Fujitsu UK workers to strike

Workers at computer firm Fujitsu will go on a three day strike starting next week in a row over pay and redundancies.

Trade union Unite said its members will walk out 12, 13 and 16 November, after 75 per cent of them voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot announced earlier this week.

According to Unite, it will be the first ever national strike in the UK IT sector, and members of the PCS union will also take part.

The walkout is over a pay freeze imposed by Fujitsu earlier this year, proposals to close the final salary pension scheme, and the company’s plans to lay off 1,200 employees – 10 per cent of its UK workforce. The first round of redundancies is scheduled for December.

Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for IT and communications, said Unite wrote to Fujitsu’s UK CEO on Monday following the members’ ballot in an attempt to resolve the issue, but had received no reply.

“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,” he said. “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 employs around 12,000 people in the UK at sites including Bracknell, Stevenage, Manchester, Crewe, Belfast, Staines, Basingstoke, Wakefield, Sheffield, Solihull, Slough, Lewes, Warrington, Cardiff, Bristol, Newcastle and London.