This week’s Tory party conference proceeded untroubled by pickets from unhappy Fujitsu employees amid union promises that further action would also be suspended for the time being.
Workers at public sector ICT supplier Fujitsu in Manchester had voted to go on strike and to demonstrate during a presentation at the party conference by the supplier’s chief executive, Duncan Tait, today. But Unite suspended industrial action at the eleventh hour, after it reached a last minute agreement with the company.
The union plans to hold further talks with Fujitsu in the hope of gaining an improved offer. It claims that the company has broken agreements covering union recognition, pay, benefits, pensions, redundancy and redeployment.
Kevin O’Gallagher, Unite’s national officer, said: "Today’s planned strike has now been cancelled and any further action has also been suspended. Our members do not take strike action lightly. The agreement reached is good news for both our members and for Fujitsu.”
The dispute at Fujitsu has been rumbling on for some time, with the union claiming that staff – many of whom are low-paid – were given derisory pay offers, even though the firm received bonuses from the Government for hitting targets.
Last month, the company’s Central Park Offices in Manchester were picketed for 24 hours, as a result. Fujitsu employs 11,400 people in the UK and generates annual revenue of £1.7bn.
