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Fujitsu to axe 1,800 jobs across the UK

'Nothing to do with Brexit' says corporate mouthpiece

IT giant Fujitsu is to axe 1,800 jobs in Blighty – around 13 per cent of its UK workforce.

The Japanese godzilla denied the move was driven by Brexit but was intended to allow to "better compete and grow in today’s global IT marketplace."

A Fujitsu spokesman said the company is planning a transformation program that will enable it to better support customers "in the era of digital transformation."

He said: "The company today advised its employee representative forum of plans to restructure the organisation in order to provide better service and respond more quickly to customer needs."

One Fujitsu insider told us staff received a "highly boring email" from management with the redundancy bomb inserted way down the mail. "Anything not connected with cloud is at risk," our source claimed.

Fujitsu currently employs 14,000 people in the UK and Ireland.

However, the news was branded as “a hammer blow” to the British economy by the trade union Unite today.

Unite claimed the company intends to offshore many of these jobs, with increased automation also responsible for job losses.

National officer for IT Ian Tonks said: “Fujtsu’s main UK subsidiary made £85.6m profit last year and we see no reason for these job losses. Unite will be doing its utmost to fight for these jobs, as well as giving our members maximum support at this very worrying time.”

Workers will be affected at Fujitsu’s major sites, which include Belfast, Bracknell, Crewe, Londonderry/Derry, Manchester, Stevenage, Wakefield and Warrington.

No jobs will disappear as a result of this programme until 2017.

All affected employees will be offered guidance and support and Fujitsu is establishing a consultation process with elected employee representatives, said the company's mouthpiece.

Global revenue has remained flat at Fujitsu for a number of years, with the business posting sales of ¥4,739bn (£28bn), compared with ¥4,753bn the previous year.

The business has lost a number of UK public sector deals over the last five years. ®

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