René Lavanchy
Fujitsu could be discriminating in staff sackings, says UniteJanuary 14, 2010 11:59 pm Tribune web editor frontpage, news
The Unite union has accused IT company Fujitsu of “potential discrimination” after it emerged that a disproportionate number of women and ethnic minority staff have been earmarked to lose their jobs.
The allegation, which the company strongly denies, comes as Fujitsu staff staged a series of strikes over 1,200 redundancies, a pay freeze and the closure of the final salary pension scheme. Fujitsu employs 11,500 staff across the UK.
According to figures supplied by Fujitsu for the company’s 1,500-strong application services division, 6.7 per cent of women were selected for compulsory redundancy compared to 3.7 per cent of men. 10.4 per cent of staff with Indian backgrounds have been selected, compared to 3.9 per cent of other ethnic groups.
Fujitsu applied skills scores to staff to help select those for redundancy. Only 4.46 per cent of women received the highest score, compared to 18.41 per cent of men.
Peter Skyte, Unite’s national officer for the sector, said: “When we saw the figures, were were disturbed.” He added that the union first expressed concern about them last month, but that Fujitsu did not respond until Unite put out a press release last week.
A Fujitsu spokesperson responded: “We are very disappointed that Unite has made these allegations. 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.” Fujitsu had explained to the union why its selection process was fair, they added.
But Unite says that the probability of the apparent scoring bias against women staff happening by chance was about 1 in 40 million – several times less likely than picking six winning lottery numbers in one attempt.
Mr Skyte admitted that Unite would need to reconsider its view now that Fujitsu had responded, but stood by the figures themselves.
Unite members at Fujitsu went on strike for the fourth time this week over the job cuts, pay freeze and pensions changes, which they say are unnecessary as the company is still profitable. Mr Skyte said the company was “unwilling to sit down with us in a serious way”.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário