In the consultative ballot, UNITE members voted by 87% for strike action and 96% for action short of strike. Importantly, these results were very similar right across the UK. Since then, the company announced 1200 job losses and your elected Combine Committee took the decisions to add “jobs” to the “pay and pensions” campaign and to move as quickly as possible to a statutory industrial action ballot. With the company proposing that redundancies would take effect on 11th December, there is no time to lose.
PCS, our sister union in Fujitsu, has taken a very similar approach and the two unions have been working together closely.
Preparations for the ballot have taken longer than hoped. Reps have had to contact every member to confirm or correct their details. Though most members did this by email, a minority did not, and have had to be chased repeatedly by email, phone and post. This has been necessary because the anti-union laws mean that employers can seek injunctions to try to prevent industrial action over minor technicalities, even when the democratic wishes of the membership are crystal clear.
The 7-day “notice of ballot” should be issued by UNITE’s legal department any day now.
UNITE is urging every member to vote YES+YES straight away when you receive your ballot papers. Experience shows that if members don’t vote straight away, many forget to vote or mislay their ballot papers. The postal strikes, and the likelihood of them spreading, make voting in good time particularly important.
It is vitally important that you keep your UNITE membership record up-to-date right through to when the dispute is concluded. Please notify any changes promptly to us. Changes to your home address are particularly important, as is letting UNITE know if you are going to be off work (e.g. long term sick, maternity leave) throughout the period when industrial action might take place.
UNISON East Sussex Area branch, which has some members at Fujitsu LEW02, has decided to launch a consultative ballot of its members, adding further weight to the campaign.
Industrial Action Ballot Q&A We support indefinite action short of strike and strike action starting with a three-day strike which can be used to ensure that there are pickets and members involved at as many key sites as possible. We call on our Combine Committee to plan to escalate the action as necessary to win the dispute. We call on our Combine Committee to produce a workable plan for action short of strike, considering ideas such as a ban on unpaid overtime (possibly encouraging those who normally do it to demand payment on UHP rates), refusing to answer the phone out of hours when not being paid, refusing duties which would undermine the effectiveness of industrial action, refusal to travel in your own time and working to role code.
“if you take part in a strike or other industrial action, you may be in breach of your contract of employment.”
“However, if you are dismissed for taking part in strike or other industrial action which is called officially and is otherwise lawful, the dismissal will be unfair if it takes place fewer than twelve weeks after you started taking part in the action, and depending on the circumstances may be unfair if it takes place later”
There is also legal protection against discrimination for union membership or taking part in union activities.
If you feel this is a moral issue as well as a legal one, it’s worth remembering that the company has broken its promises to staff on pay, and plans to do the same on pensions.
As part of the wider Jobs, Pay & Pensions campaign, UNITE is producing a new national leaflet. If you can help distribute it at your site, please get in touch saying where you’ll be able to distribute it, how many you’ll need and where to post them.
“Consultation”
As predicted by UNITE, PCS and the company’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF), the company approach to redundancy “consultation” has generated chaos:
UNITE and PCS are offering training to all the employee reps involved in the redundancy consultation process, and continue to try to participate constructively, despite the obstacles created by the company’s approach. However, it is clear that we cannot rely on the company behaving sensibly, so the campaign remains vital.
Quotes
Meanwhile the company’s online facility for generating “quotes” for redundancy is proving pretty unreliable:
While UNITE and other employee reps have many concerns about the VR programme, the union is encouraging everyone (whether currently at risk or not) to look at the information provided, keep a copy and check it carefully. In particular, if the page lists the wrong "Severance Scheme" (i.e. redundancy terms), you should contact HRdirect to get this corrected without delay. If you are a union member you can contact one of your reps for help in checking your quote.
You should compare the quote you get from the company system with that from the UNITE Redundancy Calculator:
The UNITE calculator also provides an explanation of how the figures are worked out. It has now been updated to use the statutory cap on weekly pay that will apply from 1st October, rather than the current one.
If you believe the company quote is wrong, please let your UNITE reps know as well as seeking clarification or correction from HR.
Your reps are aware of some issues which could affect quotes:
1) For employees on 12 months notice, the UNITE calculator assumes you work six months and get six months Pay In Lieu Of Notice (PILON), in line with the past practice in ICL and Fujitsu. It isn't yet clear whether the company will do so this time, but the company quotes appears to include a full year's PILON.
2) The UNITE calculator does not include Pay In Lieu Of Benefits (PILOB). Including this would require you to input a lot more information and make it less usable.
3) For colleagues not in the Manchester bargaining unit and on poor severance schemes, the company Q&A says that they will apply some (but not all) of the improvements included in Annex 1. This is not yet reflected in the UNITE calculator and UNITE is not yet clear whether or how it is reflected in the company quotes.
4) We are awaiting information to correct a problem on the UNITE calculator for ex civil-servants.
The company has produced its explanations of some of the different severance schemes, which UNITE has published on CafeVIK. Please note that most of the files in this are encrypted - please read the README file for an explanation and the password.
Gains from 2007 Manchester Dispute Ripple Nationally
When UNITE members in Manchester took industrial action in 2006-7 the company hoped to isolate them, but members travelled the length and breadth of the country campaigning and raising support. One of the main gains of the dispute was the “Annex 1” agreement which covers redeployment and redundancy for people in the Manchester bargaining unit. Since it was signed, this has proved remarkably successful at protecting members who wanted to remain in the company. There have also been small examples of this “good practice” spreading elsewhere in the company.
For example:
As well as showing the benefits of union organisation, these examples show that the old adage “an injury to one is an injury to all, a victory for one is a victory for all” holds true in Fujitsu today.
The company should be treating everyone throughout the UK at least as well as set out in Annex 1. This would mean better support for redeployment, a more meaningful VR programme if jobs are lost etc.
Information
Sometimes it can be hard to see the woods for the trees. UNITE will continue to try to pick out the most important developments from the redundancy process to keep members well informed. There are now a number of useful places to get information (as well as the union web sites, of course):
Tips for Union Members At Risk
People have been asking where to find information. Sources include:
Tips for redeployment:
Financial Advice:
Fujitsu Sponsors Parliamentary Rugby Teams
Staff whose jobs are at risk will no doubt be delighted to hear that the company scraped together the cash to sponsor the “Commons & Lords Rugby Union Football Club” for the 2009/10 season. Did our parliamentarians needed some extra help paying for their kit now that expenses are under more scrutiny?
Many employees have the Security of Employment Agreement (SEA) as a contractual right. The SEA commits the company to suspend advertising as a cost-saving measure to avoid redundancies, except by joint agreement. This is a spectacular employee-relations own goal.
Fujitsu may try to curry-favour with politicians, to offset the bad press their treatment of employees is getting. But the reality is that it makes it easier for employees to tackle MPs on the subject. How can they claim Fujitsu’s behaviour is none of their business when the company flaunts its public sector role in this way?
Ian Allinson, one of our reps in Manchester, also represents our industry sector on the UNITE Executive Council (EC). He reports a few of the highlights from the EC meeting last week.
The Joint General Secretaries reported on the results UNITE is getting in the IT & Communications sector, including important developments in Steria and HP/EDS:
Steria
Steria originally proposed a 2.15% pay offer and then withdrew that offer, imposing a pay freeze. Following overwhelming votes for industrial action and formal notice being given to the company, negotiations at senior executive level produced a long term pay offer which was accepted by members to resolve the Unite pay claim for 2009/2010 and provides for a 3 Year Pay Review Agreement, with increases above price inflation (RPI)
HP
The CAC has awarded Unite recognition for Collective Bargaining for all Engineers below level of manager, covering around 230 field engineers in one business of the company. Following this, we have negotiated a recognition agreement with the company to provide for bargaining on pay, hours and holidays, grievance and disciplinary matters, training and health and safety.
The Executive Council approved a proposal for the UNITE Organising Department to assist reps and officers in the Computer Services industry in an organising campaign. This will initially focus on five of the key companies in the sector: Fujitsu, IBM, HP/EDS, CSC and Steria. From a Fujitsu point of view, this should accelerate the good progress we are already making to build effective union organisation across the company.
The EC agreed a motion from the Fujitsu UK Combine Committee to further strengthen UNITE’s work on pensions in response to the increasing attacks by employers:
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We note the attempts by an increasing range of employers to attack pension provision, and in particular defined benefit pension schemes. We note that sections of the media and politicians are proclaiming the death of the defined benefit pension and promoting divisions between workers in the private and public sector. We note that a threat to pension provision is one of the situations most likely to lead members to support industrial action. We note that UNITE's campaigning in defence of pensions is already leading to significant membership growth in a number of companies. Given the scale of the attacks now, and the likelihood of them spreading, we call on the UNITE Executive Council to step up UNITE's campaigning on pensions by:
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A big welcome to all the new members who have joined UNITE in recent months. We are in the astonishing position that over a third of the UNITE members in Fujitsu have joined since the start of 2009. More are joining every day – please keep asking colleagues to join.
The effectiveness of the union doesn’t just depend on the size of the membership, it depends on how active and involved people are too. If you’d be willing to be a union rep or contact where you work, would like a union meeting, or are willing to help distribute union leaflets, please get in touch.
Earlier this year, members decided to set up a Combine Committee to coordinate UNITE’s work in Fujitsu at a national level.
Reps are directly elected by members on a regional basis. We currently have vacancies for five seats and would like members to fill them urgently, as the Combine Committee will continue to have a vital role to play in democratic decision-making in our “jobs, pay and pensions” campaign, and it is important that every area is well represented.
The vacancies are:
* Manchester Bargaining Unit (HOM99 based staff)
* North West (WAR based staff)
* Scotland
* Thames Valley & South West (BRA based staff)
* Thames Valley & South West (HOM99 based staff)
If you are willing to stand for election to the committee, please contact us by Thursday 8th October, including your name, your contact details (email, phone, mobile), which constituency you are standing for and (optionally) an election statement of up to 100 words.
For more details about the Combine Committee, see the original proposal and Standing Orders, or speak to one of the current Combine Committee members (identified with a “7” or “21” here).
The company issued paperwork on Friday to try to start the “90 day” redundancy consultation period. In their haste to start the clock ticking, this was botched, with conflicting numbers of employees and jobs at risk, forcing the company to reissue key documents.
The company provided information showing that it is still profitable, albeit at a lower rate than they hoped.
The latest information from the company suggests the overall numbers are as follows (the original email also included names of the employee reps):
|
Pool | Current Number of Employees | Number Proposed to be Dismissed as Redundant | % |
| 1 Engineering | 1707 | 400 | 23% |
| 2 Application Services | 1513 | 220 | 15% |
| 3 Government | 560 | 95 | 17% |
| 4 Private Sector | 486 | 110 | 23% |
| 5 Central Functions | 526 | 119 | 23% |
| 6 Core | 1283 | 256 | 20% |
| TOTAL | 6075 | 1200 | 20% |
Thanks to everyone who stood for election. Without individuals prepared to stand up for themselves and their colleagues, employees can have no chance of influencing the company’s actions.
The more detailed breakdown of jobs at risk is:
Pool 1 (Engineering)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| Management – Leadership team, their direct reports and all other managers/supervisors, Team Managers across Engineering Services | ES: 137 NI: 1 MODOPs: 13
Total: 151 | ES: 14
MODOPs: 4
Total: 18 | 12% |
| Deskside Services( including campus) all Engineers and Team Leaders | ES: 765 | ES: 136 | 18% |
| Mobile Engineering – all Mobile/Field Engineers, Team Leaders, Mobile Eng, HES and Project Services | ES: 325 MODOPs: 313 NI: 25 Total: 663 | ES: 153 MODOPs: 67 NI: 2 Total: 222 | 33% |
| Support Services includes all First level, Second Level, Third Level, Field Resource Controllers and Tracking roles | ES: 97 MODOPS: 31
Total: 128 | ES: 20 MODOPs: 4
Total: 24 | 19% |
| TOTAL | 1707 | 400 | 23% |
Pool 2 (Application Services)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| Management & Business Support Business Development | 112
15 | 20
2 | 18%
13% |
| Business Applications (Northern Ireland) Business Applications (GB) | 121
227 | 8
21 | 6%
9% |
| Applications Business Solutions (GB) & Software as a Service Application Outsourcing (GB) | 448
504 | 83
77 | 19%
15% |
| Application Business Solutions & Application Outsourcing (Northern Ireland) | 86 | 9 | 10% |
| TOTAL | 1513 | 220 | 15% |
Pool 3 (Government & Defence)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| Bid & Proposal management | 25 | 3 | 12% |
| Sales Govt | 9 | 2 | 22% |
| SDC Germany | 45 | 5 | 11% |
| SDC Cyprus | 16 | 2 | 13% |
| SCO | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| DII Take-on Service | 15 | 5 | 33% |
| Internal Support Team | 6 | 1 | 17% |
| Quality | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Management | 52 | 20 | 38% |
| Administration | 5 | 1 | 20% |
| Business Support | 45 | 10 | 22% |
| Service Delivery Management | 41 | 7 | 17% |
| Technical Services Management | 29 | 4 | 14% |
| Developers | 14 | 2 | 14% |
| Customer Solution Architects | 19 | 2 | 11% |
| Technical Support Specialists | 233 | 30 | 13% |
| Total | 560 | 95 | 17% |
Pool 4 (Private Sector)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| Business Consulting | 40 | 24 | 60% |
| Administration | 30 | 6 | 20% |
| Account Management | 53 | 10 | 19% |
| Service Delivery Management | 199 | 33 | 17% |
| Service Delivery | 66 | 10 | 15% |
| Sales & Sales Support | 74 | 26 | 35% |
| Software & Solution Development | 24 | 1 | 4% |
| Total | 486 | 110 | 23% |
Pool 5 (Central Functions)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| Business Assurance | 28 | 4 | 14% |
| Commercial | 98 | 10 | 10% |
| Finance – CFS | 56 | 36 | 64% |
| Finance – Other | 213 | 29 | 14% |
| HR People Development | 35 | 14 | 40% |
| HR Lean and Best Practice | 33 | 10 | 30% |
| HR – Occupational Health & Safety | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| HR – Resource Management and Recruitment | 60 | 14 | 23% |
| Total | 527 | 119 | 23% |
Note: These figures are taken from the company presentation at the forum meeting, and do not exactly match other figures given by the company.
Pool 6 (Core)
|
Selection Area | Numbers of current employees | Numbers proposed to be dismissed as redundant | % |
| P&PM | 962 | 64 | 7% |
| Core Shared Service | 42 | 18 | 43% |
| Business Consultants | 67 | 18 | 27% |
| Systems Ops | 104 | 101 | 97% |
| Service Desks | 10 | 5 | 50% |
| Datacentres | 36 | 20 | 56% |
| Lutterworth warehouse closure | 22 | 19 | 86% |
| Logistics | 40 | 11 | 28% |
| TOTAL | 1283 | 256 | 20% |
Voluntary Redundancy
Since the company announced the redundancies, many employees have been asking about Voluntary Redundancy (VR), an obvious way of mitigating the consequences (softening the blow) of any job losses.
Along with a mass of information dumped on newly elected redundancy forum reps on Friday, the company included a couple of slides about a proposed Voluntary Redundancy (VR) programme. Though the company made clear it was proposing a single VR programme for all 6000 staff at risk, the company offered no facilities for reps to discuss the proposal between the six forums. Unsurprisingly, the responses from the forums varied. For example, some forums simply responded positively to the company proposal, while the Engineering forum responded:
As what had happened at the six forums became clearer, UNITE wrote to the company as follows:
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From: Allinson Ian Larry, The company made proposals for a VR programme to the six redundancy forums on Friday. The information about the proposal was provided during the course of the meeting, not in advance for UNITE or the other reps to consider. The company proposed to run a single programme, not six different ones and to initiate the process on Monday (the following working day). Putting this to six separate meetings, without any opportunity for reps to give it the serious consideration it deserved, to seek views from the employees we represent, or to discuss a response between the six groups, made it almost inevitable that the company would get a variety of responses. The company cannot genuinely "seek agreement" with six different forums through such a process. If the company merely pointed to the variety of responses and then did what it pleased, this would indicate that the "consultation" process was a sham. We sincerely hope that the company doesn't go down this path. We expressed to you prior to the start of consultation that we were keen that estimates of redundancy payments be made available as quickly as possible. These are vital whether the company proposes voluntary or compulsory redundancies, so that employees are properly informed about the possible outcomes of the process. We believe this should be available to all employees, whether at risk or not and have no problem with the company making this available on Monday as planned. This does not imply an acceptance that redundancies are justified or agreement to the specific VR proposal. The company VR proposal conflicts directly with section 6.1.2 iv of our Annex 1 agreement. If redundancies do go ahead, the provisions of Annex 1 would be much more effective at reducing compulsory redundancies than the company proposal, and we will undoubtedly want to discuss this with our colleagues on all six forums. We will make a more detailed response to the information provided on Friday in due course. I would be grateful if you could pass this on to the management team dealing with the redundancy programme. Many thanks Ian Allinson |
UNITE recommends:
The company’s actions raise some important issues:
While many employees will be keen to explore VR, we shouldn’t forget that redundancy doesn’t just affect those who leave. If the company proposal goes ahead, the vast majority of those at risk will be those left struggling with too much work, more pressure and more stress. Reps need to consider the interests of all those they represent.
Forum Operation
It is important that employees and their reps on the six forums learn the lessons from Friday. It is dangerous for reps to react to proposals without giving them proper consideration and where appropriate actively seeking views from the employees they represent. As the process moves on, if the company gets away with “divide and conquer” and employees don’t establish a clear and united voice, we will all be the worse for it. UNITE and PCS are working hard to provide the coordination and support necessary to help reps in the forums function effectively, alongside the campaign that will undoubtedly be essential.
UNITE and PCS have offered to provide free training to all the employee reps on the six forums, regardless of whether they are currently union members, as the unions believe this is in the interests of the workforce. This is something UNITE did for the reps involved in the NHS forum in the recent past. The vast majority of the redundancy forum reps have already said they would like to take up this offer, but the company has yet to give the go-ahead, despite having been aware of the issue for over a fortnight.
If the company insists on the ridiculous approach of making identical proposals to six forums, this will inevitably slow down the consultation process as reps on the six forums should confer before responding. The company may need to extend consultation beyond the minimum 90 days if it continues to delay progress in this way.
There are wide differences in how reps on the six forums conducted themselves on Friday. If you are at risk, please encourage your reps to learn from the best, whichever forum you are in. Examples of what some forums (not all) did include:
It’s worth noting that some of the reps, understandably keen to communicate with constituents, are circulating information which isn’t accurate, sometimes due to misunderstandings, and sometimes due to being misled by the company representatives.
UNITE, alongside the PCS union, is trying to engage constructively with the company in consultation over pensions and redundancies. However, it is important to be realistic:
The company is profitable and can afford decent pay and pensions for all its employees. It has no need to cut jobs – it is cash rich and can afford to weather the recession. The irresponsible greed of companies trying to keep their profits at “boom” levels through the recession risks jeopardising the chances of economic recovery.
It seems unlikely that our senior management will suddenly decide to behave honourably towards employees without being put under considerable pressure.
Alongside the consultation process, we need to step up the campaign to make Fujitsu change direction. Union membership across the company continues to rise rapidly. UNITE’s membership in Fujitsu is already up over one third this year. Continuing this growth is essential to maximise the pressure on the company.
Members at Manchester and Crewe sites have both agreed the following motion unopposed at recent meetings:
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We believe the company has not justified redundancies, and we therefore oppose them as the latest initiative to increase profits at our expense. We support the decision of the Combine Committee to add “Jobs” to our “Pay & Pensions” campaign. Opposition to compulsory redundancies must be central to our campaign, alongside the “four red lines” already agreed by members: Pay: We recognise that the clock is ticking on both pensions and jobs, so we call on UNITE and PCS to organise action as quickly as possible unless agreement is reached with the company. We believe that all the “three prongs” of our campaign are important to put pressure on Fujitsu: 1. Industrial action We recognise that the industrial action is important both because of the pressure is produces directly, and because it strengthens the other elements of the campaign. We recognise that we will also need activities which don’t directly put pressure on Fujitsu, but which build moral and financial support to sustain our campaign. We welcome the decision of the UNITE Executive Council to sharply increase Dispute Benefit, which is for all members on strike, to £30 per day. We recognise the fairness of a rule that only those who play an active part in campaign activities or fundraising should be entitled to additional Hardship Payments from our campaign fund. We call on our reps to organise campaign activities in support of all elements of the strategy and we pledge to actively support them. We support indefinite action short of strike and strike action starting with a three-day strike which can be used to ensure that there are pickets and members involved at as many key sites as possible. We call on our Combine Committee to plan to escalate the action as necessary to win the dispute. We call on our Combine Committee to produce a workable plan for action short of strike, considering ideas such as a ban on unpaid overtime (possibly encouraging those who normally do it to demand payment on UHP rates), refusing to answer the phone out of hours when not being paid, refusing duties which would undermine the effectiveness of industrial action, refusal to travel in your own time and working to role code. We resolve to organise a delegation from our workplace to join the Fujitsu contingent on the “Jobs, Education, Peace & Justice” demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on 27th September, which has been called by PCS, UCU, NUT, NUJ and various campaign groups. |
Why not get a UNITE meeting together at your site? If you need help, please contact one of your reps.
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 cut jobs, hold down pay and cut pension provision. This branch supports the campaign by UNITE members in Fujitsu over jobs, 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.
There are many other places you can go to raise support too. One of our reps reports:
There are many different unions, each with loads of branches. They are generally interested in what is happening here, and keen to help. They can find out bits and pieces of information from the press etc, but there’s no substitute for talking to them directly. Last Tuesday evening I was guest speaker at the Unite Chadderton branch meeting. I told them what was going on in Fujitsu, we had a discussion about it, we talked about what was happening in their company and how we could help each other. And they sent us a donation. So it’s not rocket science – we tell people what’s happening here, and they give us money! It’s also not rocket science to work out that the more people we talk to, the more donations we’ll get.
This is where we need you. Your reps can’t go and talk to all of these branches; there are too many. We’re looking for people who could help. We don’t want to send you all around the world – just going to union branches around where you live would be great. And we won’t just dump you in some strange office and say ‘get on with it’. The idea is to get you to attend some of these meetings with one of the reps; help them with answering the questions about the FJ situation; and see what’s involved. You don’t need to be a great speaker or to have encyclopaedic knowledge of what’s happening – you just need to be able to talk about what you know and how you feel about it. I’d never done this sort of thing before last week, so I was a bit apprehensive at first. But it was fine. It turns out that talking to people who are sympathetic and want to support us is actually not difficult. And it can help us (and therefore you) a lot.
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. You may also find the comments from employees involved in the huge 2002 redundancies are helpful.
Distribute Leaflets and Lanyards
Your reps plan a national leaflet for our jobs, pay and pensions campaign shortly. Your reps are building up a list of members who are willing to help distribute leaflets at their site. 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.
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 so 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
Six national unions and many other organisations are backing a demonstration called by UCU (University and College Union) 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 jobs, 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.
Fujitsu has confirmed a further extension to the timescales for the proposed closure of the ICL Defined Benefit pension plan.
Consultation on pensions will not end before 23rd October 2009 and no member would be affected by the change prior to 28th February 2010 (longer if on more than 13 weeks notice).
This is welcome news, but we still need to see real movement in the company’s position.
If you know colleagues who may be interested, please pass on this email to a few of them.
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. If you’re not yet ready to fill in the form, you can still let UNITE know you want more information and to be kept in touch.
While everyone will benefit from the work UNITE and PCS are doing at a collective level, UNITE reps will only give individual support (in relation to these redundancies) to members who join before any selection for redundancy takes place. If you have colleagues affected by these redundancies, please encourage them to join as quickly as possible, so that they can get maximum benefit from their membership.
Thanks to all the members who attended this afternoon’s Extraordinary General Meeting for the Manchester bargaining unit. It was a well attended meeting despite a number of members in MAN35 being refused permission to attend.
The meeting discussed reports from reps on pay, pensions and jobs.
Suggestions from the floor included giving more visibility to how employees can work out the “detriment” they would suffer from the proposal to close the ICL DB Pension Plan, and pursuing legal action over the company’s mis-handling of redundancy consultation.
Support for the “Jobs, Pay and Pensions” campaign continues to grow and recruitment has accelerated again.
Firm decisions have not yet been taken about allocation of Manchester UNITE Reps to the six redundancy consultation forums, but this is the current thinking:
|
Forum | Group | Possible Lead Rep |
| 1 | Engineering | Possible PCS lead |
| 2 | Application Services | Jackie Cook |
| 3 | Government and Defence | Possible PCS lead |
| 4 | Private Sector Business Division | Possible UNITE Reuters lead |
| 5 | Central Functions | Nikki Aldridge |
| 6 | Core | Phil Tepper |
Other reps will of course be involved as required, both from Manchester and elsewhere.
The following motion was agreed unanimously:
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We believe the company has not justified redundancies, and we therefore oppose them as the latest initiative to increase profits at our expense. We support the decision of the Combine Committee to add “Jobs” to our “Pay & Pensions” campaign. Opposition to compulsory redundancies must be central to our campaign, alongside the “four red lines” already agreed by members: Pay: We recognise that the clock is ticking on both pensions and jobs, so we call on UNITE and PCS to organise action as quickly as possible unless agreement is reached with the company. We believe that all the “three prongs” of our campaign are important to put pressure on Fujitsu: 1. Industrial action We recognise that the industrial action is important both because of the pressure it produces directly, and because it strengthens the other elements of the campaign. We recognise that we will also need activities which don’t directly put pressure on Fujitsu, but which build moral and financial support to sustain our campaign. We welcome the decision of the UNITE Executive Council to sharply increase Dispute Benefit, which is for all members on strike, to £30 per day. We recognise the fairness of a rule that only those who play an active part in campaign activities or fundraising should be entitled to additional Hardship Payments from our campaign fund. We call on our reps to organise campaign activities in support of all elements of the strategy and we pledge to actively support them. We support indefinite action short of strike and strike action starting with a three-day strike which can be used to ensure that there are pickets and members involved at as many key sites as possible. We call on our Combine Committee to plan to escalate the action as necessary to win the dispute. We call on our Combine Committee to produce a workable plan for action short of strike, considering ideas such as a ban on unpaid overtime (possibly encouraging those who normally do it to demand payment on UHP rates), refusing to answer the phone out of hours when not being paid, refusing duties which would undermine the effectiveness of industrial action, refusal to travel in your own time and working to role code. We resolve to organise a delegation from our workplace to join the Fujitsu contingent on the “Jobs, Education, Peace & Justice” demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on 27th September, which has been called by PCS, UCU, NUT, NUJ and various campaign groups. |
It is vital that all members keep UNITE informed of any change to their membership record (home address, contractual base location, Professional Community role etc) to minimise the risk of the company mounting a challenge to our ballot through the anti-union laws.
Dave Whitworth was elected as a new Equality Rep and Kieran Delaney was elected as a new Union Learning Rep.
A collection raised £90 for the all-out indefinite strike by UCU members at Tower Hamlets College against cuts in jobs and services.
Reps gave a report on the dispute at Manchester College over cuts in jobs and services and the victimisation of their UCU branch secretary. There will be a protest lobby in support of the campaign outside a fundraising event for the Labour Party at 6:30pm on Friday 11th September at The Place Hotel, Ducie Street (near Piccadilly railway station). Protesters are meeting beforehand in the Bull’s Head pub opposite the lower entrance to Piccadilly station.
The meeting ended with a reminder of what members can do:
Don't forget today's Extraordinary General Meeting for all UNITE members in the Fujitsu Manchester bargaining unit:
1-3pm, Wednesday 9th September
MAN35 Canteen
Proposed Agenda:
* Pay
* Pensions
* Jobs
* Motion (see below)
* Reps Elections (see below)
* Any Other Business (College disputes in Tower Hamlets and Manchester)
* Next Steps
Proposed Motion:
The original email included the text of a proposed motion.
Reps Elections:
The original email included details of two nominations for new reps, for consideration by members at the EGM.
Further candidates can come forward at the meeting. In particular, any members willing to be involved in the redundancy consultation process for "Engineering", "Government and Defence" or "Private Sector Business Division" should consider standing as a deputy Workplace Rep.
Report from Crewe
Unite at Fujitsu Crewe held a meeting on 2nd September 2009, on site at CRE02, filling all the seats in the large conference room. There were apologies received from members and reps who could not make it to the meeting. The minutes of the last meeting were summarised.
Topics of discussion were the redundancies announcements and consultation, the result of the consultative ballot, the timetable for the statutory ballot, the joint campaign with the PCS, and industrial action (both strike action and action short of strike).
Members agreed the following motion unopposed:
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We believe the company has not justified redundancies, and we therefore oppose them as the latest initiative to increase profits at our expense. We support the decision of the Combine Committee to add “Jobs” to our “Pay & Pensions” campaign. Opposition to compulsory redundancies must be central to our campaign, alongside the “four red lines” already agreed by members: * Pay: We recognise that the clock is ticking on both pensions and jobs, so we call on UNITE and PCS to organise action as quickly as possible unless agreement is reached with the company. We believe that all the “three prongs” of our campaign are important to put pressure on Fujitsu: 1. Industrial action We recognise that the industrial action is important both because of the pressure is produces directly, and because it strengthens the other elements of the campaign. We recognise that we will also need activities which don’t directly put pressure on Fujitsu, but which build moral and financial support to sustain our campaign. We welcome the decision of the UNITE Executive Council to sharply increase Dispute Benefit, which is for all members on strike, to £30 per day. We recognise the fairness of a rule that only those who play an active part in campaign activities or fundraising should be entitled to additional Hardship Payments from our campaign fund. We call on our reps to organise campaign activities in support of all elements of the strategy and we pledge to actively support them. We support indefinite action short of strike and strike action starting with a three-day strike which can be used to ensure that there are pickets and members involved at as many key sites as possible. We call on our Combine Committee to plan to escalate the action as necessary to win the dispute. We call on our Combine Committee to produce a workable plan for action short of strike, considering ideas such as a ban on unpaid overtime (possibly encouraging those who normally do it to demand payment on UHP rates), refusing to answer the phone out of hours when not being paid, refusing duties which would undermine the effectiveness of industrial action, refusal to travel in your own time and working to role code. We resolve to organise a delegation from our workplace to join the Fujitsu contingent on the “Jobs, Education, Peace & Justice” demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Brighton on 27th September, which has been called by PCS, UCU, NUT, NUJ and various campaign groups. |
More “Unite for Fair Pay in Fujitsu” lanyards were distributed. Sheets of both types of promotional stickers were taken away by members. The next meeting will be arranged for after the statutory ballot result. It will again be held in a room at the CRE02 site.
Report from Stevenage
Over 40 staff attended the UNITE meeting in Stevenage on 1st September to discuss jobs, pay and pensions and the campaign.
Manchester EGM
There will be an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for all UNITE members in the Manchester bargaining unit tomorrow:
1-3pm, Wednesday 9th September
MAN35 canteen
Members of the ICL Defined Benefit Pension Plan should have seen the latest statement from the reps on the Pensions Forum, dated 4th September 2009. This includes:
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2) Member Feedback Feedback from members is a crucial part of the whole representation and consultation process. It helps ensure that we are in tune with your diverse views and any special circumstances. Your comments give your representatives considerable strength in discussions with the Company when discussing the subject on your behalf. We received written comments from 629 individuals in late May / early June and forwarded them (clues to identities and superfluous wording excluded) to the Company. That collated document made the Company fully aware of the feelings of members at that time – now we must repeat the exercise to ‘feel the temperature’ and incorporate it into the current stage of the consultation. Could everybody please write to your representative by 17.00 on Friday 11th September. Whatever your views please tell us now – even if they repeat previous emails. Even if your views are similar to a colleague please ensure that each of you responds. Your feedback can be as short as you wish, indeed the more succinct the better, but in any case please keep your comments under 500 words. There is no set format for your comments, although we would particularly like people to address the following:
When we have been holding member meetings recently we have frequently been asked what action we want members to take. Members make a wide range of suggestions as to what they might do, such as leaving the Company, working to rule, threatening or taking legal action or joining the union. It would assist your representatives to know what action you would support or advocate, so that we can ensure that we are representing you accurately. Please help us to help you by sending us your comments now. We will collate these views to demonstrate members’ current feelings (anonymously) to the Company. |
It really is important that ICL DB Pension Plan members send in their feedback by the deadline of 17:00 on Friday 11th September.
Channel 4’s flagship documentary programme, Dispatches, will be carrying an edition on the subject of pensions around the end of this month. UNITE has been contacted by the producers, who are keen to talk to as many Fujitsu staff as possible. They are not after “expert opinion” from you, but want to show the personal impact (financial, personal, emotional) of what’s happening. If you might be willing to take part, please contact us as soon as possible. Filming is already underway, so this opportunity to raise the profile of our issues and our campaign is urgent. Calling does not mean any commitment from you to take part. A few employees may have contracts which restrict their right to talk to the press – if you have such a contract, you should heed what it says.
Having pressed ahead with six parallel redundancy consultation forums, against strong protests from UNITE, PCS, the UKCF and many individual employees, the company has proceeded to botch the election.
The company didn’t announce the constituencies or numbers of seats until after nominations had closed. When the arrangements then lead to some reps being unopposed while large numbers of candidates contest other seats, this can only lead to allegations of gerrymandering.
The company has had to issue a retraction in Application Services for its false statement that union members shouldn’t vote.
Quite apart from the difficulties it will present for representatives on the forums, having six in parallel means the managers making the really important decisions are unlikely to attend any of them. A recipe for a frustrating process that is less productive than it should be.
If there is an election in your area, please use your vote(s). Remember that you may be able to cast several votes if there is more than one seat in your constituency.
Despite the utter chaos of the company election process, candidates and reps have worked together to identify a number of candidates who would like support from union members:
If you have already voted for candidates no longer seeking your support, it may be worth you contacting HR to ask to change your vote.
If you stood for election, please keep UNITE informed about who else stood and whether or not you are elected, so that your union can provide you with as much advice and support as possible. In particular, it would be sensible for forum reps to be in communication prior to the first meetings, which are due to take place on Friday. UNITE and PCS plan a conference call training session and discussion on Thursday afternoon.
If you know colleagues who may be interested, please pass on this email to a few of them.
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. If you’re not yet ready to fill in the form, you can still let UNITE know you want more information and to be kept in touch.
Your reps are working hard making preparations for Wednesday’s Extraordinary General Meeting for all UNITE members in the Manchester bargaining unit:
1-3pm, Wednesday 9th September
MAN35 canteen
All members are entitled to attend in work time, but if your manager might need to arrange cover, you should ask them as early as possible to confirm your release. If you experience any difficulties with release, please contact your rep in good time. Leaving it to the last minute will make it impossible for your reps to help you.
Alongside pay and pensions, redundancies will clearly be a major topic of discussion.
The company is setting up six parallel “forums” for redundancy consultation, despite widespread opposition to this divisive and confusing approach. The company is currently (badly) running elections to these forums for employees not covered by collective bargaining. The UNITE Manchester is entitled to be directly represented on all these forums, but reps are considering coordinating representation with colleagues from other UNITE and PCS bargaining units for logistical reasons.
At this stage, no decisions have been made, but your reps are considering putting forward the following reps to lead our work around the forums:
Forum | Group | Possible Lead Rep |
| 1 | Engineering | Possible PCS lead |
| 2 | Application Services | Jackie Cook |
| 3 | Government and Defence | Possible PCS lead |
| 4 | Private Sector Business Division | Possible UNITE Reuters lead |
| 5 | Central Functions |
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| 6 | Core | Phil Tepper |
Other reps will of course be involved as required, both from Manchester and elsewhere.
Apart from those not at risk at all, there are most UNITE members (nationally) in groups 1, 2 and 6. These are also the largest groups (both nationally and in Manchester).
If you would like to get involved in the Manchester representation on the forums, you need to be elected as a deputy workplace rep at the EGM on Wednesday, where members can also discuss our approach more generally.
If you would like to stand, please contact us as soon as possible including:
Though nominations can be taken during the meeting, your reps will not be able to circulate details of any received after 5pm on Tuesday (8th Sept).
Thanks to everyone who has submitted their nominations for one of the six redundancy consultation forums the company is setting up.
By the time nominations closed, the company had still not made clear how many seats there would be on each forum, or what the constituencies would be. This is far from a fair process.
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STOP PRESS: The company is starting to send out piecemeal notices to different areas about the elections. Your reps are trying to piece together the overall picture about where elections are taking place and who is standing. In at least one case the company has issued a notice to employees saying: "Please note that if you are a member of UNITE or PCS there will be representation from these organisations therefore it is not necessary for you to vote." This is a total lie and a blatant attempt to disenfranchise union members. UNITE has protested in the strongest terms. Employees in areas where votes are required can take part irrespective of union membership. Use your vote! The only people who don’t need to vote are those who:
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Since the resounding YES+YES votes by UNITE and PCS members in the consultative ballots, there has been some important correspondence with the company by both unions and the employee reps on the company’s UK Consultative Forum (UKCF). Below we reproduce:
You will see a very clear and consistent view from employee reps across the company that the company is handling the redundancy situation very badly. The fact that the company approach led the UKCF reps to the unanimous view that they had to resign marks a new low for Fujitsu’s dealing with employees.
UNITE will provide support to the reps elected to the six redundancy consultation forums, to try to overcome the difficulties caused by the company’s approach. Union organisation, genuinely independent of the company, is vital to cut across the divisions the company is busy creating.
UNITE and PCS are jointly campaigning to protect our jobs, pay and pensions. Many more employees are joining UNITE in response to the redundancy announcement. The elected UNITE Combine Committee, representing members across Fujitsu, has decided that while everyone will benefit from the work UNITE and PCS are doing at a collective level, UNITE reps will only give individual support (in relation to these redundancies) to members who join before any selection for redundancy takes place. If you have colleagues affected by these redundancies, please encourage them to join as quickly as possible, so that they can get maximum benefit from their membership.
In the wake of the resignations, we expect elections to the UKCF in the near future, and want to elect reps with a mandate for change. If you’d be interested in standing for the UKCF, please let your reps know. There’s some useful background information in the UNITE briefing for previous UKCF elections.
[read on for the letters from PCS to Fujitsu, UNITE to Fujitsu, Fujitsu to UNITE, and the resignation statement by UKCF Reps] ...
Letter from PCS to Fujitsu:
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27 August 2009 Larry Upton By email Dear Larry Over the past 24 hours we have become more aware of the company’s plans for conducting collective consultation as required under Sections 188 – 198 of TULR(C) A 1992. I am writing to express our grave reservations at the haste and consequent lack of clarity that currently exists. 1 Timescale · Closing Dates for nomination 3 September “Decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation, or in contractual relations, including those referred to in Sections 188 to 192 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (redundancies)....” We do not believe that it is necessary for the company to introduce further bodies. If however it is believed that it should do so we have strong reservations at the speed and timing of the election process, given that we are in a period of summer leave, with a Bank Holiday weekend now upon us. We are also concerned that there is no detail to persuade us that the process is fair and secure. The requirements for the election of employee representatives under section 188(1B)(b)(ii) are that– · the employer shall make such arrangements as are reasonably practical to ensure that the election is fair; From what we have seen there is no indication of the number of employee representatives to be elected nor information on their term of office. There is no detail on how votes are to be cast and counted. What has been said to persuade employees that the process will be secure and that employees will be able to vote in secret? If it is thought necessary to proceed in this manner our strong view is that more time should be allowed for the election process to allow greater thought to be given to how it is conducted and communicated. As it stands we are concerned that the process and any subsequent result are open to challenge by any individual or organisation. As we understand the proposal Fujitsu have set up 6 consultation fora forming part of a single redundancy exercise. These are as follows:- · Engineering Services It is stated that where employees in scope are covered by a union recognition agreement the union will be asked to nominate a representative. We anticipate that we will have members covered by the provision of a recognition agreement in most of these categories, indeed there may be more than one recognised PCS area. Can you confirm that in such circumstances we would be invited to send a representative from each of our contracts to the appropriate forum? Article 2.1 of the Collective Redundancies Directive requires that consultation should commence when the employer is “contemplating collective redundancies”. In MSF vs. Refuge Assurance plc the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that that this means at the point which the employer first envisages that he may have to make employees redundant and has in view, at least as a contingency, that the numbers, the periods and the establishment(s) would if it came to pass, make the exercise amount to a collective redundancy. In our view the company have gone beyond this stage and have approached consultation with a formed view of the numbers and establishments involved. We believe this is borne out by the fact that the company has notified individuals in scope prior to any consultation with the UKCF as required by its constitution or the unions as required by our collective agreements with the company. We therefore write to draw to your attention that PCS will reserve its right to challenge the company’s intentions if they remain unchanged in the light of our objections. Yours sincerely Wynne Parry |
Letter from UNITE to Fujitsu:
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Ella Bennett 28 August 2009 Dear Ella, Redundancy Consultation Thank you for sending me a copy of the announcement from Roger Gilbert just prior to this being communicated to the UK workforce on 26 August. This has been received with some anger, coming on top as it does of the pay freeze announcement earlier this year and the proposals still under consultation to close the final salary pension scheme. Since then some outline of the company’s redundancy consultation plans have emerged, although we have yet to receive the formal notice as required under Section 188 of TULR(C) A 1992. From the proposals that have been relayed to us, the company is proposing to set up consultation bodies for · Engineering Services It is our view that this approach is inappropriate given that the company’s redundancy proposals are UK wide. Furthermore by splitting up into these businesses, it is likely to lead to a lack of consistency and continuity, and inhibit measures to avoid dismissal, reduce the number of dismissals and mitigate the consequences by restricting potential opportunities for volunteers, bumping, redeployment and retraining/reskilling across the UK workforce. The rush to set up these bodies with a nomination period extending over a Bank Holiday weekend in addition is unreasonable and further calls into question how meaningful any consultation process will be. This is particularly so as there is no indication of the number of employee representatives to be elected, their term of office nor the election procedure and process, which highlights the haste in which this has been set in motion. Fujitsu already has in place the UK Consultative Forum, which has been used on previous occasions for such consultation where potential redundancy is envisaged. Furthermore the UKCF Constitution expressly provides for redundancy consultation at Para 3 b) “Decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation, or in contractual relations, including those referred to in Sections 188 to 192 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (redundancies)....” It would also appear that employees have been put at risk in advance of the consultation process, prior to any notification as required under Section 188 of TULR(C) A 1992, and prior to any consultation bodies being established. This does not suggest that the company is fulfilling its obligations to consult with a view to reaching agreement to avoid dismissal, reduce the numbers to be dismissed and mitigate the consequences. We would therefore propose that the intended consultation bodies be scrapped and the UKCF form the consultative body as previously and provided for when it was established. Clearly there will be a need for consultation with Unite and PCS where recognition arrangements exist, and it is not clear where this fits in with the mechanisms currently proposed. Much of the above was conveyed to Larry Upton by Terry Thompson and Ian Allinson when they met yesterday. Pending your formal response, Unite will reserve its right to challenge the company’s approach in view of the case we have set out above. We are therefore seeking a meeting at your level with the aim of resolving this and also the other issues which have led to our members voting in support of industrial action in a consultative ballot on pay and pensions, to which we are now being called upon by our members to include the job cuts in a subsequent formal statutory industrial action ballot. I look forward to hearing further from you. Yours sincerely, Peter Skyte |
Letter from Fujitsu to UNITE:
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Peter Skyte, 2 September 2009 Dear Peter, Redundancy consultation Ella Bennett has asked me to reply to your letter of 28th August as I have overall responsibility for the relationship with the trades unions during the consultation process. Our announcement on 26th August was, as was mentioned in Ella’s note to you that day, always going to be followed by more detailed information to the trades unions affected in the form of a S188 letter. This will be with you in time for the start of the collective consultation on 11th September. Employees who are potentially at risk of redundancy were sent full details of how to nominate themselves as an employee representative, including timescales, before the end of last week. We want to minimise disruption to the company in this difficult time so we are only consulting in the areas of the company where we need to reduce headcount. By consulting locally we can ensure that the employee representatives are close to the local issues and therefore able to fulfil their role more effectively. This process also means that more employee representatives will be involved than if we were to have one national body thus ensuring a more meaningful consultation process. We fully recognise the need for a consistent approach, and are putting in place procedures to monitor this, but equally feel that local decisions are best made locally. We will be keeping the UK Consultative Forum fully informed on progress and, of course, any UKCF representative working in one of the areas at risk can put themselves forward for election as an employee representative. At the meeting with Terry Thompson and Ian Allinson last week I gave them early information on the numbers at risk so that Unite could start to plan how it can effectively represent relevant employees during the consultation process. I have also agreed to meet regularly with Terry and Ian to keep them up to date on progress and to discuss any non-local issues that may arise. I trust that this letter answers your questions, but if there is anything further that you need, please contact me directly. Yours sincerely, Larry Upton |
Resignation statement by UKCF reps:
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Statement from UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) Employee Representatives, 3rd September 2009 The employee reps on the UK Consultative Forum (UKCF) have protested for a long time about the Company’s refusal to inform or consult us about its Mid Term Plan in any meaningful way, despite this being a clear requirement in law and in the UKCF constitution agreed by the Company. We feel this reflects a culture in the Company of keeping employees in the dark and treating them in a patronising way. We don’t believe this is good for employees or the Company. In March 2009, after having sought views from the UKCF about the pay review, the Company suddenly announced its cancellation, just a week before it was due to take effect. The Company only informed the UKCF (by email) less than an hour before the announcement went out. The Company has since revealed that it had been considering this option for some months. The UKCF was not consulted, despite this being a major decision with a major direct impact on employees. This year, with a new Company management team taking over, we were told that there was a desire to foster a more open and supportive culture. We welcomed this. Sadly, reality has not so far lived up to the promise. In May, the Company announced its intention to close the ICL DB Pension Plan to future accrual. In the course of the meetings of the Pensions Forum, the Company revealed that it has, since 2007, had a strategy to exit all its Defined Benefit pension schemes. The UKCF only found this out indirectly. The UKCF constitution agreed by the Company clearly lists as a consultation topic: d) Changes to working arrangements, or terms and conditions. Pension matters will not be included in so far as they are dealt with by a body of employee representatives elected for that purpose. The decision to exit all Defined Benefit pension plans clearly falls within the UKCF remit, as the IPMC only deals with one of the plans. The Company did not inform or consult employees about this major strategic decision through any channel at all. In August, the Company announced it was putting around 6000 UK employees (about half the total) at risk of redundancy, with the aim of cutting up to 1200 jobs. The UKCF was briefed over the phone less than two hours before the announcement. The Company had already decided who to put at risk, and to set up six parallel “forums” to discuss the same programme, bypassing the UKCF completely. The reaction from employees has been extreme anger at what appears to be an attempt to run “consultation” in an ineffective and divisive way. Many of the likely subjects for discussion in the redundancy consultation will clearly be common across the six pools and beyond, such as arrangements for redeployment, voluntary redundancy and redundancy payments. These would be better discussed once through the UKCF, to ensure fairness and consistency. We note that the Company press release about the redundancies says: “Fujitsu has a strong history of consultation with employees and is committed to working with elected representatives to consider ways of achieving the necessary reductions.” We consider this a travesty of the truth. In reality, the Company operates the UKCF as a “tick in the box” with little evidence of senior management commitment to inform or consult employees. The Company has not kept the promises it made when it signed the UKCF constitution, and has not acted in good faith in dealing with us or the employees we represent. In these circumstances, many of our constituents are asking us what the point of the UKCF is. We have therefore unanimously decided that we, as a body, are tendering our resignation from the UKCF as a consequence of the Company’s actions. Given the major changes the Company is trying to make, we have no wish to leave employees without even the meagre channels of communication we can currently provide, so our resignations will be effective the day before the newly elected representatives for our seats take office. We believe the Company should start the UKCF election process immediately. In the meantime, we will continue to do our best to engage constructively with the Company on behalf of employees. A number of us intend to seek re-election on the basis of a mandate from our constituents to take whatever action is necessary to make the UKCF more effective. We have always sought to represent the views of our constituents, rather than our own views, though this has been made much more difficult by the barriers erected and censorship imposed by the Company. Likewise, we have always sought to be accountable to our constituents. In that spirit, we intend to make this statement public so that we can be judged on our actions. We call on our senior management to live up to the expectations they raised when they took over by honouring the promises the Company made to its employees, whether that be through pay reviews, pension commitments or the UKCF constitution and specifically to consult the UKCF over the proposed redundancies. |
Further to our notice last week, your UNITE and PCS reps are trying to ensure that there are plenty of members standing for the six Consultation Forums. Remember that the company has set a deadline that nominations must be received by HRdirect by noon on Thursday 3rd September. Please let your reps know if you are standing. You can also get in touch if you want some help with your election address. The nomination form is available on CafeVIK.
Please don’t leave your area poorly represented.
Your reps are encouraging lots of members, reps and activists to put in their nomination forms. When the company finally reveals 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.
Our ability to achieve a successful outcome on jobs, pay and pensions will depend on the size and involvement of union membership in Fujitsu.
The redundancy announcement has triggered another large wave of people joining UNITE. As with the pay and pensions announcements, this includes many people who were not previously supportive. Please ask at least one colleague to join the union. If we all recruit one person, we can double our membership.
A downloadable membership form and details about joining can be found on our web page about joining UNITE.