Join Unite @ Fujitsu

Unite is Britain's biggest union in the UK and the second biggest in Ireland. It organises people working for all the big IT companies such as Fujitsu, IBM, HP, Capgemini, Accenture, Atos, Unisys, Steria, Getronics, CSC, Computacenter, Capita and TCS.

Why you should join Unite @ Fujitsu

Unite has membership throughout all the Fujitsu companies in the UK, as well as in the agencies Fujitsu uses and the companies doing subcontracting work.

Unite has a network of reps across most of the major sites. Reps help members with advice, guidance and individual representation, as well as leading the way in campaigning and dealing with the company at a collective level. Unite also has a "Combine Committee" elected by members across the UK to coordinate the union's work.

Unite has a national protocol agreement with Fujitsu to encourage good industrial relations. In the agreement, the company "acknowledges that Unite has the right to contact its employees and seek to recruit and involve them in the union", "that all its employees have the right to be union members and to take part in legitimate union activity" and commits the company to ensure "that union members do not suffer any detriment as a result of their membership or legitimate activity".

Unite campaigns in Fujitsu have had real successes, such as:

• protecting jobs in redundancy situations large and small
• dramatically improving the replacement Defined Contribution (DC) pension provision for former members of the ICL DB pension plan, and improving the contractual status for all members of the company's DC schemes
• making (generally secret) company pay and benefits information available to members across the country, helping members to argue their case with their managers and to make informed career decisions
• improving sick leave and holiday entitlements for service desk staff across the UK
• winning the introduction of a minimum salary level
• forcing disclosure of poor pay and benefit details for the FSESL subsidiary
• securing agreements to protect and improve terms and conditions (e.g. pay, benefits, pensions, redundancy terms, standby payments) in areas where we have recognition
• helping hundreds of members resolve individual issues

You can read Unite's main agreements with Fujitsu here.

Members of Unite played a key role in creating the "Fujitsu Voice" Information and Consultation structure for Fujitsu Services employees in the UK. Union members are working to ensure this is as effective as possible. Employees voted in a majority of union-backed candidates in the Fujitsu Voice elections. These reps recently played a key role in successfully defending redundancy rights. Unite members are also involved in the "FSESL Focus" equivalent for FSESL and Fujitsu's European Works Council (FECF).

Unite is already recognised for collective bargaining in several parts of the company (the Manchester, RBS and Morrisons collective bargaining units) and where enough employees are joining the union we are working to extend this to new areas. We also work closely with PCS, the other main union in Fujitsu.

Union recognition gives employees extra rights (whether they are union members or not). Union membership helps you understand and exercise your rights (whether you've already got union recognition or not).

Unite produces email and paper newsletters to keep members informed about what is going on in the company, and to campaign over issues from pay and pensions to job security. Reps also run conference calls for members about once a month to educate on hot topics and discuss how to address them.

Unite members have legal protection for cases such as unfair dismissal, discrimination, personal injury and harassment. Unite can take up your legal case at no cost to you. In 2015, Unite legal services won £165m for members and their families - about the same as the union's entire subs income. Non-members now have to pay a fee even to take their case to tribunal, as well as legal costs.

Anyone in the IT industry can join Unite regardless of immediate employer, grade, job, contract type, employment status or length of service.

More detail on joining

People working at Fujitsu generally pay monthly by Direct Debit.

Every member chooses whether to be "Contracted In" or "Contracted Out". "In" means you pay into the union's "political fund" (allowing Unite to use the money to lobby parliament, etc. when campaigning for people's rights), and "Out" means you don't. Being contracted in only costs a few pence, and we encourage people to contribute - after all, employers use every means to lobby for their interests!

The subs rates referred to above are the Contracted In rate - members who opt out of paying into the political fund will be excused the small amount that is the contribution.

If you wish to opt-out of the political levy then the easiest way is to contact your regional office (contact details here).

Leaving Fujitsu

If you are leaving Fujitsu and want to know what you can do about your membership, see here for information.