HP creates 700 Scottish jobs but is accused of exploiting subsidies

Unite says HP is using £7m grant to replace the 700 jobs it moved to Czech Republic last year

HP is setting up an IT services hub in Scotland

HP is to create 700 new jobs at its base in the Scottish town of Erskine, Renfrewshire by 2014.

The roles will focus on supply chain, telephone and online sales, as well as marketing and customer support.

The company is to create these roles following the establishment of an IT services hub and will receive up to £7m of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) support from funding body Scottish Enterprise to establish the site.

RSA is the main investment grant scheme for businesses in designated areas of Scotland.

Despite welcoming the news of the further job creation, trade union Unite questioned whether HP is taking advantage of a "public subsidy merry-go-round” to sack and replace employees at this plant and across the UK.

Although HP has pledged to create 700 jobs, using the £7m subsidy from the Scottish government, 700 jobs were cut from the same site in Erskine last year, as the firm moved its manufacturing processes from Scotland to the Czech Republic.

“This situation makes it look like the company is using the public subsidy merry-go-round to create jobs and replace those that they have transferred to Eastern Europe where labour costs are cheaper," said Peter Skyte, Unite national officer for IT and communications.

“We will be demanding that the company use this opportunity at Erskine to redeploy employees from the current workforce who face possible redundancy in two months,” he added.

HP has defended its decision to use a government subsidy to create 700 jobs so soon after moving 700 roles from the same site to the Czech Republic, by arguing that the two moves are completely separate.

An HP spokesperson told Computing that a decision was made not to keep the 700 manufacturing jobs in Erskine and to centralise manufacturing in the Czech Republic for cost reasons, and that the services jobs to be created will require a different set of skills.

“The new positions in Erskine are to support business growth and we’re currently in consultation with the workforce about the changes that we’re making,” said the spokesperson.

“When the Scottish government gave us the support, they were completely aware of the work that we’re doing to take the manufacturing business offshore. This is an investment we’re making to bring services roles into Scotland.”