No to Fujitsu's restructuring plan

Fujitsu Corporation Ltd., a major computer maker, has met with opposition when it announced a plan to dismiss workers at factories in Tochigi Prefecture.

Fujitsu workers and the local committee of the Japanese Communist Party are criticizing Fujitsu for evading its responsibility in the region. They are urging Fujitsu to end such illegal labor practices at workshops and maintain contracts with the workers.

Fujitsu's restructuring policy in Tochigi follows the cases of Nagano and Hyogo prefectures.

In Tochigi, all employees at Koyama Factory (2,250 workers) and Nasu Factory (900) will be fired under the plan. Some workers will be reemployed by Fujitsu's subsidiary companies and related makers on temporary contracts, (one year at the longest) with reduced wages.

Fujitsu announced this major personnel reduction policy on September 18, and relevant workers must give their answers by October 15.

Soon after the announcement, the JCP Tochigi Committee established an ad hoc commission to deal with it. When a local newspaper reported this, some Fujitsu workers made telephone calls to the committee.

In the telephone calls, JCP members referred to the Fujitsu head office's reply to a JCP Dietmember that the company announcement only meant "recruiting offers of voluntary retirement" from the workers.

JCP staff members began delivering handbills from September 27 in front of Fujitsu factories, and sent a letter to Tochigi's governor Fukuda Akio demanding that the prefectural government take steps to get Fujitsu's restructuring policy withdrawn.

JCP members are calling on Fujitsu workers to take action to defeat the corporate offensive on the workers to retire and force the company pay for unpaid overtime work. (end)