Fujitsu: The Dispute Goes To Parliament

Unite, has announced a further round of six strikes at Fujitsu on 22nd, 29th January and 1st, 5th and 8th February with a further day’s strike on 26th January in Northern Ireland and 27th January at sites in England, Scotland and Wales in a row over jobs, pay and pensions.

There will also be a parliamentary lobby by senior Unite representatives from key Fujitsu sites on Wednesday, 27th January. Unite has also announced that the an Early Day Motion has been tabled by Tony Lloyd MP in support of the Fujitsu workers.

Earlier this week an attempt by Fujitsu to threaten Unite with an injunction to ban the strike action backfired when the company later admitted that it had overlooked the notice of strike action sent to the company on Friday, 15th January.

The strike is over proposals for redundancies in the UK which have now reduced to around 70 people still at risk of compulsory redundancy on 31st January, a pay freeze imposed earlier this year, and plans by the company to close the main final salary pension scheme to future accrual, reducing the total pay package of each affected employee by typically around 20 per cent.

Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for IT and communications, said: “Fujitsu should be focusing on serious negotiations with Unite rather than shooting itself in the foot by spending money on expensive lawyers in a fruitless and ultimately counterproductive attempt to use the law instead of the jaw.

“We still believe that this dispute can only be resolved by Fujitsu sitting down with us to address the issues of jobs, pay and pensions.”

Fujitsu Services continues to make substantial profits, with a £200 million profit before taxation in 2008, while the parent company is cash rich, having raised over $900 million from a share sale. Announcing the latest results on 28 October 2009, the Fujitsu president highlighted that for the first half of the year, the company beat its earnings target despite a very challenging business environment.