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Fujitsu and Unite shake hands on pay, pensions deal

Ongoing row defused as striking staff appeased

Staff at Fujitsu’s UK sites in Manchester and Crewe have ended their long-running dispute with the electronics giant after bosses agreed to bump up salaries and sort out other quibbles including pensions.

Trade union Unite released a canned statement on Friday welcoming the agreement, which settles a dispute dating back to June last year.

“It means better protection for pensions for Fujitsu employees across the UK and pay rises for most Manchester staff. There is a renewed commitment to work together through our agreements which can help avoid conflict in future,” said Unite national officer for IT and communications, Kevin O’Gallagher.

“A significant number of new Unite representatives have recently been elected and the agreement should mean reps across the UK are, for the first time, allowed work time to deal with many issues affecting employees.”

Staff on the two sites downed tools in September for 24 hours over “issues including union recognition, pay, benefits, pensions, redundancy and redeployment”, while a further strike set for October last year was called off at the eleventh hour.

Another part of the disagreement between the two parties centred around the alleged mistreatment of union representative Alan Jenney, who was not allowed to work his notice after being made redundant.

All issues have now apparently been resolved.

Fujitsu, which employs around 11,000 staff in Blighty, released a typically enigmatic response to the news.

“Fujitsu welcomes the deal that has been reached with the Unite trade union that has ended the industrial action,” it said. ®

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