Fujitsu Services in Manchester design build and operate IT
systems and IT services for large scale clients in both the private
& public sector.
The activity of Unite ULRs –
especially seen around Adult Learners Week (ALW) & Learning at
Work day (LAW) both helps & mirrors the improvement in
industrial relations (IR). I was kindly invited along to their LAW
day event by the ULR team. Pauline Bradburn, Dean Burn, Teresa
Meyer & Denise Roberts.
Having met them, I can say that they are all very different.
Pauline has been with the company for 3 years after leaving a post
in %20w.jpg "Pauline Bradburn fujitsu")
health care
& likes documentaries & history; Denise joined 5 years ago
and qualified as a continental baker before getting into IT. She
likes walking in the hills & lakes; Dean came to Fujitsu
Services over 8 years ago & trained as in plumbing &
heating before his IT career. He enjoys working with a local
football club.
What they have in common though is a love of learning. Together
they have setup & supported 35 colleagues through NVQs; 27
through Skills for Life reading, writing & IT assessments. 17
are going on to do further courses in English & Maths. 16
colleagues have been through a ‘taster’ course for British Sign
Language (BSL) – they are hoping to go on to a full course later in
the year. All the team look forward to getting people onto
foundation degree courses with company support, either through
Bolton or the Open Universities.
2 of the people who have taken advantage of the work done by the
ULR team & are truly complimentary about the program, are
Kieran Delaney & Regina Akinyemi. Kieran is a kind of
trouble-shooter with the company, keeping a weather eye on problems
until they are resolved. He left school with GCSEs & has since
done several NVQs at levels 2 & 3. As his interests include
poker, Man City FC & live music, it is easy to understand his
sentiment “I would be a permanent student if I had the money” It
sounds as if he’s working on it.
Regina, although very different is
equally enthusiastic about the LLL project & the ULR team. She
did a degree in Video Imaging & Computer Technology, & has
always had an interest in languages. In Cuba she met Germans &
Italians and managed to get along using bits and pieces of all 3
languages. She told me “Whilst I was recovering from an operation,
I started learning BSL. It kept me mentally active. I suppose
communication is my thing one way or another – languages, music,
BSL. It’s good to keep up education & transferable skills for
the future.”
This is all a far cry from 2 years ago. LAW day was the 1st
joint union/company event after a difficult time of strike action.
It was a fairly low key affair, with both sides seeing how things
went, and reflecting the low level of trust between both union
& management. It went well and was the start of building trust
between the 2 sides.
%20w.jpg "fujitsu LAW day")
Things on the IR front continued to improve. Last years LAW day
event was much bigger. Both sides were confident to put energy
& effort into it. Tony Lloyd the local MP came along, &
everyone was impressed with the progress made around learning,
skills & change. Again this was in line with progress on other
joint issues.
This year things have moved on again. For the 1st time ULRs
& other reps are running the event without some of the junior
managers feeling uncomfortable about Unite activists organising
& recruiting on site.
The whole central area of one of the buildings was taken over
for the day. There were stands from Unite & from many outside
bodies. Manchester College was there; so was the Open
University.
The ULR and activist team hope to take what they have learned
about getting learning & training on the industrial landscape
ever forward. They are looking to widen the campaign to other
sites. They are enthusiastic, motivated and have the bit between
their teeth. There is no stopping them now, and they are an example
to ULRs & activists in other workplaces.
