back to article Furious HP staff stage protest over job cuts

HP staff downed tools at the SIMO Network 2011 conference in Spain this week to protest against job cuts. hp_stop_layoffs_protesters If you're HP and you know it, wash your hands... An El Reg contact kindly took a photo as disgruntled workers took to the HP stand on 5 October only to lie down clasping placards urging their …

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  1. Ralph B
    Thumb Down

    Any bets?

    Any bets that the those who laid down will be the first to be laid off?

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Probably

      Probably why some of them decided to obscure their face with the placards (Hmm spell checker broke)

  2. SantaFeWolfman
    Devil

    Airbag coincidence?

    Is it a fortunate coincidence that the ad appearing under the *ahem* photo was for IBM RackServers?

  3. Bumpy Cat
    Happy

    Am I bad?

    The first thing I noticed was the sex of the person nearest the camera ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yup

      nice rack, HP!

    2. Swiss
      Coat

      It has to be said...

      Certainly an impressive rack...

      Sorry

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Man Boobs?

      You mean you've never heard of man boobs? Men can (and do) get breast cancer you know.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Man boobs

        Not nice perky ones like that. I'd stay in a lot more if they were.

  4. theBatman
    Happy

    Good for a laugh...

    "If you're HP and you know it, wash your hands..."

    Had me in stitches, thanks!

  5. Figgus

    Clearly, HP needs to retain every employee even when there is no sound business case for it, even if it means EVERY employee loses their jobs.

    I think a few pink slips are better than shuttered doors and a pink slip for everyone, but maybe that's just me.

    1. aaronj2906_01
      FAIL

      It's just you.

      I do contracted support for a large, well known company that laid-off many workers and then turned around and allowed those same people who decided to lay off the workers pay increases. As is it not illegal to do it, corporations pull this kind of sh*t all the time.

      I still do the same support for them. Their employees are overstressed, underpaid, and given 8 hours a day to do 12 hours worth of work.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Unhappy

        Someday someone will snap

        and one of the well paid higher ups, perhaps a few of them, will end up as the top story on the eight o'clock news "Gunman Rampages Through Corporate Offices". Of course the survivors will claim not to understand why it happened and brain dead psychologists and sociologists will blame video games, slack gun laws or television. The rest of us will know the real reason.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Work for the government then. In the private sector, if you don't like your job then go get another job. If you're worth anything, it is that easy.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yeah because our crack string of CEOs were so brilliant

      Our CEOs have failed us. Our Board of Directors have failed us, and this is the result. You would feel significantly different if you were one of those getting axed. Combined with the ridiculous forced distribution of grades during the yearly reviews, HP has become a joke onto itself.

  6. BinaryFu
    Flame

    Pink slips are fun...

    Except when you're the one getting one. Pink slips should seldom, if ever be required except for poor performance. Cutting someone's job because the higher ups didn't do their jobs properly is not a good excuse. Unless you're pink slipping the higher up - then you might very well save the company substantial money.

    Companies know where the fat spending is, they ignore it. Why would they want to face the fact that some of their upper management make six figure incomes when they themselves make far higher six figure incomes?

    To save a company money, they don't need to lay off 9,000 employees who get $30k a year salary. They need to lay off 900 of the ones who make $300k a year for being a relative, friend or frat brother to one of the high ups.

    They need to remove the redundant bosses. Nobody needs four bosses. One will suffice.

    But companies simply cannot see that. It's okay to create a new position in the lower levels and then close it up when it's not useful anymore. But god forbid it is done in the upper management area where you have an Executive Assistant to the CFO's Assistant. And their assistant as well...and a secretary for each.

    Seriously, it's not just HP, but all companies really need to get their collective heads out of their collective posteriors.

  7. exanime

    Layoff are part of business but....

    ... you can layoff a few while trying to restructure the company and make it profitable and more competitive (good)

    ...or you can layoff 6,000 people just because your revenue dropped 3% while still maintaining a HUGE profit... 1.7 BILLION in 1 quarter!... that's just corporate greed and some sleazy white collars trying to save their HUGE bonuses.

    "The company remained profitable, however, posting results that were in line with analyst expectations. HP recorded a profit of US$1.7 billion on sales of $27.4 billion. Earnings per share were $0.70 for its second fiscal quarter, ended April 30"

    From:

    http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/layoff-of-6000-looms-as-hp-revenues-fall-/109702

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Holmes

      "that's just corporate greed and some sleazy white collars trying to save their HUGE bonuses"

      On the other hand, it just means that macro-economically, resources are being shifted elsewhere, from black/beige/silver box production to whatever.... definitely hellfire missiles and lovingly grilled children as there will be tax-and-spend thing going on. Or maybe ....

      **OPENINGS IN McMANSION POOL MAINTENANCE!**

  8. Ron Christian

    mixed feelings

    I have mixed feelings. HP isn't a co-op, and it isn't a government job, and the users are probably not in a union. The owners of the company have the legal right to do whatever they want, including closing the doors, which they may need to do eventually if they can't cover their expenses.

    On the other hand, there are decisions that are, let us say, questionable, for instance, outsourcing a major part of a company for what turns out to be greater expense and poorer service. When you see one of these disasters heading your way, I think it's legitimate as an employee to protest.

    But to protest a riff in a down economy, although it may make you feel better, seems ultimately pointless. It's not your company, and you have no fundamental right to have a job there.

    1. Andrew Wigglesworth

      Marx

      It's called the dictatorship of capital.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Holmes

        Marx was wrong

        The "owners of capital" don't dictate anything [they try hard and succeed though - by the use of trade barriers, subsidies, taxes, IP legislation, and "friendly" congressmen, all things that should get the baby seal treatment when the revolution comes], but ultimately, it's the consumer that dictates. A factory owner can only produce the stuff that people *actually want*.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Title is optional? wow.

    So glad I left this hole. The only people left that I know there are those that cannot find work in that area, those that cannot move (ie, kids, house etc) and those that are waiting for the giant redundancy payout (ex civil service). All the EDS MOD jobs in South Wales are going to Erskine in Scotland in 2012. Technically they will be 'New' roles, so will they have to honour the relocation package for existing staff who wish not to move? Possibly not. I'm so glad I managed to get out...

  10. Old Man - Grey Fleece

    Common sense

    If people would refer back to the earlier El Reg article they would realise just how fortunate these people were with their payoffs and stock options and the cover for the losses on selling their houses and

    Oh sorry, you mean, those aren't the standard redundency terms but surely? You can't mean that only applies to the CEO

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Doesn't really suprise me. HP buy loads of companies for the tech, it's the people that come with it, that are an inconvienience.

  12. Mikel
    WTF?

    One percent per year?

    Why do they even need to "announce" this? Is their turnover so low that this level is noteworthy? Why would anybody protest that 1 percent of their coworkers might be redundant? In a dynamic field like tech that number seems unbelievably low.

    1. HurdImpropriety
      FAIL

      1% turnover is a lie

      With the ridiculous forced distribution of grades during the yearly reviews, HP is looking for at least 5% of employee attrition. This is the new way HP lays off employees.

  13. All names Taken
    Paris Hilton

    Something more apocryphal?

    Maybe, just maybe capitalism is about to undergo one of its greatest tests?

    What might emerge after this huge non-recession?

    And what might the intervening poverty years between the start of non-recession and start of non-recovery what seeds might be sown along lines of:

    hey! we don't need this wage slave stuff anyway. I work less, get paid less, have more time with family and it is great!

    Is there a fundamentalist somewhere positing the demise of western capitalism as an observable event of omnipotent being intervention? (possibly urged on by intervention of - well, you know?)?

  14. All names Taken

    Oops - forgot to add...

    And while people in one half of the world starve unto death people in other parts gorge unto death?

    What do we make of it all?

    Destroy mortgage repayment potential = well, we don't need no steenkeen mortgage anyway?

    Whatever happened to:

    A man/woman with an adult wage will earn sufficient to keep himself/herself with their dependents reasonably well fed in reasonable accommodation wearing reasonable clothing/kit going on a reasonable holiday at least once a year and own a reasonable car?

    Otherwise: what did the bankers do to a common and worldwide work ethic?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I like the cut of their jibs!

    Being in a similar position myself (My successful company being bought out by an incompetant but huge multinational corporation) = looking at losing my job, as they know better. I'm tempted to find a few like minded colleagues and visit the next tradeshow

    .(AC as I need the money until I can get another job elsewhere preferably before they blow me out)

  16. Rambo 1

    Get Out. You're Fired!

    I can see it now:

    Workers: "We're protesting! No more job cuts!!"

    Management: "Hmmmm... What are the employee ID numbers of these protestors?"

    Workers: <start springing to their feet>

    1. midcapwarrior

      we were actually planking

      Just a joke boss

  17. HurdImpropriety
    FAIL

    Douche Canoes CEOs and Board

    Our CEOs have failed us. Our Board of Directors have failed us, and this is the result. You would feel significantly different if you were one of those getting axed. Combined with the ridiculous forced distribution of grades during the yearly reviews, HP has become a joke onto itself.

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