Fujitsu staff in Manchester and Crewe strike

While PCS members benefit from pay increases following the threat of a strike

Nearly 400 workers for the IT services and products provider Fujitsu in Crewe and Manchester have gone on strike today over a series of long-running disputes relating to pay and alleged victimisation of union representative Alan Jenney.

Members from Crewe have taken exception to the redundancy of union representative Jenney, who was not allowed to work during his notice period.

All the strike staff are members of trade union Unite.

Unite national officer, Kevin O'Gallagher said: "The Crewe have said they will not stand by and allow their rep and colleague Alan Jenney to be victimised in this manner by Fujitsu and will stand by him all the way until his situation is resolved.

"This company has shamefully failed to honour the agreements made with the union and our members feel they have no option but to take industrial action."

Staff at the Crewe site already staged a one-day strike over Jenney's dismissal on 30 June.

In Manchester, union members are also striking due to breaches of agreements related to pay and a breakdown in industrial relations.

"Our members in Manchester have fought long and hard, over many years, to get agreements on union recognition, redeployment and redundancy, pay and benefits and the company is now arbitrarily choosing to break them - they have said enough," said O'Gallagher.

Negotiation attempts to resolve the issues between Unite and Fujitsu in both cities have so far been unsuccessful.

Fujitsu expressed its frustration with another round of action in the following statement.

"We are disappointed that the action by Unite is still going ahead. However, we are continuing our discussions and hope the dispute will be resolved. Fujitsu is confident that the service we deliver to customers will be unaffected by any industrial action, and we have robust contingency plans in place to ensure this."

However, a second strike planned by Fujitsu members of the PCS union has been averted following a pay agreement.

The agreement sees an 11 per cent increase for the lowest paid staff working on government contracts.

This rise sees salaries increase by more than twice the rate of inflation and saw Fujitsu double the amount of money it was making available - providing an extra £500,000.

The deal will see some workers, who were paid just £13,500 two years ago, not be paid less than £15,500 now, an increase of almost 15 per cent.

The union's 720 members, working on contracts across the UK for the DVLA, HM Revenue and Customs, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Office of National Statistics, will benefit from the pay offer.