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Staff walkout at Fuji Xerox prompts “Big Brother” climbdown
A
walkout by an estimated 250-plus maintenance and repair staff at Fuji
Xerox Australia over a proposal to introduce global positioning system
(GPS) technology to monitor their whereabouts throughout their working
day has prompted the company to shelve the idea, at least for now.Fuji
Xerox Australia and the Australian Services Union (ASU) are currently
undertaking a re-negotiation of Fuji Xerox’s Customer Support
Organisation enterprise agreement. This agreement covers Fuji Xerox’s
team of approximately 350 field engineers.As part of this year’s
re-negotiation, Fuji Xerox’s suggested including technology in
engineers’ laptops or vehicles, a move which it claimed was in order to
more easily locate and reclaim laptops or vehicles that were lost or
stolen, but the ACS rejected the idea, arguing that such a move would
be “excessive.”NSW and ACT branch president of the ASU, Sally McManus,
said of the dispute: “We say that Fuji Xerox technicians are already
highly monitored and their work performance can be measured in every
which way possible. This is just one more step towards ‘Big Brother’
that the members aren’t prepared to take.”George Nides, general manager
of Fuji Xerox’s Customer Support Organisation, said in a statement:
“Fuji Xerox has no current plans to introduce GPS technology with our
engineer workforce’s equipment. Our field engineers receive
industry-leading terms and conditions with salaries well above the
market rate. We’re very proud of the working environment and culture
that Fuji Xerox provides and we want that to continue.”While the
company has no plans to force the issue at present, there may be
further conflict ahead, with Fuji Xerox refusing to rule out putting
the proposal forward again in the future.”At a meeting on AUG 9, the
ASU tabled that it would not accept the use of GPS technology within
Fuji Xerox’s engineers’ equipment. As a result, FXA has taken this
issue off the table for this negotiation. However Fuji Xerox wishes to
protect its ability to implement suitable new technologies in the
future and not be limited to using out-dated technologies.”The minutes
of the meeting reflect this and read as follows: “The intent is not to
limit FXA (Fuji Xerox Australia) to outdated technologies. FXA will
look at appropriate wording to be included in the CSO EA (Customer
Support Organisation Enterprise Agreement) .”Nides concluded: “Fuji
Xerox looks forward to continuing successful negotiations with the ASU
and discussing all relevant issues.”
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