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Fujitsu strike row deepens, talks break down
A month of industrial action and a Downing Street petition...

By Andy McCue

Published: Monday 05 March 2007

Staff at Fujitsu Services will go on strike again this month after the latest talks aimed at brokering a truce in the dispute over union recognition, redundancy terms and pay broke down.

The row involves staff working on outsourcing contracts at the Manchester office of Fujitsu Services where trade union Amicus claims staff are been denied union recognition and the right to a 90-day redundancy consultation period.

The union is also fighting for better pay after claiming the majority of Fujitsu's UK workforce received below inflation pay increases last year.

The main stumbling block is that Amicus wants to represent all 850 staff at the Manchester office but Fujitsu Services says staff must have a choice of whether they want to be represented by a trade union and which one. Amicus currently has around 250 members at Fujitsu's Manchester office.

Talks between Amicus and Fujitsu Services at arbitration service Acas produced no further progress and broke down at the end of last month after the union threatened more strike action.

The disgruntled staff have already hit Fujitsu Services with a series of strikes and now Amicus has announced nine more days of strike action over the next five weeks in the run up to Easter, including protests outside Fujitsu Services' customers, such as Marks & Spencer, Orange and Tesco.

The strikers will also travel to London this week to deliver a petition to Downing Street calling on the government to ensure suppliers behave ethically.

Amicus said it is still willing to talk to end the strike but claims Fujitsu Services management is refusing to negotiate.

Amicus representative Ian Allinson was cleared of any disciplinary breach over the strike action, although he claims Fujitsu Services has imposed sanctions, including cutting the amount of time he can work on behalf of staff.

Fujitsu Services declined to comment on the industrial action and said it never comments on individual staff situations.