HP avoids strike

HP avoided one strike but suffered from another

HP yesterday narrowly avoided a strike of 1,000 ex-EDS staff working on government contracts who belong to the union PCS, but was hit by a walkout of service engineers from Unite on Monday.

Further action is planned at HP and Unite has also served notice on Fujitsu of strikes scheduled for later this month and into the new year.

Most of HP's staff work on an outsourcing contract with the Department for Work and Pensions, though some work for the Ministry of Defence.

The Public and Commercial Services Union says that since HP bought EDS last year 3,400 staff have been axed, a pay freeze has been imposed and voluntary pay cuts have been urged by HP managers. The union says HP plans a further 1,000 redundancies.

HP said in a statement: “The PCS strike was postponed yesterday pending a meeting between HP and the union on Wednesday 16 December.”

Last-minute talks between HP and the union on Wednesday led to the postponement of the strike.

A spokesman for the PCS said: "We're currently in negotiations. The strike may still happen next week."

However, HP suffered a separate strike on Monday, when 130 customer services engineers represented by Unite struck in a dispute over lost benefits.

The complaint stems from a "business transfer" that took place on 1 November, which saw Unite members moved to an HP subsidiary company, HP CDS, with their final salary pension and a £2,000 performance bonus scheme being scrapped.

Unite plans further industrial action next year, with two-day strikes planned for 11 and 12 January, and 1 and 2 February, and a five-day walkout scheduled for 22-26 February.

Unite has also served notice of six strike days on Fujitsu to take place on 18 December and continuing in the new year on 7, 8, 11, 14 and 15 January.

The decision follows the vote of Unite members in the company by a majority of 75 per cent voting for industrial action and 92 per cent voting for action short of a strike.

The strike is over proposals for 1,000 redundancies in the UK, a pay freeze imposed earlier this year, and plans by the company to close the main final-salary pension scheme to future accrual, which Unite claims reduces the total pay package of each affected employee by about 20 per cent.