Plans by IT giant, Hewlett Packard (HP) to axe 1,100 jobs at the start of 2014 were condemned by Unite, the country’s largest union, today (Wednesday 4 December).
Unite said that HP was a company that was ‘a long-term addict to a culture of job cuts’ and where its European managers had little autonomy, with the key decisions being made by the company’s American bosses.
The job cuts totalling 1,124 are at the Bracknell, Sheffield and Warrington hubs, although many of those facing redundancy either work from home or within the organisations employing HP.
The company blamed falling demand and reorganisation for the job losses that it wants to implement in the first three months of 2014. Unite was attending a meeting at Bracknell today (4 December) where managers were outlining their plans.
Unite national officer Ian Tonks said: “For the last five years HP has been addicted to a culture of job cuts in the UK to such an extent that its highly skilled workforce has little faith in the way the company is being managed and will be going forward.
“Unite will be doing everything possible to mitigate these job losses which are a hammer blow to the UK’s IT sector and very distressing for employees in the run-up to Christmas.”
A total of 618 jobs could be lost at the Bracknell hub, although the employees work at multiple locations; 483 will go at Warrington; and 23 at Sheffield.
Ian Tonks added: “At the recent re-negotiation of the European works council (EWC), senior European managers were unable to answer any questions about the future EWC, as they could not get hold of their American bosses because of last week’s Thanksgiving holiday. It’s no wonder there is so little faith in the European management.”
