff are encouraged to come and protest outside.

This is the first time Ian has been invited to a disciplinary hearing since being taken on in 1987. The letter to Ian was written just after the company informed Amicus that it was walking away from the ACAS talks.

The false allegations relate to events at a meeting on 22nd November last year, which Rep Phil Tepper witnessed.

The threat to discipline Ian is yet another attempt by the company to widen and confuse the issues in dispute, rather than actually resolving them.

The meeting in question was set up by the company (in breach of our recognition agreement) in an attempt to reduce the time Ian can work on our behalf - a reduction which members had voted to oppose. Though there is no doubt that the company's actions are part of their attack on the union, it has wider implications too, for example by threatening Ian's ability to carry out his role on the company's UK Consultative Forum.

The issue is also an example of the company's general desire to force members to attend key meetings without a Rep. The fact that the company is making these false allegations despite Ian having a witness reinforces the dangers of going to such important meetings alone.

Exemptions, Dispute Benefit, Hardship Payments

Anyone requiring an exemption from any part of the industrial action should send in their application immediately, to ensure it can be considered in time.

It is likely that the next Amicus National Executive Council (NEC) meeting will approve Dispute Benefit for our strike days on 20th November, 11th and 12th January. Your Reps need to know who to request the payments for, so it is vital that all members sign the attendance registers on the picket lines and delegations. We expect that payments for members who only sign on one of the two days would be pro-rata.

If you have a valid reason (e.g. health) for being unable to participate in picketing or delegations on either day, please inform your Reps as soon as possible.

In addition to any Dispute Benefit paid by Amicus, members have also been raising funds for our campaign, allowing us to make Hardship Payments to members who tell us they would otherwise be financially unable to take part in the strike.

You should apply for a hardship payment (as opposed to dispute benefit) if your financial circumstances would otherwise stop you taking part. Remember that we all want to win this dispute - if you can manage without, please do so. For 20th November, we were able to make up the majority of lost earnings for the few who needed it.

If you will need a hardship payment, please email your reps before the strike begins, including your name, full contact details and net monthly pay. If you've any particular factors you'd like taken into account, include them as well.

Thursday 11th - Strike

It is important that all members taking part in the strike also take part in at least some of the activities for the day. Remember to wrap up warm!

If you still have any of the materials from the last picket, don't forget to bring them.

If you are coming to Central Park by car, you should be able to park along Church Lane (behind the Fujitsu site, off Lightbowne Road). See here on Multimap.

We will be setting up pickets from 6am. Please let your reps know what time you can arrive, so that this can be properly organised.

At 12:30pm we plan a rally outside Central Park. Speakers so far include Graham Goddard (Amicus Deputy General Secretary), Geoff Brown (Manchester TUC), Karen Reissman (UNISON rep fighting job cuts in health) and Antony Czubkowski (Amicus convenor at e-On). We may also be joined by Graham Stringer, the local MP, if he can get away from Westminster in time.

If you know supporters who want to join our rally, you can point them at the map and directions to the site on the Fujitsu web site.

Amicus will be making food available at the rally, after which we will decorate cars with posters and balloons, and drive down to the Velodrome for a members meeting (EGM) around 1:30pm to make further plans. Hot drinks will be available. In response to feedback from members last time, we will not exclude our supporters from the meeting, but obviously they will not get a vote.

All members should do their utmost to attend the rally and EGM.

After the members meeting, delegations of members will set off for various parts of the country to raise support for our dispute. Others will go into Manchester City Centre to protest near one of Fujitsu's major customers and make the public aware of Fujitsu's behaviour.

Delegations

On 20th November we sent delegations to leaflet Fujitsu sites at Warrington and Wakefield, raising support for our dispute as well as helping staff there get organised to take up their own issues.

Because we have a two-day strike (and because the company's intransigence has encouraged many more members to volunteer), we can extend this significantly this week.

Some of the delegations will be travelling down on Thursday afternoon and staying overnight because of the distances involved to the sites we want to leaflet. We are taking advantage of this to arrange for strikers to be taken to meet local trade unionists and visit workplaces, raising further support.

Other delegations won't need an overnight stay, as they will be leafleting closer Fujitsu or customer sites, or visiting other workplaces locally.

Amicus is making a number of full-time organisers available to assist our delegations.

Many thanks to those members who've already volunteered for delegations. If you haven't already arranged where you're going but can help out, please speak to your rep to discuss what you can do.

We're not telling the company which Fujitsu and customer sites we'll be visiting, so we aren't including the details in notices in advance.

Friday 12th - Strike

We will again be setting up pickets from 6am. Please let your reps know what time you can arrive, so that this can be properly organised.

Friday is the main day for our delegation work - leafleting and visiting other workplaces.

Extraordinary General Meeting

We asked the company for a further EGM to take place shortly after the two-day strike, so that members can review progress in the dispute and decide on next steps. The meeting will also discuss our 2007 pay claim.

This will be:

2pm, Wednesday 17th January

MAN33-1-East (hot desk area)

The meeting is for all Amicus members employed by Fujitsu Services and contractually based at MAN05/33/34/35 or contractually based at HOM99 but more closely associated with one of those sites than any other Fujitsu site.

Please make sure you're there to have your say, and encourage colleagues to come along too.

Members are entitled to attend in work time. If your manager might need to arrange cover for your release, please contact them NOW. If you have any problems getting release, contact your Rep immediately.

If you have any other items for the agenda, proposals etc, please send them in as soon as possible, and before the end of Monday 15th.

Fujitsu Manchester strike, rally etc

To see an electronic copy of our paper one-per-desk leaflet called "Fujitsu Getting Desperate?" on Cafevik, click here (a local version is here). This leaflet was produced for our Manchester Central Park and West Gorton sites.

The leaflet includes a call for a rally at 12:30pm Thursday 11th January outside Fujitsu Services, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP. A map and directions can be found on the Fujitsu web site.

Dispute Summary & Appeal For Support - UPDATED

The Amicus group at Fujitsu Manchester have issued an updated leaflet summarising the dispute and appealing for support, in advance of next week's 2-day strike.

Fujitsu Manchester strikes set for 11-12 January

Amicus has issued the official notice of action for further strikes on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th January.

Safety Inspection Responses

The last of the company responses to the Central Park inspections carried out by Amicus Health & Safety Reps in October have now been received and published on CafeVIK.

Jobs Gap

When the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise government departments merged, the Aspire and HMCE IT contracts merged too. Fujitsu and Capgemini negotiated a “workshare” agreement to determine which company got which slices of the combined cake.

The companies agreed that the HMCE helpdesk work done by Fujitsu staff in Manchester would transfer to Capgemini in the Midlands. By default, this would mean Fujitsu staff transferring to Capgemini despite their intention to do the work in the Midlands and having no suitable alternative work in Manchester. It seemed likely that Capgemini would make transferred staff redundant, despite the fact that dismissals resulting from a “TUPE” transfer are automatically unfair unless there are other legitimate reasons for them. The fact that Fujitsu reached such an agreement in the first place is a sign of the way Fujitsu is increasingly treating its staff.

Amicus worked with the company to try to minimise the harm to employees, and campaigned hard for the company to create more suitable jobs in Manchester. When Fujitsu won the NHS helpdesk, the company said that there were enough new jobs coming from the NHS contract to redeploy HMCE staff so that they would no longer be in scope to transfer to Capgemini. Though Amicus told the company that most staff felt that the NHS jobs weren’t as good as the HMCE ones, at least employment would be protected, on the same pay and conditions.

Despite local management supporting it, Senior HR blocked any proper redeployment process for staff, based on the draft “Annex 1” agreement jointly prepared through the dispute talks. They proposed no alternative process either. This left worries on a number of scores, including the denial of a “trial period” for staff to see if the new NHS jobs were acceptable.

However, just before Xmas, the company decided (without any consultation) that “as a result of a requirement for a smaller headcount than was originally anticipated on the NHS CfH Service Desk … It is not deemed to be commercially viable to operate such a small desk in Manchester when we already have considerable numbers assigned to the NHS CfH Service Desk in both Wakefield and Footscray”.

The company has now taken a small step to implement what Amicus campaigned for in the first instance - creating some new and suitable additional jobs that Manchester staff want. As a result, the company has created up to 10 RIM jobs, with the criteria for applying for some of these vacancies as either having either a D3/D4 rating AND/OR having successfully completed a TAC, a change to the usual pre-requisites. Local management have also agreed with local reps that staff can take other jobs in the interim whilst still trying to pursue other chosen career paths. However, for staff in Incident & Problem management, jobs are still in question, with no real suitable alternatives to choose from once again. For some staff the company has been pressing them to “choose” between a new range of choices with little information or time to consider. Some of those affected feel that none of the “choices” is really suitable.

There remain many questions to which we all need answers. For example, is the reduction in headcount requirement merely a question of timing of the ramp-up, or a more fundamental change to the contract? Is Fujitsu really jeopardising job-security for such minor and short-term gains?

The need to make Fujitsu stick to our existing Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) and settle the dispute with a proper new agreement on redundancy and redeployment has never been clearer.

DCA / Libra

We expect the company to begin consultation over a TUPE transfer of staff on the DCA (Libra) contract to ATOS soon.

We currently have no Amicus Rep in the affected group, so suggestions as to who should work alongside the existing reps on this issue are needed.

Winning

Members have adopted a three-pronged strategy to win the dispute:

1. The industrial action itself
2. Visibility of the campaign (e.g. media coverage, raising support across the trade union movement, political pressure)
3. Demonstrating that the company’s failure to settle the dispute will increase union strength across Fujitsu, rather than weaken us

You can help by doing things like:

• Talking to work colleagues inside and outside Manchester about the dispute, encouraging them to support the campaign or join the union
• Sending a letter of protest to the company
• Wear your pass on an Amicus lanyard, display a campaign sticker and use an Amicus mousemat (all available from your Rep or from the union office area (desk 55, MAN34-G-E)
• Taking part in picketing and/or delegations (see above)
• Contacting your MP
• Writing to your local newspaper, ringing radio stations etc
• Raising money (see above, or volunteer to help fundraising)
• Get more involved in the union by standing as a Rep, Health & Safety Rep or Union Learning Rep. Full training is provided.

Manchester: Strikes Next Week

Amicus has issued the formal notice for a two-day strike on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th January.

Copies of the official notice will be posted on union noticeboards and on our web sites.

The action involves those:

employed by Fujitsu Services with a contractual base of MAN05/33/34/35, and those contractually based at home (i.e. HOM99) who are more closely associated with one of those sites than any other Fujitsu site

The strike action is in addition to the ongoing action short of strike previously announced.

The members’ meeting (EGM) in December had considered the company’s decision to reject the ACAS and Amicus proposals to help settle the dispute and to walk away from the talks. Members had decided to “Ask Amicus to call a three day strike (or two days instead if Dispute Benefit is confirmed)”.

Under Amicus rules, Dispute Benefit is available if members take three consecutive days of strike, but is discretionary for three non-consecutive days. The formal decision on this will be taken at a meeting of the Amicus National Executive Council (NEC) on 31st January, but payment is being supported by Terry Thompson (our Regional Officer), Graham Goddard (our Regional Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary) and has been recommended by the North-West Regional Council. On this basis, Reps asked the union to call a two-day rather than three-day strike.

Plans for the days

The greater the participation in the action, the quicker we can get the dispute satisfactorily resolved. All members are encouraged to play an active part, rather than just staying off work.

We need volunteers to help picketing from early on both days. Please contact Phil Tepper (744 53842) and let him know what times you can arrive.

Plans are currently being made for a 12:30pm rally at Central Park and other activities on Thursday 11th. Graham Goddard, Amicus Deputy General Secretary, has already committed to speak. Please read email notices over coming days as plans become clearer.

We need to build on the success of our activities on 20th November, when delegations leafleted Fujitsu sites in Warrington and Wakefield to leaflet staff there, build support for our campaign and help them to get organised. If you can help with a delegation, please contact Phil Tepper (744 53842). A two-day strike gives us a wider range of places we can visit – if you have preferences as to where you’d like to go (locally or nationally), please let Phil know.

Given that the company has stepped up the attack on the union by threatening to discipline Ian Allinson, our senior rep, it is particularly important that we all participate in the campaign, and don’t just rely on others to act on our behalf.

Members’ meeting(s)

We will be holding a further Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for members, to decide on next steps.

We will be approaching the company for facilities to hold an EGM in work shortly after the strike, but may need to hold one during the strike, partly depending on the company response.

As always, the conduct of the dispute will be democratically decided by the members.

Dispute Benefit and Hardship Payments

Strike action is a last resort, not least because we don’t get paid for it. We’re only taking the action because we know that we would lose far more if we allowed the company to ignore our agreements, trample on our rights, divide us, and erode our pay and benefits year on year.

We don’t want a situation where members find it difficult to fight for their rights because of their personal financial circumstances.

If we weren’t on strike, we’d be working, and we should work at least as hard to secure fair treatment for ourselves as we do to increase company profits and Directors’ pay. Reps will only be requesting dispute benefit or approving hardship payments for members who take part in picketing or delegations, unless there are valid reasons. When you take part, it is therefore vital that you sign the attendance register held by whoever is organising your picket / delegation.

If the NEC approves Dispute Benefit, this would be £12 x 3 days, and payable to all qualifying members regardless of personal circumstances.

Hardship payments are in addition to any Dispute Benefit, and funded from the money we have collected from donations etc.

You should apply for a hardship payment (as opposed to dispute benefit) if your financial circumstances would otherwise stop you taking part. Remember that we all want to win this dispute. If you can manage without, please do so - it means more money going where it will help our campaign most. For 20th November, we were able to make up the majority of lost earnings for the few who needed it.

If you will need a hardship payment, please email your reps before the strike begins, including your name, full contact details and net monthly pay. If you've any particular factors you'd like taken into account, include them as well. Your Reps will decide how to allocate the money available once they’ve reviewed the applications received. So far, reps have managed to avoid any “means testing”.

A summary of the dispute, appeal for support and collection sheet are available on our external web site. If you can raise money (e.g. from family, friends or colleagues outside Manchester) this will be a big help.

Exemptions

There could be circumstances (e.g. safety reasons) why certain employees should not take part in some/all of the strike.

The action short of strike could put disproportionate pressure on a small number of employees – this is not the intention – we rely on collective strength, not individual martyrs.

Anyone with concerns should discuss them with a Rep to explore alternatives and then if necessary consider making an exemption application for appropriate parts of the action.

Anyone exempted from strike action is expected to donate the pay they would have lost to the dispute fund.

Can you help the campaign by contacting your MP?

Our members' meeting on 14th December decided to step up our campaign to
defend our rights on Redundancy, Redeployment and Union Recognition, and
for Fair Pay, in response to the company's decision to walk away from
the talks with ACAS.

One element of the motion talked about "using the media, local and
central government, customers and potential customers". This entry sets
out how you can play your part in mobilising political pressure on the
company to behave more reasonably.

Please write to your MP to explain our dispute and ask for their
support. Given that many of Fujitsu Services' customers are in the
public sector, letters of protest from MPs to the company will add
weight to our campaign.

This form of pressure will only work if people like you take a few
minutes to write a letter. One Amicus branch in Liverpool has already
had replies from three MPs after writing to them in support of our
dispute.

There are a number of ways of contacting your MP. In general, MPs take
paper mail more seriously than email or fax. All MPs can be contacted
by writing to them at:

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

This is an effective method as MPs mail gets forwarded to them daily
even while parliament is not sitting.

You can find a list of MPs, in alphabetical order, at
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm.

Reps have not provided a standard letter for you to send, as initiatives
such as this are usually more effective if you use your own words. You
may like to make use of some or all of the following points:-

1) They can find a summary of the dispute with Fujitsu Manchester, as
well as updates, on our website at http://www.ourunion.org.uk.

2) The company is breaking our Union Recognition agreement, as well as
agreements on redundancy, redeployment, pay and benefits. It seems to
be trying to smash the union.

3) The company rejected all the proposals from ACAS and Amicus to help
resolve the dispute and walked away from the talks with ACAS.

4) The company is now threatening disciplinary action against Ian
Allinson, our senior Amicus rep.

5) Ask your MP to send a letter of protest to the company. We've
prepared a model letter for them here:
http://www.ourunion.org.uk/news/archives/Model_letter_from_MP.doc (note
underscores, not spaces)

6) Fujitsu Services is a major supplier to the public sector. Contracts
include local councils, utilities, British Library, British Waterways,
Camelot, Commission for Social Care Inspection, DWP, DTI, DVLA,
Government Offices, HMRC, Home Office & Justice, Information
Commissioners Office, Learning & Skills Council, Lord Chancellors
Office, MoD, NHS, Office of Fair Trading, Office of the Deputy PM, The
Environment Agency and Transport for London. The company is continually
bidding for contract renewals and extensions, as well as new business.
Does the government really want to award contracts to a company treating
staff in this way?

7) Fujitsu Manchester staff took their first day's strike on 20th
November and action is now escalating.

8) Ask when and where they have surgeries in their constituency, so that
you can arrange to meet them. If you arrange a meeting, please let your
reps know, so a group of members can go together where there are several
in the same constituency.

If you write to your MP please send an electronic copy to
us. It's important you do this for two
reasons. Firstly, we need to know how the campaign is going. Secondly,
we want to ensure we contact all the MPs again once the dispute is
settled, to reassure them that Fujitsu Services is once again a company
fit to do business with.

Working Past 65

Fujitsu has produced a set of draft guidelines on this and have invited
comments by 5th January 2007. Amicus has published the draft on CafeVIK and would welcome your
comments.

The file has a password to prevent the CafeVIK search facility leading someone to the draft and mistaking them for live policy.

Scottish UKCF Election

Congratulations to Alan Black, who has won the election for the vacant
Scottish seat on the company's UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) by a 66% majority.

Alan was already an Amicus Rep at his workplace in Glasgow, but now joins the UKCF as well.

Of the eighteen UKCF Reps elected by staff across the UK, twelve are Amicus members and three
more are members of other unions. Yet the company still tries to claim
there is no desire for union representation outside Manchester!

2007 Pay Campaign

Amicus is putting together an Amicus Charter on Pay at Fujitsu. This
will be a short document highlighting the main themes staff want the
company to address on pay and benefits. It can help structure our
campaigning across Fujitsu over the next few years, as well as providing
a framework for pay claims in those parts of the company where staff can
already negotiate on pay.

If you have input for this document, please get in touch.

You may find it useful to look at the Manchester pay claim for 2006 to get some ideas.

The recognised Amicus group on the Reuters account (mainly in London)
have already submitted their 2007 pay claim:

Pay Claim for April 2007

Amicus in Reuters

Staff in the other parts of Fujitsu with pay bargaining (Manchester, Warrington UES, LloydsTSB) should contact their local Reps to discuss what should be in our 2007 pay claims.

Report on Warrington Meeting

The Warrington Amicus group held a member's meeting on the 29th of
November in the Noggin, a pub just around the corner from the site.

Members from WAR08 and WAR13 heard from Ian Allinson, senior rep at
Fujitsu Central Park about the reasons behind the dispute on that site,
and how the outcome could affect all Fujitsu Services employees wanting
to maintain their terms and benefits against the constant drip of
company attrition.

The members voted to send a message of support to the Central Park
members, and it was noted that the leafleting in Warrington by striking
Manchester staff had already resulted in an increase in membership at
Warrington.

A second rep was elected for WAR13, which will bring the number of
Amicus recognised reps across the two buildings to five plus one health
and safety rep, needed to support a substantial and growing union
membership. Currently only one of those reps is recognised by the
company, but with continuing membership growth and real Amicus
organisation the drive for recognition for the union at Warrington is
building up a momentum of its own.

The people are:

* Robert Williams (Wilf), recognised Rep, WAR08
* Kevin Isaacs, Rep, WAR08
* Chris Price, Rep, WAR08
* Graham Phillips, Rep, WAR13 (note that Graham has since left the
company)
* Pat Stevens, Rep, WAR13
* Alan Burrell, recognised Health & Safety Rep, WAR08

Sarah Holden, a senior organiser employed by Amicus, was at the meeting
and is going to help local members to plan a campaign for the site. We
also discussed training for the new reps, as the company won't allow
work time for training for reps who aren't yet recognised, which makes
it harder to attend the full residential courses provided by Amicus.

There was some discussion of issues affecting staff in Warrington. The
key ones were basic pay, off shoring, the Warrington disciplinary code
and worries about the rumoured forthcoming company imposed changes to
shift and overtime rates. No surprises there then.

The Warrington group would like to thank Ian and Sarah for their
presence and contribution, and for their past and ongoing help in
building towards a strong and recognised union in Fujitsu Warrington.

Manchester Dispute

On 13th December the company informed Amicus that it was walking away
from the talks with ACAS, after rejecting proposals from both ACAS and
Amicus to help resolve the dispute. On this basis a large meeting of
Manchester members decided to restart in the industrial action.

You can read the company letter and the Amicus response on CafeVIK or externally.

Members at the meeting didn't know that the company had also decided to
threaten disciplinary action against Ian Allinson, our Senior Rep . This
provocative step shows that the campaign is already rattling the
company, but that more pressure is needed to turn the company away from
its confrontational course.

Action short of strike restarted on Friday 22nd December. Dates for a three-day or two-day strike will be
announced soon.

The outcome of the dispute, as well as our ability to protect those who
volunteer to represent us, will affect members across the company. You
can help ensure a positive outcome by:

- Sending a message of protest to Roger Leek (please copy us). Your letter could be along these lines:

I am appalled at Fujitsu's decision to reject all the proposals put
forward by both ACAS and Amicus to help settle the Manchester dispute
and to walk away from talks instead.

Please stop attacking the union, drop the threat of disciplinary action
against Ian Allinson, the senior Amicus Rep, and put your energies into
resolving the dispute instead of escalating it.

- Making a donation - the campaign costs money and the company
doesn't pay people while they're striking. Cheques payable to
"Manchester IT Workers Group" can be sent to John Wood, 301 Bolton Road,
BURY, BL8 2NZ. You can download a collection sheet from our web site. Alternatively you can donate online - the Account Number is 00980539 and the Sort Code is 30-91-48.

- Asking for a members' meeting for your own workplace, to support Manchester members and to get better organised where you are. Meetings have already been held in Staines, Wakefield and Warrington.

One member outside Manchester, reading the company response to the ACAS
talks, sent the following email to the company:

I have worked in Fujitsu (formerly ICL etc) for 32 years, I have also
been an Amicus member for this time.

I think the Company is labouring under a misconception if they genuinely
think there is no desire for union recognition in the wider workforce
outside of Manchester.

If you send something similar, please copy us.