Today saw the second day of national strike action by Fujitsu staff in a dispute over 1800 proposed job cuts, union recognition, pay and pensions.
Fujitsu was already stretched due to many staff in Northern Ireland taking St Patrick’s Day off. Support for the action was strong across the country. Not only was this the last working day before Fujitsu plans to start dismissing staff as redundant, but Fujitsu has continued notifying more and more staff that they are at risk, including people who believed they were previously safe. Workers were also angry at the company’s response to union attempts to avoid compulsory redundancies – instead of helping, the company says it is “investigating” what the union has done! New members continue to join the union.
Fujitsu Edinburgh saw its first picket today.
Fujitsu Edinburgh
For Manchester staff this was their fourteenth strike day, but despite cold, wet weather there were many new faces on the picket line. Fewer people were going in to work than anyone could remember during previous strikes.
Fujitsu Manchester
Pickets went ahead as planned all round the country. Here is a selection of photos:
Fujitsu’s London HQ
Crewe
Basingstoke
Wakefield
Stevenage
Fujitsu Bracknell
Solihull
After the pickets, members headed off to campaign with Fujitsu customers and potential customers, asking them to put pressure on Fujitsu management to behave responsibly.
Unite has announced the next strike days on Friday 24th and Monday 27th March. Action short of strike continues until further notice:
- Refusal to cooperate with or participate in projects to move work offshore, including knowledge transfer
- Refusal to undertake time recording (e.g. SST) or forecasting (e.g. MyTime)
- Work to rule and withdrawal of goodwill
- Ban on overtime
There’s lots more information, including an appeal for support leaflet and how to donate to the strike fund.
