Background
Members may have seen leaflets from the PCS EDS Fylde and Preston Branch concerning a ballot in HP (formerly EDS). EDS was one of the companies who were given IT contracts from the DWP during the 1990’s, there used to be a Information Technology Services Agency (ITSA) in the DSS.
Members in the DWP will be fully aware of the issues of pay cuts and job cuts.
The Dispute in HP
Our sister Branch in EDS has provided the following information about the background of the issues and also why they were leafleting the Norcross site:
“The union’s National Disputes Committee has approved an official industrial action ballot of members in the EDS Branch and the two North East DWP account branches. The ballot covers all members employed by HP, whether or not they currently work on the DWP account.
Prior to confirming the approval, a final approach was made to HP’s Employee Relations Manager to ascertain whether any movement from the company was forthcoming on the two areas of dispute – compulsory redundancies and the across-the-board pay freeze. The response was negative.
The Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland, reported on the completion of the HP-EDS Integration Workforce Management Programme, in which 3242 jobs have been shed in the UK. The figures he gives confirm that 25% of this total, 810 job cuts were made by compulsory redundancy. He goes on to announce a further Workforce Management Programme to be implemented in the first half of 2010, with an estimated 1105 further job cuts, of which 796 are expected to be in HP Enterprise Services (ex-EDS).
The Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland refers to these proposals having followed a European Workers Council meeting in May and a meeting with Employee Representatives on 15th September. He further refers to another meeting with Employee Representatives on 3rd November. At the latter meeting, the company’s representatives declined to give an assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies.
Some members in HP have commented that the Managing Director, HP UK & Ireland communication appears to be implying that the Works Council and the Employee Representatives (i.e. the union representatives) are somehow party to the decision to cut more jobs. This is not the case. PCS have consistently asserted, at these WFM meetings, that redundancies are neither necessary nor genuine, but are – together with the pay freeze - simply headcount reductions designed to transfer workload to fewer shoulders and to boost HP profits, share values, dividends and senior management bonuses at the expense of its employees.
Kelly Services, an employment agency which holds a number of contracts with HP including supplying operations staff at the SDC, Norcross, was seeking to cut its workers’ pay. We advised of the contractual position relating to pay cuts – which is no different for agency workers - and we advised Kelly’s workers to ‘Just say No’, as HP permanent staff, in overwhelming numbers, had already successfully done so.
We have now learned that Kelly’s have imposed the 2.5% cut.
The letter sent by Kelly’s management to the workers makes it clear that the cuts have been very much driven by HP:
“The global economy and every major corporation within it are under sustained pressure to reduce costs with the ultimate goal of securing the long term future of its workforce. EDS (an HP company) are not exempt from this,
Revenue is in decline and EDS (an HP company) are reducing cost expenditure wherever possible. Kelly Services have been impacted by this reduction and accordingly we need to reduce labour costs.
As a strategic partner, Kelly Services needs to support this initiative and reinforce the message that this initiative is key in order to secure the long term future for all our workers on secondment at EDS”.
So long as workers register a protest when pay cuts are imposed, these can be legally overturned. Hence, PCS has organised to help Kelly’s workers, who are joining the union, to lodge group grievances.
Updates will follow in future issues, but what has happened to Kelly’s colleagues is indicative of what we are up against with HP attitudes on cutting and freezing pay to boost their profits. A strong union, for both agency workers and permanent workers is absolutely vital.”
Hopefully members in the Fylde Central Benefits and Services Branch will now have a flavour of what the campaign in HP is about.
If you require any further details then please contact the Branch Office.
