Fujitsu plans job cuts

Japanese IT services provider Fujitsu is proposing to cut 1,200 jobs at its UK operations following lower-than-expected revenues.

The announcement will mean that one in 10 Fujitsu staff in the UK could risk losing their job by the end of this year.

In a statement, the group said that the move was ‘necessary to ensure that the company remains competitive in the current difficult global economic climate and is in a solid position for future growth when the economy starts to recover’.

The company said that the decision had followed several measures to keep its cost base down, including a company-wide pay freeze, a reduction in the number of contractors and strict controls on operational and capital expenditure.

However, Unite, the largest union in the UK, said that the job cuts were ‘wholly unwarranted’ given the company’s rise in profits.

Peter Skyte, Unite's national officer for IT and communications, said: ‘These proposed redundancies amounting to 10 per cent of its UK workforce are wholly unwarranted given that the company made £200m in profit last year. It even paid two directors £1.59m in compensation for loss of office.

‘Unite is pressing for detailed information about the reasons for this proposal and the areas affected. We will be doing everything possible to protect the jobs of the workforce.’

A spokesperson for the company said that specific locations for the job cuts have yet to be determined.