Fujitsu strike is off
Concessions on pay and pensions end four month strike
Posted in Management, 26th February 2010 14:31 GMT
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Fujitsu and the Unite union have agreed terms to end the planned strike at the services giant.
Staff accepted proposals from arbitration organisation ACAS by a ratio of four to one.
Unite's national officer Peter Skyte said: “While the Acas brokered proposals do not fully satisfy our members’ aspirations, there have been significant changes in the company’s position on jobs, pay and pensions over the course of the dispute."
Fujitsu was originally seeking 1,200 redundancies. This has now sunk to less than 30.
The consultation over the closure of the final salary pension scheme has been extended until March and a five per cent pay increase to compensate for pension changes.
Fujitsu also made a commitment to discuss more open pay and benefit scales as part of "transparency talks". Unite's long term hope is for minimum earnings of £13,500.
Full statement from Unite is here. ®
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COMMENTS
A Brilliant Plan from "Sold Out" Contributor
So, "sold out" anonymous coward. A strong member like yourself leaving the union will help will it? If the union was stronger we may have got further than we did. You should throw your energies into recruiting rather than giving up.
War of attrition
The last 18 months have seen many of the UK IT Services companies declaring war on their staff. Whilst regularly cahnting the "Our people are our greatest asset" mantra, employers seem to have have decided that, in the name of economy, any measure short of blatantly illegal action is justified - if it reduces the overall level of employee remuneration. There appears to be no understanding of the impact on employee relations (just sentimentality) or skills retention ("resources" are expendable) or cost-effectiveness (they don't care whether someone cheap to employ can actually do the job) or losing staff through "rationalisation" (as long as they meet their targets and hence get their bonuses - for helping skilled and experienced staff to walk out of the door).
Just as financial engineering created the artificial values led to the credit crunch, employment engineering - manipulating employment conditions with no understanding of the impact on the business – could lead to a meltdown in skills and professionalism in the industry.
SOLD OUT !!
Unite promised us a fair deal and sold us short accepting ACAS offer. FJ management must be p!ssing themselves laughing all the way to the bank with their bonuses. I for for one will not be staying a member !!
Pension deficit bubble.
I have a feeling that pensions are going to be a real issue in the next two or three decades.
5% pay increase to compensate for pension changes only benefits the taxman.
Minimum earnings £13500????? .... and how long before people start talking up the next house price bubble? I'm going to take a leaf out of the german's book on that score, and use a Euro-SIPP to put a down-payment on a place in Bora-Bora, or somewhere... certainly won't be in England... too many old people.

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