Fujitsu pay up

Telecoms & Financial Services, Fujitsu February 14 2019

Members in Fujitsu have voted in favour of a CWU-brokered pay deal in which the CWU finally fulfilled its long-standing objective of securing a single salary rate for all ‘senior tech’ grade employees at the two sites where the union is recognised for collective bargaining purposes.

Following a lengthy impasse in talks over the 2018 pay round – which technically became due last October – the company’s ‘final’ offer builds on the 2017 pay deal in which the union had sought to begin to restore differentials between senior tech grade staff and assembler/repairer grade employees.

The latter have received substantial pay rises in recent years following the union’s success in persuading the company to adopt Real Living Wage pay rates – resulting in a significant erosion of skill-based differentials for senior tech members carrying out more complex work.

Assistant secretary John East explains: “As a hangover from last year’s pay deal, senior tech grade employees at both sites received a fully consolidated £700 pay increase on October 1.  As a result of the latest pay deal, they are now due to receive a further 1 per cent across the board, backdated to October – with senior techs in Belfast receiving another £766 on top of that to bring them up to the same level as in Birmingham.”

Meanwhile assembler/repairer grade members are set to see their pay rise by a total of 2.8 per cent on April 1 when their Real Living Wage rise comes into effect – though 1 per cent will be paid immediately, backdated to October 1, 2018.

John concludes: “Unfortunately, despite escalating the issue to senior management, the CWU was unable to persuade the company to backdate the Real Living Wage increase to last November when the new rate of £9 per hour was announced by the Living Wage Foundation.

“Fujitsu was unprepared to budge from the leeway provided by the Living Wage Foundation which means the increase, always announced in November, can be paid up to six months later – but at least members will be receiving the additional 1.8 per cent soon, albeit not backdated

“By contrast, our separate escalation on the issue of senior tech pay rates did prompt a change of heart by the company – meaning that a very longstanding objective of the CWU to achieve one pay rate for members at both the Birmingham and Belfast sites has finally been achieved.”