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Up to 300 workers at Japanese IT godzilla Fujitsu are to strike over pay and pensions next week in Manchester, UK. The Unite union members claim that the company has been cutting pay rates for years, despite healthy profits and increases to senior management pay. The union also accused Fujitsu of failing to address a …

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  1. Dr Who

    Overheard from a UK Fujitsu employee

    OMG the company's cutting its UK headcount by ten percent next year!

    Should I :

    a) put my nose to the grindstone and keep my head down

    b) take what will probably be a reasonable redundacy package and great reference and start planning now for my next career move

    c) go on three days of strikes accompanied by "a continuous work to rule, withdrawal of goodwill and ban on overtime"?

    Hmm ... let me think about that one for a bit.

    1 2 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Overheard from a UK Fujitsu employee

      Manchester is unionised to the hilt and some. It'll be the site that loses nothing. I'd say Northern Ireland will be worried though.

      1 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Overheard from a UK Fujitsu employee

      When thinking about oneself the first two options are your choices.

      When thinking about others then the third option comes into play.

      Why is a company making a decent profit cutting it's workforce? Does it honestly believe by cutting service standards (inevitable) that it will still be as profitable or has someone in a boardroom somewhere fired up a powerpoint showing that they can still maintain service with 10% less workforce?

      We live in a world now that embraces cuts and then removes them when it doesn't work. I guess in a few months Fujitsu will have to employ more people on lesser contracts and cheaper pay.

      It's a strange world but there is a ceiling to wealth and growth, it's going to be fun when we hit it.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Terry 6 Silver badge
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        Re: Overheard from a UK Fujitsu employee

        Bean counters see all costs as undesirable and mostly avoidable. Just as Thatcher's early employment was trying to increase the amount of air in ice cream - so these types think that the less content they deliver, be it hardware, service or function the better they are doing. Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs isn't an error, it's a lifestyle choice

        4 0 Reply
      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
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        Re: Overheard from a UK Fujitsu employee

        "I guess in a few months Fujitsu will have to employ more people on lesser contracts and cheaper pay."

        Are you implying that most if not all of the redundancies will be TUPE'd employees and they'll be replaced in a few months? Surely not!

        0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Unite are useless

    Fujitsu lost all their good people years ago and with Unite in charge the rest are leaving too.

    Appologies to those effected but can I suggest that you invest your time in finding yourselves another job rather than believing that Unite can do anything they promise.

    The fact is that the days when strike action would accomplish anything ended with the miners strike, so move on to another job or country that respects your skills.

    Take heart in the knowledge that the bean counters/ middle managers will be out of a job soon enough too, they provide no service to anyone but themselves and no company can carry only leeches for long.

    0 1 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My other half works for them

    And no, they are not a good firm to work for. They tried to make redundancies at Manchester seven years ago. The result was an employee council called "The Voice", one of who's jobs was to negotiate redundancy terms. The company refused to sign up to the agreement the council came up with, and gave notice of its termination that will happen just before the next round. Pretty poor IMHO.

    0 1 Reply
  4. JustNiz

    >> "Unite has calculated that female staff are on average paid 16 per cent less than their male colleagues"

    Sincere question: does anyone know if this was carefully done as a like-for-like comparison? (i.e. both doing the same job and having the same level of skill/experience/qualifications?)

    3 0 Reply
    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
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      "Sincere question: does anyone know if this was carefully done as a like-for-like comparison? (i.e. both doing the same job and having the same level of skill/experience/qualifications?)"

      Unite is still basically a Local Government union. Skills, experience and qualification have no bearing on "equal pay". Only job titles and equivalences.

      2 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I believe deep thought captured that quite succinctly

    MAJIKTHISE:

    We’ll go on strike!

    VROOMFONDEL:

    That’s right. You’ll have a national philosopher’s strike on your hands.

    DEEP THOUGHT:

    Who will that inconvenience?

    On the other hand hand if you all started applying for jobs else where?

    1 0 Reply

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