Fujitsu workers have voted to end their strike action after accepting proposals made by the conciliation service Acas.
The agreement between Unite union and Fujitsu brings an end to a four-month dispute which involved 10 days of strikes and other action short of strike action.
Unite members voted by a four-to-one majority to end the industrial action which had been sparked by a dispute about a pay freeze implemented last year, the cutting of 1,200 jobs, and the closure of the final salary pension scheme.
The union said compulsory redundancies had now been reduced from 1,200 to less than 30, with the extension of employment until at least 26 March, while Fujitsu has extended the consultation period for pension changes and offered a 5% increase in pay as compensation for the change to a defined contribution scheme.
The final salary pension scheme will now run for an extra year, until March 2011, and the IT services firm also made a commitment to discuss more open pay and benefit scales and agreed to the introduction of a minimum basic salary of £12,000, applicable from 1 March 2010.
Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for the IT sector, said: “While the Acas-brokered proposals do not fully satisfy our members’ aspirations, there have been significant changes in the company’s position on jobs, pay and pensions over the course of the dispute.”
A Fujitsu spokesman said: “We are pleased that the Unite members at Fujitsu have voted in favour of the proposals by 81%, and we think this is the best way forward for all parties.”
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