All Unite members employed by Fujitsu Services Limited in the UK will be receiving an email from the union tomorrow asking them to vote on the company offer in relation to the national dispute over jobs, union recognition, pay and pensions.
Please read the information and cast your vote. To count, your vote must be received by Monday 14 August.
Although industrial action is suspended, the dispute between Unite members and Fujitsu is still ongoing. Negotiations are continuing for a new National Protocol Agreement which will form a significant part of the offer from Fujitsu that members will be voting on in early August. Until that full offer has been voted upon by members then all industrial action in support of this dispute continues to be suspended.
Fujitsu has provided an offer (here on the Fujitsu intranet) which members will be discussing at meetings around the UK:
Industrial action is currently suspended while members consider the company offer.
Following talks yesterday Fujitsu has provided an offer (published by Unite on the Fujitsu intranet) this evening to resolve the dispute over jobs, union recognition, pay and pensions.
All industrial action is immediately suspending pending members’ voting on the offer. Amongst other things this means that you should complete timesheets normally from this week. Unite is not encouraging members to complete the backlog of timesheets unless the offer is accepted.
Unite will be organising meetings at Fujitsu sites around the UK to discuss the offer and next steps – watch this space.
If members support the approach set out in the offer, negotiations will take place while the action is suspended on an updated National Protocol Agreement to give more rights and facilities to members who don’t yet have union recognition and collective bargaining. Today’s offer and the new National Protocol would then be put to the vote together, in early July.
Alternatively, if members don’t support the approach set out in the offer, Unite could pull out of the discussions on an updated National Protocol and re-ballot members for further industrial action.
At present, the strikes on Monday, Thursday and Friday are still going ahead. Details of pickets and customer protests are being added to the dispute web page: https://ouruniontest.wordpress.com/fujitsu-national-dispute/
Fujitsu senior management are holding a meeting at 5pm today to approve an offer. If the offer arrives as promised, the intention would be to suspend all industrial action pending members voting on the offer. If this happens, reps will do their best to notify members over the weekend. Please check the dispute web page before striking or coming to work on Monday, and if the strikes have to go ahead, make them the biggest yet.
Unite held talks with Fujitsu yesterday, after which the company expected to send an offer today, which the parties worked together on this morning. Unfortunately Fujitsu has now informed reps that though the offer is still coming, it has been delayed by an internal approval process.
As a gesture of goodwill the Combine Committee decided to suspend the strikes called for Thursday 18th and Friday 19th May, to allow the company time to provide the offer as promised. All other action currently remains as previous called – including the strikes on Monday 22nd, Thursday 25th & Friday 26th May, next week.
If the offer arrives as expected, Unite hopes to be able to suspend all further action pending members voting on it.
As always, updates will be posted on https://ouruniontest.wordpress.com/fujitsu-national-dispute/ so you can check there for details even if you don’t have access to work email etc.
As well as the ongoing strikes and protests to try to secure a successful resolution to the dispute over jobs, union recognition, pay and pensions, members have been contacting politicians asking for their help and support.
The General Election coming on 8th June is a great opportunity to ask all the candidates (you can find many of the candidates via https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/) how their policies would help Fujitsu workers, all of which can increase pressure for a good outcome to our dispute. Unite has prepared the following model letter you can send to candidates in your constituency:
I’m writing to you and all the other candidates to ask your views on some key issues affecting me and a number of other constituents. Responses will be collated and made public.
Fujitsu is a major IT supplier to government and the private sector in the UK. Its last accounts reported £85.6m profits here, but an effective tax rate of 0%. Fujitsu is currently cutting 1800 UK jobs through a combination of moving them offshore, automation and outsourcing. For more information on the background see https://ouruniontest.wordpress.com/fujitsu-national-dispute/.
My questions:
- How would you stop employers, and in particular government suppliers, offshoring jobs to low wage countries?
- How would you ensure workers benefit from automation rather than being made redundant to boost profits?
- How would you protect workers facing outsourcing or TUPE transfers?
- How would you ensure workers are properly consulted about company restructuring or job cuts?
- How would you ensure workers who want union recognition and collective bargaining can get it?
- How would you ensure all workers are decently paid?
- How would you ensure workers and their representatives have access to information they need to prove and stop any discrimination?
- How would you improve protection of workers’ pensions?
- Do you have any other plans to improve workers’ rights or our share of UK wealth?
- How will you support Fujitsu workers’ fight for justice?
Thank you
Please send the responses you receive to unitetheunion@uk.fujitsu.com so that reps can collate and publish them.
And of course, make sure your own voice is heard in the election:
