Unite Fujitsu News

Consultative Ballot Result & What Next

The consultative ballot of UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in the UK closed yesterday. Overall the result was:

87% in favour of strike action
96% in favour of industrial action short of strike

Our strategy is to campaign on pay and pensions together so that we unite the workforce against these company attacks. The vote for strike among ICL DB Pension Plan members was 88%, compared to 86% among members not in that pension plan.

It is also encouraging that the result is consistent across every region:

This figures explode the myths of “militant Manchester” or a north-south divide. Employees across the company are saying “Enough Is Enough”.

Thanks to everyone who voted. There are some useful lessons from the consultative ballot, which members should take on board for any statutory ballot:

1. Most of those who voted did so early in the ballot. Several members who didn’t vote straight away mislaid their ballot papers.
2. It is vital that those members keep the union’s records of their home address etc up to date. If your circumstances change, please email our membership secretary.
3. Four ballot papers could not be counted, as members had obliterated the serial number. Serial numbers are an anti-fraud device, preventing simple copying of ballot papers and increasing the chances that a forged ballot paper would have an invalid serial number. In this ballot, there was actually one example of a duplicated ballot paper, which was detected and not counted. No record is kept of which individual has which paper, so the ballot is still completely secret.
4. One person had put a cross through the word “YES” rather than in either the box next to “YES” or the box next to “NO”. As it wasn’t clear whether the voter was marking their choice or crossing out the option they didn’t want, this paper could not be counted.
5. Several members didn’t manage to vote because they didn’t complain about a missing ballot paper until too late for a replacement to be provided.

Meanwhile the PCS union has also been conducting a consultative ballot of its members in Fujitsu. Though the PCS ballot has now closed, they won’t be ready to release the detailed results until next week, but they have stated that “Members have voted overwhelmingly both in support of our campaign and in support of taking industrial action in pursuance of our objectives”.

The Company’s redundancy announcement obviously requires a shift in the campaign.

Your elected UNITE Combine Committee has been discussing this and also talking to our colleagues in PCS. The key decisions are as follows:

1. The company has not justified job losses – we oppose them. A key campaign focus must be opposition to compulsory redundancies.
2. Rather than running two parallel campaigns which could undercut each other, we will add “Jobs” as a third strand to our “Pay and Pensions” campaign. All three issues are about the company seeking to increase its profits at our expense.
3. UNITE and PCS reps are now asking their unions to move quickly to a statutory industrial action ballot over “Jobs, Pay and Pensions”.
4. Your UNITE reps (and particularly your Combine Committee members) want your views on what forms of industrial action UNITE should call if the statutory ballot approves action and it proves necessary to call it. Please do not send your view on this matter by email – this is something to discuss in UNITE meetings, or if that isn’t possible for you, then face-to-face or over the phone.

The following local UNITE meetings are already planned:

• Tuesday 1st September, 13:00-14:00, STE04 Room 108
• Wednesday 2nd September, 12:30-13:30, CRE02 room CRE 0-2
• Friday 4th September, 12:30-13:30, WAK01 Parkhill Room
• Wednesday 9th September, 13:00-15:00, MAN35 Canteen (Manchester bargaining unit Extraordinary General Meeting)

Fujitsu Redundancies

Fujitsu has still provided no real justification for the proposed 1200 job cuts in the UK. UNITE, PCS and the UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) have all complained strongly about how the company has set about the process, with information being provided piecemeal to different employees combined with the confusing and divisive approach of having six parallel consultation forums.

This is the best view UNITE has at this stage of the overall picture:

Note 1: The numbers above are rounded and the picture could of course change.

Note 2: For the avoidance of doubt, the “UNITE” and “PCS” figures above are not the numbers of union members in the group, but the numbers of employees covered by collective bargaining. Most UNITE members are not yet covered by collective bargaining and many employees who are covered are not yet UNITE members.

The company wants to set up the “Consultation Forums” on a very tight timescale, with very scant information available to employees. If you are both “at risk” and not in one of the areas covered by collective bargaining, please seriously considering standing for election to your consultation forum. UNITE and PCS will be able to provide representation through their normal structures for employees covered by collective bargaining.

To stand for election, you need to complete and return the nomination form to HRdirect to arrive no later than 12 noon on Thursday 3rd September.

The company has told UNITE that each “subgroup” within each “pool” in the table above will be treated as a separate constituency for the purposes of elections, so we need good candidates for every one. The company has not yet declared how many seats there will be on each forum, so we don’t know how many candidates are required. UNITE has passed on the concerns raised by many employees that asking for nominations before making the allocation of seats public is bound to create the impression that the company is rigging the results.

UNITE and PCS reps have discussed how to approach this difficult situation. Your reps are encouraging lots of members, reps and activists to put in their nomination forms, and to let your reps know you have done so by emailing us. You can also email in a draft election address if you want someone to cast an eye over it for you. When we find out how many seats there are in each forum, who has stood etc, UNITE and PCS reps will work with the candidates to try to agree whether some candidates should withdraw, and who the unions should ask members to support in any elections. It is beneficial for all staff (union members or not) to have union members representing them in the consultation process, because they have access to additional support, advice and help through the union.

The company intends to provide training to the forum reps, and this is welcome. However, one has to question whether this training will really be adequate – isn’t this a case of the poacher training the gamekeepers? UNITE has already approached the company seeking agreement to provide training on redundancy to its reps across the country.

We know that many employees have all sorts of questions about the redundancy situation. Please bear with your reps while we find out more about the situation and focus on the most urgent issues. UNITE will ensure that its members are kept fully informed.

One of the most common questions reps are being asked relates to redundancy terms – what you would get paid if you were made redundant. There are many different sets of redundancy terms in Fujitsu. UNITE has a “redundancy calculator” that helps you get an estimate of your redundancy payment if you know which contract type (redundancy terms) you are on, covering many of the common varieties.

NB: The calculator uses the current limit on weekly earnings for statutory redundancy payments, which is £350. This is due to rise to £380 on 1 October 2009. This will increase redundancy payments for employees on a variety of redundancy terms if their redundancy takes place after that date.

If Fujitsu was offering all staff the same severance terms as the two directors who shared £1.6m “compensation for loss of office” last year, the company would probably find little opposition to the redundancies.

The company is likely to tell you which redundancy terms they think you are on at some stage in the process. If you need to know more urgently, you could ask HRdirect. Bear in mind that they may simply tell you what is on their database, which may or may not be correct.

One of the gains from the settlement of the Manchester dispute in 2007 was theSecurity of Employment Agreement (SEA). You can find the company statement on this in section 9 of the minutes of the UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) meeting on 5th December 2007.

If you want to understand the redundancy process, there are a range of useful resources, including the TUC WorkSmart guide to redundancy and the UNITE guide to redundancy.

Pass It On

If you know colleagues who may be interested, please pass on this email to a few of them.

Our senior management seem to be on a mission to unionise Fujitsu. If last year’s bonus fiasco wasn’t enough, there was the pay freeze. If that wasn’t enough, there was the pensions issue. Now we have the threat of redundancies too.

We can’t hope to influence a company like Fujitsu over major issues like jobs, pay and pensions as individuals – we can only have an effective voice by being organised together.

No wonder people are saying “Enough Is Enough” and even many who were previously hostile to the idea of joining a union are now doing so. If you aren’t yet a member, please consider joining UNITE.

Defend Jobs (Fujitsu)

Employees should now have seen the announcement from Fujitsu that it proposes to cut 1200 jobs in the UK.

When the company announced the pay freeze, UNITE warned that if there was not a strong response to the company’s attempts to increase profits at the expense of employees, the company could come back for more, whether that was on pensions, other benefits or jobs.

UNITE has not yet seen any detailed information from the company about the reasons for the proposal, areas affected etc, so detailed comment is not yet possible. However, UNITE’s position is always to protect members’ jobs, so please keep an eye out for further union notices.

The company proposes to run six separate redundancy consultation processes covering different parts of the business – putting a total of about 6000 staff at risk and proposing to cut around 20% of the jobs from among that 6000. This runs the risk of producing a divided and uncoordinated response from employees, which would be disastrous. Union organisation is the only way to cut across the various locations, business and capability units and professional communities to develop a coordinated response in the interests of employees.

UNITE and PCS will be directly taking part in the consultation process on behalf of employees covered by union recognition. Elsewhere, the company intends to seek nominations or volunteers to act as reps on behalf of the employees affected. It is in the interests of every employee to ensure there is effective representation in the consultation process, so please consider standing or nominating a colleague if you are in one of the areas affected. Ideally there would be a set of candidates that all union members could support, rather than either not enough candidates or lots of good people standing against each other. To help the unions coordinate this, please let your reps know if you are willing to stand for election in the consultation process. It is beneficial for all staff (union members or not) to have union members representing them in the consultation process, because they have access to additional support, advice and help through the union.

If you know colleagues who may be interested in joining UNITE, please pass on this email to a few of them.

Pensions For Everyone

Our “Pay & Pensions” campaign has four goals agreed by members:

· Pay:
1. A fairer pay system
2. More money for employees

· Pensions:
3. Defend the ICL DB pension scheme
4. Improve pension provision for those with something worse

A lot of the material for our campaign has focused on points 2 and 3. This article explores point 4.

The majority of Fujitsu Services’ UK employees are not in the ICL DB pension plan. Some are in other good “defined benefit” schemes, several thousand are in the “FJ UK” Defined Contribution scheme and a significant minority have no company pension at all.

The main current concern for those in other defined benefit schemes is to ensure that the company doesn’t get away with closing the ICL DB plan – this would be a significant setback for the company strategy to exit all its Defined Benefit plans.

But what about those already in the FJ UK scheme or who have no company pension at all?

Ideas for improvement could include:

An additional non-contributory element to the FJ UK DC plan, particularly to help those who feel they cannot afford the employee contributions and are therefore not in any pension scheme
Putting the company NI saving from Salary Swap into the individual’s DC fund within the FJ UK plan
Risk reduction for the individual, for example by requiring extra company contributions in certain circumstances (e.g. if investment returns were particularly bad)
Higher company contributions
What improvements would you like to see?

Local Fujitsu Meetings

UNITE continues to hold meetings for employees around the country, as well as supporting the efforts of UKCF and Pension Forum reps to do the same.

In Belfast, members and reps were joined by UNITE Regional Officer Terry Collins, discussed the pay and pensions campaign and unanimously agreed the motion:

"We instruct our reps for the Northern Ireland area to act on members' anger at the threatened close of accrual to the ICL Defined Benefit Scheme and continued erosion of pay and benefits - liaising with the national Combine to organise members' local activities for the Pay and Pensions campaign."

In London, South and East, members met at the union’s Holborn head office, discussed the campaign, planned how to improve distribution of union leaflets, re-elected their reps and unanimously agreed the motion:

"We instruct our reps for the London, South & East area to act on members' anger at the threatened close of accrual to the ICL Defined Benefit Scheme and continued erosion of pay and benefits - liaising with the national Combine to organise members' local activities for the Pay and Pensions campaign."

Future meetings (not all UNITE) are planned:

Thursday 20th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 12-1pm, IRE11
Thursday 20th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 2-3:30pm, Kenningley Room, WAK01
Friday 21st August: Pensions Forum meeting, 10:00-12:00, Room G03, STN02
Friday 21st August: Pensions Forum meeting, 11:00-12:30, Kenningley Room, WAK01
Thursday 27th August: Pensions Forum meetings, 11:30-13:00 and 14:00-15:30, Room 210, SOL10
Friday 28th August: UKCF / Pensions Forum meetings, 11:00 & 12:30, Viewing Gallery, WAR08
Wednesday 2nd September: Pensions Forum meeting, 10:00-12:00, Boardroom, SLH06
Thursday 3rd September: Pensions Forum meeting, 2-4pm, G07, WIN01
Monday 14th September: Pensions Forum meeting, 2-4pm, Room G01, STN02
If you’re going to a meeting where there’s UNITE involvement, why not bring along your recognition award certificates (see above) to hand in?

No meeting near you yet? Please contact one of your local reps (see footer) to discuss setting something up.

Pay & Pensions Campaign – What You Can Do

Please vote in the consultative ballot, which is essential to put pressure on the company and build up our campaign.

Many of you have been asking what else you can do to help the campaign. Below are some ideas – please do as many of these as you can.

New Stickers Available

UNITE has produced some stickers for our campaign, with the slogans “Enough Is Enough” and “Unite for Pay and Pensions at Fujitsu”. Stickers are a great way of raising the visibility of the campaign. Please ask your local rep or contact (see footer) for some. Reps and contacts can order batches of stickers by email.

These stickers should not be used on ID pass holders.

A second version of the sticker will be available soon, which is smaller and does not include the word “Fujitsu”. This will be more suitable for use on ID pass holders.

Raising Support and Funds

There are vast numbers of trade unionists in UNITE and beyond who would be prepared to support our campaign morally, practically and financially. But this won’t happen unless you and other members ask for that support. UNITE has many structures, but these bodies won’t act unless someone actually proposes it.

Every member of UNITE is allocated to a “branch” which should have regular meetings in your area. Members in Fujitsu are in dozens of different branches across the UK. Your reps would like you to go along to your branch meeting and ask for its support.

You can check which branch you are in by going to www.unitetheunion.com and logging in to “My Unite”. Then choose “Contact Us”, “Change your details” and login to My Unite again. Select the “My Branch” tab and it should show (amongst other things) the meeting place, time and day for your UNITE branch.

If you are able to go along, please take along our appeal for support leaflet which helps explain the issues and our campaign. As a member of the branch, you are entitled to propose a motion and get it voted on. You might like to propose something like this:

This branch opposes the attempt by many employers to take advantage of the recession to hold down pay and cut pension provision. This branch supports the campaign by UNITE members in Fujitsu over pay and pensions.

We resolve to:

a) Send a message of support to support at the ourunion.org.uk mailbox or UNITE, Fujitsu Services, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP

b) Send a donation (payable to “Manchester IT Workers Group”, to John Wood, 301 Bolton Road, Bury, BL8 2NZ) in support of the campaign

Don’t be shy – this is your money, from your subs. Your branch should be there to support you when you need it.

Talk to Colleagues

Please talk to your colleagues about pay and pensions, about other issues that concern you, and about UNITE. Large numbers of employees are already joining UNITE, and many more say they are seriously thinking about it.

There’s lots of evidence that non-members are more likely to join when a colleague speaks to them about the union than through any other route. You may not feel that you are the world’s greatest expert on UNITE or on the fine details of pay and pensions, but you know why you are a member. The chances are that the people you work with would join for similar reasons. Just look at how powerful some of the comments from new joiners are.

Distribute Leaflets and Lanyards

Has the joint UNITE/PCS national leaflet about our pay and pensions campaign gone out where you work yet? If not, can you help? Please drop a note to your reps who can advise on how to go about it.

At many sites, lots of staff (members or not) are wearing their passes on the red “UNITE for Fair Pay” lanyards. This is a great way to increase the visibility of the campaign, as well as undercutting the myth that it’s only about pensions. UNITE is campaigning on pay and pensions - this is how we can achieve a wide enough unity of the workforce to win. If you want some lanyards to dish out, please contact one of your local reps or contacts (see footer).

Recognition Awards

Express your sense of betrayal by sending back a recognition award or certificate. UNITE is organising to hand a bundle back in to the Fujitsu headquarters, along with a copy of our petition against the pay freeze. Please send yours to “UNITE the Union, MAN34” (internal mail) or “UNITE the Union, Fujitsu, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP” (external mail). Please attach a note indicating your length of service. Please don’t send in certificate frames, heavy or bulky items.

This should help us get publicity for our campaign.

MPs

Some members have already begun contacting their MPs to complain about the attacks on pay and pensions.

If you’ve already written to your MP, please send a copy of all the correspondence to your reps via political at ourunion.org.uk mailbox to that they can track which MPs have been contacted and how they are responding. Your reps can use this to build up the campaign, as well as helping put together some example letters to help give other members inspiration.

Demonstration

Four national unions and many other organisations are backing a demonstration called by UCU at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Sunday 27th September around the theme of the “right to work” and the impact of the recession on working people.

The demonstration will come during a crucial period for our pay and pensions campaign and your elected Combine Committee has decided that we should have an identifiable Fujitsu delegation on it, highlighting our pay and pensions campaign. If you are interested in taking part, please let your reps know as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be made.

Consultative ballot reminder

Consultative ballot papers have been sent to all UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in the UK.

If you have already returned your ballot paper, please let your reps know using the voting button on this email.
If you haven’t voted yet, please return your ballot paper as soon as possible.
If you haven’t received your ballot paper , please let your reps know as soon as possible (unless you know that this has only just been sent, for example because you’ve only just joined UNITE) so that this can be investigated and rectified.

Your reps are urging you to vote YES+YES to send the strongest possible message to the company that Enough Is Enough. Our goals are:

· Pay:
1. A fairer pay system
2. More money for employees
· Pensions:
3. Defend the ICL DB pension scheme
4. Improve pension provision for those with something worse

Questions? Don’t forget the consultative ballot FAQ.

The ballot closes at noon on Wednesday 26th August and your reps expect to be able to announce the result soon afterwards.

UNITE is working alongside PCS, our sister union in Fujitsu, in the pay and pensions campaign. PCS is also balloting its members on the same timescale. Your reps are also in touch with colleagues facing attacks on pensions in other companies, with the aim of coordinating our campaigns for maximum impact.

Pay & Pensions, Manchester

UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in UK should be receiving ballot papers in the consultative ballot over pay & pensions. They were mailed out on Monday. Please return your ballot paper straight away and vote YES+YES.

General Meetings are vital for reps to report back members and for members to take key decisions. However, such large meetings don’t allow really detailed discussion about the issues and the strategy for our campaign. Some members are asking for an informal discussion session to fill this gap. Reps would like your views on whether you would be interested in attending such a session at Central Park over a lunchtime (which would be easier for many people but limit the time available) or immediately after work (which would allow more time if required). If you would be interested in attending please click on the links to indicate your preference.

Manchester: Learning, Environment

UNITE’s Union Learning Reps continue to be active in promoting learning and development for Manchester staff, for work, personal development and for fun. The latest edition of our learning newsletter has been published on the “Invest In Yourself” CafeVIK community.

On Learning At Work Day earlier this year, our Environmental reps ran a “word search” competition to highlight which items could be recycled at the Manchester Campus.

Congratulations to the winners:

* Geoff Wilson - First Prize
* Bryan Cockburn - Second Prize
* Louise Perry - Third Prize
* Dave Jones - Fourth Prize
* John Whitehead - Fifth Prize

There were 21 Words to find in the word search grid:

NONCONFIDENTIALPAPER, THINCARD, ALUMINIUMCAN, PLASTICCUP, PLASTICBOTTLE, NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE, ENVELOPE, WAXPAPERCUPS, POSTITNOTE, BOOK, PEN, TISSUEPAPER, COMPACTDISK, INKCARTRIDGE, BATTERY, DVD, FOODWASTE, CRISPPACKET, TEABAG, SWEETWRAPPER

The competition was a fun way to raise awareness of things that can be recycled on site. Items can be recycled (or not - in the case of General Waste) as follows:

Thank you to the Site Facilities team who confirmed the answers as being correct for the Manchester campus and to the Learning Reps and to Lissa from Site facilities who provided prizes.

Your UNITE Environmental Reps are Helen Clayson, Darren Cox, Steve Gibson and Jay Lieberman.

UKCF open meeting in Manchester

The North-West employee reps on the company’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) are Ian Allinson, Robert (Wilf Williams) and ----. They have organised open “meet the reps” meetings for employees at various sites. The Manchester ones are on Friday:

Friday 14 August
MAN33 conference room 33GCR2
10:30-11:30 and 12:30-13:30

This is a great opportunity for employees (whether UNITE members or not) to come along and find out more about pay, pensions and other issues. As it is anticipated that there will be quite a few questions on pensions, the UKCF reps have invited Pensions Forum reps (UNITE and IPMC) to take part as well, so there will be UNITE input to this too.

UNITE Subs

New contribution rates are effective from 1st September 2009, which are on the union’s web site. In the current economic climate any increase in subs is unwelcome, but it’s worth remembering:

a) The increase was agreed as part of a package that included increasing basic dispute benefit (strike pay) from £12 per day to £30 a day – an increase of 150%
b) We need our union to have the resources to support us effectively
c) Subs have gone up only 17% in 10 years – well below inflation
d) This is the first subs increase for several years
e) UNITE subs are historically low as a proportion of pay, and are lower than many other unions

Swine Flu

The TUC has issued new guidance on swine flu.

UNITE reps have been taking up this issue with the company since April. The company response has been disappointing, seemingly putting far less emphasis on staff welfare than on business continuity. The company advice on swine flu is on CafeVIK. The company has now agreed to meet UNITE Health & Safety Reps in Manchester to discuss its approach.

Combine Committee Update

Members elected the new national “Combine Committee” to provide democratic leadership for our campaign. It has already proved its worth in coordinating our campaign nationally, encouraging local activity and making many practical decisions which are reflected in union notices. This update covers some of the points which wouldn’t otherwise be visible to members. As well as communicating by email, the Combine Committee has held two phone conferences and plans a third when the consultative ballot result is available.

Alan Black, the UNITE rep in Glasgow, Combine Committee member for Scotland, and UKCF rep for Scotland, has recently left Fujitsu. Thanks go to Alan for all his efforts over the years.

We now have the following vacancies on the Combine Committee:

Manchester Bargaining unit (HOM99)
Scotland
North West (WAR)
Thames Valley & South West (BRA)
Thames Valley & South West (HOM99)
If you are interested in standing for any of these seats, or would like to nominate a colleague, please get in touch as soon as possible.

The Combine Committee has elected the following:

Ian Allinson as Chair and Newsletter Editor
Alan Jenney as Deputy Chair
Dave Seymour as Fundraising Officer
Jackie Cook as Deputy Fundraising Officer
Isabel Hay as Deputy Newsletter Editor
The Combine Committee agreed the following Standing Orders:

Local Fujitsu Meetings

UNITE continues to hold meetings for employees around the country.

In Wakefield, members re-elected John Garvani and Steve Gee as reps and unanimously agreed the motion:

We instruct our reps for the Yorkshire & North East area to act on members' anger at the threatened close of accrual to the ICL Defined Benefit Scheme and continued erosion of pay and benefits - liaising with the national Combine to organise members' local activities for the Pay and Pensions campaign.

In Basingstoke, UNITE organiser Sarah Holden took part in a very well-attended meeting organised by an IPMC Pensions Forum rep. Two new UNITE contacts came forward at the meeting - Jim Anderson and Chris Forrest.

Future meetings (not all UNITE) are planned:

Future meetings (not all UNITE) are planned:

Tuesday 11th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 1-4pm, Room 14.12, 14th floor, Alexander House, STH05
Wednesday 12th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 1-2pm, IRE02
Wednesday 12th August: UNITE meeting, 1pm, Conference Room 2, IRE11
Thursday 13th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 10:00-12:00, Andy McNaughton’s office, 4th Floor, SLH06
Friday 14th August: UKCF / Pensions Forum meetings, 10:30 & 12:30, 33GCR2, MAN33
Monday 17th August: UKCF / Pensions Forum meetings, 10:30 & 12:30, Conference room 0-2, CRE02
Tuesday 18th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 1:30-5pm, Room B.09, LON22
Tuesday 18th August: UNITE meeting, 6:30pm, UNITE office, 128 Theobald’s Road, LONDON, WC1X 8TN
Thursday 20th August: Pensions Forum meeting, 12-1pm, IRE11
Friday 21st August: Pensions Forum meeting, 10:00-12:00, Room G03, STN02
Friday 28th August: UKCF / Pensions Forum meetings, 11:00 & 12:30, Viewing Gallery, WAR08
Wednesday 2nd September: Pensions Forum meeting, 10:00-12:00, Boardroom, SLH06
Monday 14th September: Pensions Forum meeting, 2-4pm, Room G01, STN02
If you’re going to a meeting where there’s UNITE involvement, why not bring along your recognition award certificates (see above) to hand in?

No meeting near you yet? Please contact one of your local reps (see footer) to discuss setting something up.

What Else You Can Do

UNITE is pursuing a three-pronged strategy to apply pressure to Fujitsu over pay and pensions:

1) Industrial action
2) External pressure (MPs, customers, media etc)
3) Organising (the company knowing that treating employees unfairly is leading to the growth of union organisation)
How hard these prongs have to be pushed depends on the response from the company.

The consultative ballot is the main activity at the moment in relation to the “industrial action” prong, but work is under-way on the other areas too. Here is a list of actions your reps would like every member to take. If you can’t do them all, please at least do one or two.

Raising Support and Funds

There are vast numbers of trade unionists in UNITE and beyond who would be prepared to support our campaign morally, practically and financially. But this won’t happen unless you and other members ask for that support. UNITE has many structures, but these bodies won’t act unless someone actually proposes it.

Every member of UNITE is allocated to a “branch” which should have regular meetings in your area. Members in Fujitsu are in dozens of different branches across the UK. Your reps would like you to go along to your branch meeting and ask for its support.

You can check which branch you are in by going to www.unitetheunion.com and logging in to “My Unite”. Then choose “Contact Us”, “Change your details” and login to My Unite again. Select the “My Branch” tab and it should show (amongst other things) the meeting place, time and day for your UNITE branch.

If you are able to go along, please take along our appeal for support leaflet which helps explain the issues and our campaign. As a member of the branch, you are entitled to propose a motion and get it voted on. You might like to propose something like this:

Don’t be shy – this is your money, from your subs. Your branch should be there to support you when you need it.

Talk to Colleagues

Please talk to your colleagues about pay and pensions, about other issues that concern you, and about UNITE. Large numbers of employees are already joining UNITE, and many more say they are seriously thinking about it.

There’s lots of evidence that non-members are more likely to join when a colleague speaks to them about the union than through any other route. You may not feel your are the world’s greatest expert on UNITE or on the fine details of pay and pensions, but you know why you are a member. The chances are that the people you work with would join for similar reasons. Just look at how powerful some of the comments from new joiners are.

Distribute Leaflets and Lanyards

Has the joint UNITE/PCS national leaflet about our pay and pensions campaign gone out where you work yet? If not, can you help? Please drop a note to your reps who can advise on how to go about it.

At many sites, lots of staff (members or not) are wearing their passes on the red “UNITE for Fair Pay” lanyards. This is a great way to increase the visibility of the campaign, as well as undercutting the myth that it’s only about pensions. UNITE is campaigning on pay and pensions - this is how we can achieve a wide enough unity of the workforce to win. If you want some lanyards to dish out, please contact one of your local reps or contacts (see footer).

Recognition Awards

Express your sense of betrayal by sending back a recognition award or certificate. UNITE is organising to hand a bundle back in to the Fujitsu headquarters, along with a copy of our petition against the pay freeze. Please send yours to “UNITE the Union, MAN34” (internal mail) or “UNITE the Union, Fujitsu, Central Park, Northampton Road, Manchester, M40 5BP” (external mail). Please attach a note indicating your length of service. Please don’t send in certificate frames, heavy or bulky items.

This should help us get publicity for our campaign.

MPs

Some members have already begun contacting their MPs to complain about the attacks on pay and pensions.

If you’ve already written to your MP, please send a copy of all the correspondence to your reps via political at the ourunion.org.uk mailbox to that they can track which MPs have been contacted and how they are responding. Your reps can use this to build up the campaign, as well as helping put together some example letters to help give other members inspiration.

Demonstration

Four national unions and many other organisations are backing a demonstration called by UCU at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Sunday 27th September around the theme of the “right to work” and the impact of the recession on working people.

The demonstration will come during a crucial period for our pay and pensions campaign and your elected Combine Committee has decided that we should have an identifiable Fujitsu delegation on it, highlighting our pay and pensions campaign. If you are interested in taking part, please let your reps know as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be made.

Consultative Ballot

Consultative ballot papers have been sent to all UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in the UK.

If you have already returned your ballot paper, please let your reps know using the voting button on this email.
If you haven’t voted yet, please vote as soon as possible.
If you haven’t received your ballot paper, please let your reps know as soon as possible so that this can be investigated and rectified.

Your reps are urging you to vote YES+YES to send the strongest possible message to the company that Enough Is Enough. Our goals are:

· Pay:
1. A fairer pay system
2. More money for employees
· Pensions:
3. Defend the ICL DB pension scheme
4. Improve pension provision for those with something worse

Questions? Don’t forget the consultative ballot FAQ.

The ballot closes on 26th August and your reps expect to be able to announce the result soon afterwards.

UNITE is working alongside PCS, our sister union in Fujitsu, in the pay and pensions campaign. PCS is also balloting its members on the same timescale. Your reps are also in touch with colleagues facing attacks on pensions in other companies, with the aim of coordinating our campaigns for maximum impact.

London Meeting on Pay and Pensions

UNITE Fujitsu London Meeting on Pay and Pensions - "Enough is Enough"

There has been anger around the continuing erosion of pay and benefits and most recently outcry about the proposed closure of the ICL Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to accrual. In response to this, the UNITE reps for the London area have called a local meeting for members to discuss pay and pensions and outline the national campaign strategy.

This message has been sent to members in the London, South & East region. Please encourage all to attend, including interested non-members.

We will also be joined by some Unite reps from other regions, who can help answer any pension queries.

We do hope that you will be able to attend and give your invaluable support to this campaign. Details and agenda below along with Map and Tube instructions.

Tuesday 18th August
6.30pm for 1 hour, prompt start
Location:

Rooms 3 + 4
Unite
128 Theobald's Road
Holborn
London
WC1X 8TN

Map here: HERE

Nearest tube: Holborn

Read On for Agenda ...

Proposed Agenda
1) Introductions
2) Pay and Pensions

Briefing on the issues
Questions and answers
3) The national "Combine Committee"

Briefing on the structure
Questions and answers
4) The Consultative Ballot

Briefing on the process
Questions and answers
5) Motion 1 (see motions below)
6) Election of Local Reps
7) AOB
8) Summary and Close

Motion 1:

"We instruct our reps for the London area to act on members' anger at the threatened close of accrual to the ICL Defined Benefit Scheme and continued erosion of pay and benefits - liaising with the national Combine to organise members' local activities for the Pay and Pensions campaign."

Further motions can be added, and for AOB, please advise Dave Seymour david.seymour@uk.fujitsu.com before Noon Friday 14th Aug . Non-members cannot vote on motions.

Election of Local Reps - Roles
We are seeking members to stand for positions as reps. All will be open to election. Non-members cannot vote in the election. Please send your nominations to Dave Seymour before Noon Friday 14th Aug if you wish stand. Reps roles can be varied, including dealing with individual issues, campaigning, arranging members' meetings, writing notices and checking membership records.

Current Reps
This meeting has been arranged by your current reps, who are:

• HOM99: David Seymour
• LDN04: Leslie Mayar
• LDN18: Maheshkumar Tailor
• LDN19: Neil Ransom
• LON93: Steve Warren
• STE04: Trevor Palmer (t)
• STH05: Andrew Roth, Doug Telford, Joe Weiss

Red "UNITE for fair pay in Fujitsu" lanyards are available - contact one of the existing reps or pick some up at the meeting to pass round your colleagues

Belfast UNITE Meeting on Pay and Pensions

Belfast UNITE Meeting on Pay and Pensions - "Enough is Enough"

Dear member,

Over the last few days, you will have received Ballot Papers asking you to vote on whether you are prepared to take industrial action and whether you are prepared to take action short of industrial action to defend your pay and pension.

Understandably, many people will have concerns that this is a big step for them to take. Therefore, your local Union reps are proposing holding a number of meetings to address any concerns you might have about this process.

This message has been sent to members in the Belfast area.

All are encouraged to attend, including interested non-members.

We will be joined by Joanne McWilliams, the local Unite organiser for Fujitsu.

Date - Wednesday 12th August
Time - 1.00 p.m. for 1 hour, prompt start
Location – Conference Room 2, IRE 11 – Trident House (this may be subject to change)

Read on for Agenda ...

Agenda

* Introductions

* Pay and Pensions
Briefing on the issues
Questions and answers

* Ballot Papers
Briefing on the process
Questions and answers

* Industrial Action
What’s involved?
What does it mean for me?
Questions and answers

* AOB

* Summary and Close

Current Reps

This meeting has been arranged by your current reps, who are:
Roger Dane
Tony Hamill
Sean McGurk
Nick Smith
John Walsh

Red "UNITE for fair pay in Fujitsu" lanyards are available - contact one of the existing reps or pick some up at the meeting to pass round your colleagues.

Fujitsu Basingstoke, 6th August 2009

There will be an open meeting with a rep from the ICL Pension Members' Committee (IPMC) and UNITE Organiser Sarah Holden:

5:30pm, Thursday 6th August (TODAY)
BSN01 Rendezvous

Doom and Gloom and Pay Rises

When employers are trying to cut pay and benefits, it’s common to spread doom and gloom, with the aim of making you give up hope and feel that change for the worse is inevitable.

Of course Fujitsu made record profits, is profitable now and expects to continue making profits. According to the Financial Times, our parent company has improved its forecasts and is now targeting record profits for 2011.

But even in the wider economy, things aren’t as bleak as you’d imagine:

Behind the fall in RPI, the price of many essentials has been rising rapidly. The figures from the Office of National Statistics for the year to June 2009 show:

• Coal & solid fuels up 21.9%
• Fuel and light up 9.6%
• Gas up 24.0%
• Electricity up 6.8%
• Water and other charges up 4.7%

• Fares and other travel costs 5.5%
  
• Bus and coach fares 7.3%
  
• Other travel costs 4.8%

• Food up 5.3%, with many foods up more:
  
• tea up 10.3%
  
• coffee & other hot drinks 10.7%
  
• potatoes up 7.4%
  
• pork up 11.4%
  
• beef up 6.0%
  
• milk up 5.8%
  
• lamb up 9.7%
  
• sugar up 12.0%
  
• vegetables up 9.8%
  
• cereals up 6.1%
  
• fish up 20.0%
  

And if there’s any money left, the cost of a foreign holiday has gone up by 7.8%!

Why should Fujitsu get away with pushing up its profits at your expense?

Consultative Ballot UPDATE

Ballot papers were posted out on Monday to all UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in the UK. If you are one of these members and haven’t received yours by Friday 7th August, please let UNITE know.

If you have received your ballot paper, please return it without delay. Your reps are urging you to vote YES + YES to send the strongest possible message to the company that Enough Is Enough. Our goals are:

Pay:
1. A fairer pay system
2. More money for employees

Pensions:
3. Defend the ICL DB pension scheme
4. Improve pension provision for those with something worse

Peter Skyte, the UNITE National Officer for the IT & Communications sector says:

“Fujitsu Services is a highly profitable and successful company which is seeking to take advantage of the recession to attack the pay, pensions and conditions of its workforce."

“Our experience as a union shows that where members act together to protect and advance their pay and conditions, it is possible to persuade a company like Fujitsu to think again, and that is why we are calling for the maximum support for our pay and pensions campaign and for you to vote YES/YES in the consultative ballot.”

Whilst the way you vote is completely secret, please use the voting button to let your reps know when you’ve posted back your ballot paper. This will enable your reps to work to maximise the turnout without pestering members who have already voted.

Our colleagues in PCS, our sister union in Fujitsu, are organising a consultative ballot of their members at the same time, which all adds to the pressure on the company.

Our ballot has already attracted considerable interest from the media, with coverage from the Daily Mail to Socialist Worker, The Register to Computer Weekly, the Irish Examiner to the Belfast Telegraph and Professional Pensions to CIO UK.

We’re getting support for our campaign from far and wide. UNITE has now published the first batch of messages of support. There’s nothing wrong in standing up to protect you and yours against employer greed.

Questions? Don’t forget the consultative ballot FAQ.

Home Internet for Work

On 1st May 2009 a new UK Business and Travel Expenses policy and guidelines were issued. Some UNITE members contacted reps with concerns over the changes to reimbursement of line rental for ‘home’ broadband lines when used for work purposes. On page 17, point 5 of the guidelines says:

The Company will not reimburse any costs towards private Broadband lines which are used for business purposes.

Some individuals had started to receive letters stating that they would receive reimbursement for a set period going forward and then this would cease. They were also told that they may not qualify for a ‘company line’ to be installed.

UNITE reps met with the company on May 19th to discuss this issue, and asked for clarification on the ‘qualification criteria’ to have a company line installed. For home workers the qualification was clear, but where individuals currently use ‘private lines’ for access out of hours for on-call or other situations it was not clear they would be entitled to it. UNITE reps have been repeatedly reminding the company to respond to UNITE with these criteria to discuss further.

Have you been affected by this issue? Are you now facing being out of pocket and still expected to be ‘dialled’ in from home to work doing Out of Hours cover etc. Please contact your local Union Rep if you have an issue which you haven’t resolved.

Some misinformation has been circulating that it is no longer possible to claim reimbursement due to a change in HMRC rules – this is not the case. The rules have changed but Fujitsu could still allow you to claim reimbursement, just through a different process.

Vestas Occupation for Green Jobs

You have probably seen the news coverage of the campaign against the closure of the Vestas wind-turbine factory in the Isle of Wight. UNITE nationally has urged the government to “match its green rhetoric with action to support green jobs”. Locally, your reps have already collected and sent money to the campaign, as well as taking part in meetings and demonstrations.

Vestas workers have occupied the plant in an attempt to prevent closure. Their campaign has an impressive web site which includes how you can support the campaign, including making online donations:

http://savevestas.wordpress.com/

Trial of Masternaut Tracking System

Fujitsu has made a number of attempts to introduce the “Masternaut” vehicle tracking system over the last year or so. The system is intended to allow the company to allocate jobs to mobile engineers more efficiently. Previous attempts to introduce it were dogged with confusion and concerns, mainly about employee privacy.

The company now intends to run a 4 week trial for volunteers from amongst the Mod Ops engineers. If you decide to take part it would be helpful if you let your reps know, and keep them informed about how it goes.

Stop the BNP

Following the election of BNP members to represent the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, the BNP are planning a “festival” in Codnor, Derbyshire, to be attended by fascists from across Europe, including Hungary’s openly anti-Semitic Jobbik party, which has recently been involved in organising violent attacks on Roma gypsies in Hungary.

Unite Against Fascism is organising a counter-demonstration and transport is being organised from around the country. If you are interested in joining the members already going, please get in touch as soon as possible so that transport arrangements can be made.

Sickness Management

Reps reported in our 12th May newsletter that the Company had responded positively to the collective grievance over the proposed sickness absence reporting process in a number of Capability Units including Solutions Group, P&PM, Business Consulting, TI and RPG. Reps have now received updated versions of the new process and of an explanatory note to be sent to employees in the relevant departments.

UNITE published them on CafeVIK for members to read.

Note that the Company have not yet amended the flowchart embedded in the process document, however the process description itself does incorporate the changes we sought.

Please read the proposals and use the voting buttons to ACCEPT or REJECT the company response to this grievance.

Please note that this grievance is separate from the issue of the draconian new attendance policies and guidelines that the company introduced without consultation. UNITE, alongside the PCS union, has complained vigorously about these. Separate discussions are taking place to resolve those issues.

Your reps suggest you disregard the requirement to “self certify” after one day’s sickness (previously three days) when voting on the grievance response. This point comes from the new policies, and is best dealt with through the policy discussions rather than in this grievance.

Apart from this self-certification issue, your reps feel that the company has addressed the issues which members asked UNITE to take up through the grievance.

Questions & Myths

Your reps are building up a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the consultative ballot. Please send in any further questions you have for the FAQ.

There are lots of myths about industrial action. This “myth-buster” deals with a few:

Consultative Ballot Papers Out ***TODAY***

Ballot papers are being posted out today to UNITE members employed by Fujitsu Services in the UK.

Your reps are urging you to vote YES + YES and return your vote straight away when you receive your ballot paper.

The bigger the YES+YES vote, the stronger the message to the company.

Completed ballot papers must be returned to REACH the UNITE office no later than NOON on Wednesday 26th August 2009.

Our colleagues in the PCS union are conducting a consultative ballot of their members in Fujitsu on a similar timescale.

The UNITE ballot paper will have two questions:

* Are you prepared to take part in strike action?
* Are you prepared to take part in industrial action short of a strike?

These are the same questions that have to be asked in a “statutory” ballot. A YES+YES vote gives us the best chance of success in our campaign. If we had to take industrial action, a YES+YES vote in a statutory ballot would also provide members with the maximum legal protection.

After the consultative ballot, members would have the chance to vote in a statutory ballot before any action was called. Your reps would also consult members about what action to take.

A big YES + YES vote is essential if we are to secure the goals agreed by members:

Pay:
1. A fairer pay system
2. More money for employees

Pensions:
3. Defend the ICL DB pension scheme
4. Improve pension provision for those with something worse

Fujitsu is making good profits now and forecasting record profits for the future. You deserve your fair share. If we don’t stand up for ourselves the company will keep on demanding more and more for less and less in return.

If we aren’t prepared to fight, we are bound to lose. If we are prepared to fight, we can win.

Some people are reluctant to support industrial action because they feel they would be breaking the deal they struck with the company when they took their job. This is understandable. But it’s worth remembering that the company have broken the deal they struck with you. Fujitsu cancelled bonuses in 2008 then declared profits. This year they announced a pay review (and even a pay deal in Manchester) then cancelled it the week before it was due. The company proposes to renege on its “pension promise” to nearly 4000 staff – and because the company knows this would breach employees’ contracts they intend to dismiss and re-employ them on new ones.

It’s time to say Enough Is Enough!