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• Photo opportunity: Scrooge visits Fujitsu HQ at first national strike day in a UK IT company
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Photo opportunity: Scrooge visits Fujitsu HQ at first national strike day in a UK IT company 

18th December 2009

Unite members have today (Friday, 18th December) started the first of six strike days at IT services company Fujitsu over pay, pensions and a fight for no compulsory redundancies. The five other strike days will take place in the new year on the 7th, 8th, 11th, 14th and 15th January.

Photo opportunity

WHEN: 12:00pm, Friday 18th December.
WHERE: Fujitsu Head Office, 22 Baker Street, London, W1U 3BW

A union member dressed as “Scrooge” - along with dozens of Fujitsu workers from around the country - will protest outside the company London headquarters, contrasting the company’s treatment of staff with last year’s £200 million profit and the £1.6 million paid out to two directors as “compensation for loss of office”.

Unite members at Fujitsu voted overwhelmingly for strike action which will be the first ever national strike in the IT sector in the UK.

Workers are angry over proposals for 1,000 redundancies in the UK, 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 pension package of each affected employee by typically around 20 per cent.

Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for IT and communications, said: “Our members are clearly angry with the way the company has treated them. Their pay has been frozen, compulsory redundancies are being pushed through and their pension scheme is under attack. All of this is happening at a time when the company is making substantial profits.

“It seems that the company is hiding behind the recession to attack the pay and conditions of their workforce. Our members would prefer not to strike, but feel strongly that Fujitsu is not listening to their genuine concerns and that enough is enough. We want the company to return to the negotiating table with a sensible offer acceptable to our membership.”

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.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Fujitsu employs around 11,000 people in the UK. Fujitsu’s main sites are at Bracknell, Stevenage, Manchester, Crewe, Belfast, Staines, Basingstoke, Wakefield, Sheffield, Solihull, Telford, Swansea, Slough, Lewes, Warrington, Cardiff, Londonderry, Bristol, Newcastle and London.

Unite had originally called action in November, but this was withdrawn when the company agreed to talks and to relax deadlines on jobs and pensions. The talks resulted in an offer from Fujitsu which was rejected by 83 per cent of members.