In a warning to HR managers everywhere, the Unite union is questioning whether compulsory redundancies at Fujitsu’s applications services unit are disproportionately hitting women, people from ethnic minorities and part-timers.
IT systems and services provider Fujitsu said in August that it planned to axe about 10 per cent of its 12,000 UK staff, but so far the figure has been more like 876. These have included 586 voluntary job cuts and 290 compulsory ones.
Union members have already taken strike action on 18 December and on 7, 8 and 11 January about the proposed redundancies, but are planning a further two-day stoppage on 14 and 15 January. They are likewise unhappy about a pay freeze imposed last year and plans to close the main final salary pension scheme to future accrual.
But after analysing data provided by the supplier, Unite is now raising questions about the fairness of Fujitsu’s methods for selecting candidates for the compulsory redundancies.
Fujitsu’s applications services unit employs 1,500 workers, but the union says that 6.7% of women have been earmarked for the chop compared with 3.7% of men. Moreover, 10.4% of Indian people and 9.1% of part-time employees have also been targeted compared with 3.9% for other groups.
But Fujitsu has denied that it is targeting certain sections of its workforce and said that the situation in its applications services unit was not necessarily indicative of the scenario elsewhere.
"We are very disappointed that Unite has made these allegations," it said in a statement. "As an equal opportunities employer, Fujitsu consulted on the proposed selection criteria with elected employee representatives and with representatives of its recognised trade unions (including Unite) throughout the collective redundancy programme and is confident that no discrimination resulted."
It added that it has already provided a detailed response to the allegations put to it by Unite and was "confident" that its selection process was fair.
