HP employees to strike for 48 hours

Two-day strike by PCS members working at the DWP

More trouble at the DWP

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members working for HP in several northern regions of the Department of Work and Pensions are to hold a two-day strike over redundancies and pay freezes next Monday and Tuesday.

The 48 hour action on 8 and 9 March by 1,000 HP staff will coincide with a strike announced by up to 270,000 Civil Service staff for the same date.

Some 63.4 per cent of PCS union members voting in a national ballot were in favour of strike action, with an 81.4 per cent favouring "action short of a strike", which means an overtime ban in practice.

HP staff working on government DWP computer systems in the north-west regions of Lytham St Annes, Norcross, Blackpool and Fulwood, Preston, and the north-east regions of Durham and Newcastle will also be involved in the action.

A PCS bulletin updating HP members on the current situation detailed meetings with HP on 23 February aided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). PCS national officer Jim Hanson said that further sites would be balloted on joining the campaign, with further strike days also being considered.

"We are prepared to talk to management if they are prepared to make a more realistic offer that meets the demands we have put to them," said Hanson, in a PCS bulletin.

HP narrowly avoided a strike of 1,000 ex-EDS HP staff working on government contracts just before Christmas.