Fuji Xerox workers on strike

February 25, 2019

The OEM’s Kiwi division is facing its latest hurdle as nearly fifty staff take industrial action over a pay dispute.

Already under investigation from the Serious Fraud Office after the 2016 accounting scandal, NZ Herald reports that 48 workers in the E Tu union at Fuji Xerox will strike, after a breakdown in talks over pay.

The union voted for the action after the company failed to resolve various pay issues, including discriminatory treatment against members.

“First, the company actually lifted wages to stop people being poached by its competitors,” explained industry organiser for E Tu, Joe Gallagher. “But while one group of union members got the increase, another group in Auckland got nothing. To add fuel to the fire, while the union negotiated the pay rise, non-union members also received it.”

“Our people who missed out want that money and they’re determined to fight to get it,” Gallagher added, explained that members were also displeased with Fuji Xerox’s 2 percent pay offer, without backpay, despite the expiration of the collective agreement in July last year. “This is a multi-national company that has been mismanaged over the past few years and there have been job losses affecting our members. Those who remain are working harder, smarter and longer and they want fair recompense.”

Talks have been ongoing since August 2018, but no resolution is yet in sight.

In response, Fuji Xerox New Zealand said it was “disappointed” with the strike decision, which it said came in the middle of negotiations. General Manager of Human Resources and Legal, Danielle Everett, claimed the latest offer was a 2 percent increase in based salary, starting July 1, and that performance bonuses would increase by as much as 60 percent.

“This represents an approximate 3.1 per cent increase to overall salary, not taking the superannuation impact benefit into consideration,” Everett explained. “In the wider context of the company’s financial situation where a number of our workforce have had to be made redundant and more than $370 million ($255.1 million/€224.4 million) of losses written off over the last two years, we are doing everything we reasonably can to recognise the value of our people here.”

She added that she was hopeful the union – which represents a third of the company’s engineering workforce – would return to the negotiating table, saying she was unclear of the union’s current position, and was waiting for a full and formal response to “substantial correspondence” mailed in December.

Fuji Xerox NZ was unable to agree to the union’s claim of no pass on, Everett continued, as it treated all workers as “one team,” regardless of union membership or not. She also explained that the OEM has enough staff still working to ensure “no impact” on its customers.

 

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