14 DAY TRIAL // Back in December, Fujitsu's employees that are also members of the Unite union made public their intention to stage national strikes and walkouts until they and the company could reach a suitable compromise. The latest in these actions is taking place today at Westminster. The workers will ask the parliament for assistance in persuading the company to change their plans regarding the salary pensions and any further redundancies.
After 454 Unite members participated in a walkout last Friday, the workers are now set to take the issue higher. The participants will carry placards bearing the message, “Don’t delete our jobs” and, “Don’t crash our pensions.”
“These workers are saying enough is enough. We're coming to Westminster to impress upon parliament that Fujitsu should not be using cuts to employees' jobs, pay and pensions in the UK as a cash cow to boost the profits of the company worldwide,” Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for the IT sector, said. “We urge Fujitsu now to work with us on settling this dispute in the interests of the company, the workforce and our members.”
Peter Skyte also urges Fujitsu to take actions similar to Steria, which agreed last month on new staff pension terms after successful discussions with Unite. The workers want Fujitsu to drop its plans for the remaining 876 redundancies and to keep the final salary pension open, as closing it would reduce salaries by 20%.
Fujitsu is reported to also want the situation resolved and to have stated that it was working towards making as many as possible of the planned redundancies voluntary. However, the company estimates that 257 will still be compulsory cuts.
Unite also revealed that Tony Lloyd MP pushed an Early Day Motion (EDM 646) in the House of Commons in support of the Fujitsu employees. If the situation is not resolved, the Unite members will stage similar actions on the 29th of January, the 1st of February, the 5th of February and the 8th of February.