Fujitsu insists Highland jobs not at risk despite deal blow
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SYSTEMS giant Fujitsu has moved to allay fears that jobs could be at risk after the loss of one of the firm’s key contracts.
The Japanese company has provided IT services to Scottish Water for the last 10 years, but the deal will not be renewed when it expires in August.
That sparked fears that the technology conglomerate, which is the 10th-largest in the world in terms of revenue, would scale back its operations in Inverness and Alness, where it employs around 140 people.
However, a spokesman insisted that the company is fulfilling all of its obligations under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, and that employees will have the chance to have their contracts transferred to the new provider.
He said: "Later this year Scottish Water account employees will be transferred, under TUPE, to either Atos or Capgemini.
"The 10 agency employees based at Alness currently employed by Kelly’s [recruitment agency] have been informed that their contracts will come to an end at the point of transfer and they can apply to Capgemini’s agency based at Inverness.
"We do support any employees with redundancy payments and offers of redeployment."
A source revealed that some staff have been made redundant in the last month, although the exact number is not yet known.
Fujitsu would not say whether those redundancies are connected to the loss of the Scottish Water contract or the move of some operations offshore.
The spokesman added: "There is no national redundancy programme, or one at these offices, although roles do occur from time to time.
"It is the nature of the business that we win contracts and also sometimes need to transfer employees to other companies under TUPE."
The expiry of the Scottish Water deal marks the second significant loss for the firm in the space of two years after Highland Council decided against extending its contract with the company in September 2016.
Councillors instead unanimously voted to hand the deal to India-based Wipro.
However, the system has been beset by problems since the takeover.
A major crash 12 months ago affected schools and offices, and left residents unable to use pay points to pay council tax.
