STAFF at the Birmingham telecoms group Fujitsu who face the prospect of redundancy are now being asked to work overtime in the weeks leading up to their jobs being lost to workers in the US.
Communication Workers Union officials at the Solihull factory say these requests are resulting in staff "working themselves out of a job" as talks over redundancy packages continue for 97 workers.
Fujitsu CWU branch secretary Bob Hammond said: "I am as amazed as anybody. We had an overtime ban in place and as part of our negotiations, we agreed to suspend it and, lo and behold, as soon as
we suspend it, people start working over-time."
Mr Hammond stated that the Fujitsu bosses, to build up stocks of broadband equipment at the factory in case of orders, had asked staff to work overtime at weekends, during the process of moving factory equipment to the USA.
The announcement of this movement of production to the States earlier in the year shocked many at the factory, leaving around 100 employees facing redundancy.
On arrival of this news of job losses the CWU officials entered talks with the bosses of the Fujitsu factory, suggesting that switching to a single shift system could save up to 60 jobs.
The offer was rejected by board members at a meeting last month.
"During the transition period the company do not want to be left in a position where if they get an order, they cannot fulfil it," added Mr Hammond.
"But by working overtime, people could be putting themselves out of a job sooner rather than later."
