Fujitsu members, who are subcontracted to HMRC, are going on strike

More than 300 workers employed by outsourced Fujitsu Services UK in Telford and offices across the country will strike on January 30 and 31 after being offered a 1.5% pay rise.

Fujitsu workers are outraged that HMRC recruits working at the Parkside Court office in Telford on civil service contracts have been given a 5% pay rise as part of the Labor government’s crackdown on annual pay rounds across the public sector sector.

The Public & Commercial Services (PCS) union said Fujitsu Services’ workers intervened as ‘their civil service colleagues directly employed by HMRC were given 5% this year for doing similar jobs’.

The two-day strike will take place in the two days leading up to the midnight tax return deadline on Friday 31 January at 11.59pm.

Members voted 87% to strike and 95.6% to take action except for one strike with a turnout of 79.5%.

HMRC confirmed that the Fujitsu workers are not employed by the tax authority, meaning their pay negotiations are directly with Fujitsu.

A spokesman for HMRC said: ‘We have robust plans in place to ensure we continue to deliver critical services to our customers during any struggle.’

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: ‘There is no excuse for workers employed by Fujitsu to be offered less than those employed directly by HMRC.

“If the government was serious about its pre-election promise to bring in the ‘biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’, now is the chance to end the scandal of a bifurcated workforce.

‘It is not too late for ministers to step in, resolve the pay issue and prevent strike action that is likely to destroy people’s tax returns.’

Strikes are also planned to continue over eight days in Benton Park View and Newcastle.