The next meeting of Greater Manchester IT Branch is:
6pm-7:30pm, Thursday 7th February
Upstairs, Hare & Hounds pub, Shudehill, M4 4AA
[Near the Shudehill Metrolink station and the spiral ramp to the Arndale car park]
As well as usual branch business and discussion of workplace issues, we have a guest speaker, Dale Branwen from the Anti-Academies Alliance, leading a discussion about changes to education and the proposed City Academies in Manchester.
All branch members are welcome to attend.
AGM Report
Thanks to everyone who took part in today’s UNITE Fujitsu Manchester Annual General Meeting. A summary of the key points is below.
Progress and Current Issues
Members heard and discussed reports from reps covering:
Pay
Reps reported on implementation of the motion passed by members at the previous EGM, which had been uneven. Some of the bigger successes included:
A national pay campaign leaflet is currently going out at various sites. The recent Manchester leaflet had been based on this. Further national leafleting is planned.
The company is promoting more 0% pay rises this year, despite inflation remaining high.
Members discussed a detailed union briefing document on the company’s 2008 pay and benefit scales. UNITE believes such information should be freely available to all employees, but the company insists it is confidential. Please do not pass on the document – if other people want a copy, please ask them to join and direct them to a UNITE Workplace Rep.
Access to Fujitsu’s pay and benefit information is currently a significant benefit of UNITE membership.
Recognition
A motion about the handling of one possible situation in relation to the new recognition agreement was agreed.
Health & Safety
The following motion was agreed:
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Back and upper limb disorders are one of the major health issues affecting employees. Many of these can be avoided by provision of appropriate equipment, training to correctly adjust and use it, reasonable working hours and adequate breaks. Display Screen Equipment (DSE) risk assessments, sometimes known as workstation assessments, are a key tool in preventing back and upper limb disorders. The company is legally obliged to have DSE assessments carried out by people competent to do so. The practice of promoting "self-assessment" rather than assessment by a properly trained assessor has often meant that assessments don't happen at all. Where they do take place they are often just a "tick in the box" which is a nuisance for employees and does little to promote health. The results of self-assessment are sometimes later used to allow the company to blame the individual if they later suffer ill-health. We welcome the decision of the union and company representatives on the Manchester Safety Committee on 6th November 2007 that "DSE assessments across the Campus would be undertaken by trained DSE assessors, rather than via self assessment". We resolve to campaign for the company to appoint and train sufficient competent assessors and to ensure all employees benefit from a proper assessment. |
Members from MAN35-2 raised concerns about their working environment, poor response from site facilities and other issues on the HMRC contract.
Climate Change
The following motion was agreed:
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We note the increasing concern about the contribution of Carbon Dioxide emissions to climate change. We welcome initiatives by government and employers to reduce energy usage but believe that more action is needed to reduce the risks from climate change, to promote energy security and to reduce costs. We resolve to:
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There was discussion about a range of related matters, including the benefits of home-working for the environment.
Group Rules
The following new rules were agreed:
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These rules operate within the context of the general rules of the union. In the event of any conflict, the rules of the union shall prevail. 1. OBJECTS The Group exists to enable its members: 1.1 To convey their feelings to Fujitsu management on matters concerning remuneration, working conditions and related topics 1.2 To promote the objects of the union It shall provide a framework within which members can make decisions or take action. 2. MEMBERSHIP Membership consists of all UNITE members employed by the Fujitsu group and in scope of the Manchester recognition agreement (i.e. MAN33/34/35 and some HOM99 employees). 3. MEETINGS 3.1 General Meetings may be called by any Committee member. 3 days notice must be given of such a meeting. 3.2 An Annual General Meeting shall be held each year, normally in the month prior to the pay review date. 3.3 Any Group member may call an Extraordinary General Meeting to seek to replace any Committee member by obtaining the signature of 15 other members. One month's notice must be given of such a meeting. 4. REPRESENTATIVES The group members shall elect from amongst themselves: 4.1 Workplace Representatives 4.2 Health & Safety Representatives 4.3 Union Learning Representatives 4.4 Equality Representatives 4.5 Environmental Representatives 4.6 Such other representatives as required by the union rulebook or determined by the members Elections will be held at the Annual General Meeting. In addition, elections may be held when decided by the committee or when a nomination is made to fill a vacancy. All terms of office expire at the following Annual General Meeting. The Representatives shall form a committee to oversee the work of the group, and elect a senior representative, a deputy and such other officers as it deems necessary. 5. PROCEDURES 5.1 Majority decisions shall abide at all meetings. 5.2 There will be a review of the rules at each AGM and if requested, at a General Meeting. Any changes to Group Rules shall only be made at a meeting where the proposed changes have been published on the agenda. 5.3 A speaker may not take longer than five minutes to introduce any topic or motion. Other speeches shall not exceed three minutes. These limits may be extended or waived at the discretion of the chair. |
Reps Elections
The following were elected:
11 Workplace Reps:
Ian Allinson, Ben Ashdown, Pauline Bradburn, Dean Burn, Jackie Cook, Dave Francis, Isabel Hay, Lynne Hodge, Andy C Smith, Phil Tepper, Michael Thomas
14 Health & Safety Reps:
Ian Allinson, Alan Child, Helen Clayson, Kevin M Davies, Lynne Hodge, Iswar Mistry, Dennis Morris, Dave Parkinson, Steve Perkins, Colin Robinson, Andy C Smith, Andrew Stavrinides, Phil Tepper, Simon Wood
6 Union Learning Reps:
Pauline Bradburn, Dean Burn, Teresa Meyer, Rama Reddy Nallamilli, Denise Roberts, Sajana Patel
3 Equality Reps:
Jackie Cook, Isabel Hay, Teresa Meyer
3 Environmental Reps:
Helen Clayson, Steve Perkins, Simon Wood
Nikki Aldridge, who has been the group chair, had decided not to stand for election this year. Many thanks to Nikki for her contribution over recent months.
Other Business
Ballot papers are coming out at the moment for the elections to UNITE’s first Executive Council, the outcome of which will have a major impact on the future direction of the union. If you haven’t received ballot papers by Wednesday 12th March you should contact the membership department on 0845 850 4242.
Members had an update on the campaign to reinstate Karen Reissmann, the local nurse and UNISON rep who had been sacked for speaking out in defence of the NHS. Some of the cuts UNISON were fighting against had now been reversed, and the campaign continues. Karen’s tribunal is likely to be late this year. A collection raised £145.15 to help provide financial support for Karen.
Don’t forget Thursday’s AGM:
1:30-3:30pm, Thursday 6th March 2008
MAN35, Ground Floor, West Wing
Please note the new venue
Members will discuss reports from your reps, take key decisions and elect reps for the coming year. Members are entitled to attend in work time. Please do your utmost to attend and encourage colleagues to come too.
If your manager might need to arrange cover for you while you’re at the meeting, please ask them for release straight away. If you have any difficulty getting release, please contact your reps in good time, so they can help you sort it out.
Nominations
Our newsletter on 20th February asked for nominations for the various types of reps. To save paper your reps have decided to circulate the full details of the nominations by email beforehand, rather than printing them out.
More nominations are still welcome.
Thursday 6th March is World Book Day and our Union Learning Reps will be offering quick read books, launching the union library etc in the MAN34 canteen between 10:30am and 1pm. Come along and find out what’s going on.
You can read more about what UNITE is doing to promote learning at Fujitsu Manchester in our latest learning newsletter.
If you know a few Fujitsu friends or colleagues who aren’t in the union yet but you think might be interested, why not pass this email on to them?
If you’re one of those friends or colleagues, and are interested in finding out more about UNITE in Fujitsu, you can leave your details here:
www.ourunion.org.uk/interested
Confusion still reigns about the company's new "Salary Swap" scheme - not helped by the puzzling entries that have appeared on many pay slips this month.
HR say they see the introduction as a great success, because only about 10% of people navigated the incomprehensible processes and opted-out. In the real world many employees (whether they opted out or not) are deeply unhappy about aspects of the scheme and its rushed and poorly communicated introduction. Employee representatives from UNITE, PCS and the UKCF have been united in raising these concerns. There's no doubt that the enormous volume of queries and complaints from employees have helped persuade the company to set up a review of the scheme prior to the summer election period.
Our Manchester group sent the following letter to the company recently:
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From: Allinson Ian Subject: UNITE: Salary Swap & Your Choices Alison, As you know, UNITE is not opposed to Salary Sacrifice (or Salary Swap) schemes in principle, but we do believe that care is required in relation to the specifics of such schemes. We made clear from the outset that we wanted to be in a position to endorse the proposed scheme and help allay any employee concerns. We had given you detailed feedback on the information provided to us about the proposed scheme, but only became aware of some of the concerns as implementation got underway in January. When we raised concerns with you, you explained that it was "too late to make any changes at this point" so reps were left with no alternative but to advise employees on the basis of the information available about the scheme as it was. The first phase of implementation is now over, and we understand that the company is holding a review, which we welcome. We believe that implementation could have been much smoother and employees much happier with the outcome if it had been less rushed, there had been more consultation and better communication. Many employees feel confused and worried, irrespective of whether they chose to opt out of the pension and/or non-pension aspects of Salary Swap. We would like to work with you (and maybe other employee representatives such as UKCF and PCS) to ensure that the concerns are addressed prior to the summer election period. I have copied some of the key people from UKCF and PCS on this note so that they can consider this approach. We think the main areas are:
Please let us know how you would like to proceed with this so that we can make the scheme an unqualified success. Ian Allinson |
A number have members who had previously declined medical benefit to which they were contractually entitled have been in touch.
The company have unilaterally withdrawn the facility to decline medical benefit unless the individual agrees to join Salary Swap. This means the company insisting on handing over its money to private medical providers to pay for a service the employee doesn’t want. Not only is this costing Fujitsu money for nothing, but the company is then deducting tax from the employee on the unwanted benefit.
If Fujitsu wants to give away its money, wouldn’t it be better to give it to the NHS than private medical providers? That might do the company more favours when bidding for NHS work.
Fujitsu makes a big play about giving employees choice, yet they are removing choice from people who have moral or financial reasons to decline private medical cover.
It is possible that the unilateral removal of the facility from employees is a breach of contract. As an example, someone on about £30K per year declining single medical cover is losing about £10 per month.
Members affected by this should contact UNITE for an example grievance letter which they can adapt and submit. Please make sure you do adapt it before submitting it – your UNITE Rep can help you with this.