Unite announces first ever national strike in a UK IT company over
jobs, pay and pensions
5th November 2009
Unite, the largest union in the UK, has today (Thursday, 5th
November) served notice of a three day strike on IT services
company Fujitsu to take place on 12th, 13th and 16th November.
This follows the vote of Unite members in the company by a
majority of 75 per cent voting for industrial action and 92 percent
voting for action short of a strike in a ballot announced earlier
this week.
According to the union, this would be the first ever national
strike in the IT sector in the UK. Members of the PCS union will
also be taking part in strike action.
The strike is over proposals for 1,200 redundancies in the UK
with the first commencing in December, a pay freeze imposed earlier
this year, and plans by the company to close the 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: “We wrote to the Fujitsu UK chief executive on Monday
following the industrial action ballot announcement with the aim of
attempting to resolve the issues on jobs, pay and pensions. So far,
we have yet to receive any formal response from the company.
“Our members are saying enough is enough, and employee
representatives on the company’s consultative forum have tendered
their resignations over the way they are being treated.
“We recognise the effect any industrial action will have on key
private and public sector customers and clients of Fujitsu, but the
responsibility for this rests squarely with the company for failing
to talk to us or address the issues.”
Fujitsu Services continues to make substantial profits, with a
£200 million profit before taxation last year, while the parent
company is cash rich, having raised over $900 million from a share
sale. Announcing the latest results on 28 October, the Fujitsu
president highlighted that for the first half of the year, the
company beat its earnings target despite a very challenging
business environment.
Fujitsu employs around 12,000 people in the UK. Fujitsu’s main
sites are at Bracknell, Stevenage, Manchester, Crewe, Belfast,
Staines, Basingstoke, Wakefield, Sheffield, Solihull, Slough,
Lewes, Warrington, Cardiff, Bristol, Newcastle and London.
ENDS
For further information contact Peter Skyte on 07768 931302 or
Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite Press Office on 020 7420 8914 or
07980 224761
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