FUJITSU workers in east Manchester, Warrington, Bolton and Crewe are taking part in a 48-hour walkout as part of the UK’s first ever national IT sector strike.

The action – in a row over redundancies, pay and pensions – is part of six days of strikes which began on December 18 with workers planning to walk out again next Monday, Thursday and Friday.

In November, 75 per cent of Unite members at Fujitsu voted for strike action over proposals for 1,200 redundancies, a pay freeze imposed last year and plans to close the final salary pension scheme, which the union says will cut employees’ pay packages by about 20 per cent.

Peter Skyte, Unite national officer, said: “While we remain ready and willing to talk at any time, Fujitsu remains a highly profitable company but has to date shown little willingness to seriously address the underlying issues of jobs, pay and pensions.”

In October Fujitsu, which employs 12,500 people in the UK, announced pre-tax profits of £200m for 2008.

A company statement said: “Fujitsu has proposed this measure reluctantly. However, action is necessary to ensure that the company remains competitive.”