14 DAY TRIAL // In a move similar to that made by a number of Fujitsu employees, Hewlett-Packard employees from the PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) are also staging an action of their own. The staff involved work for the HP Enterprise Services division at sites based in areas such as Washington, Preston, Newcastle and the Fylde Coast. Most are contract workers for the Department for Work and pensions, as well as the Ministry of Defense and General Motors.
The workers at Fujitsu are striking over job cuts and the company's plans to close a salary-pension scheme, a move that would effectively reduce wages by 20 percent. The PCS members from HP are holding their own walkout for similar reasons, such as the company's plans for 1,000 job cuts scheduled for the first half of 2010. These job losses add up to the 3,400 EDS redundancies that the company has already pushed since it took it over in 2008. PCS members are also angry at a pay freeze imposed by the company.
Such a strike was originally scheduled for December, but it was postponed when HP agreed to participate in negotiations. Now that the matter has broken down, the industrial action is taking place. These strikes will impact upon major government and private-sector IT contracts. HP was reported to have offered to remove the pay freeze, but the PCS members did not see this as sufficient. PCS workers want it removed permanently, whereas, according to Jim Hanson, national officer at PCS, HP only intends to remove it for two years.
“We are disappointed to confirm that a small number of employees have voted in favour of local industrial action on Friday. A reasonable offer was put on the table by HP, in response to the union’s requests, however this was rejected without a counter offer being proposed by the union,” HP said. “We will continue to maintain a dialogue with the union in an attempt to avoid any further form of action.” The company will be reducing non-urgent project work, prioritizing critical work in order to make sure that the impact of the strike action is minimal.