back to article EDS HP staff vote to strike

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) at the division of HP formerly known as EDS have voted by a more than three-quarters majority to go on strike over jobs and pay. Some 78 per cent voted for a walkout, with 92 per cent supporting action short of a strike including refusing to work overtime. PCS said its …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cunning plan..

    Surely they're only breaking out the braziers to get rid of all that packaging?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cunning plan..

      And what could they use to fuel the braziers????

  2. Adrian Challinor
    Unhappy

    Oh dear

    Who is going to release data from the DWP now, if EDS (sorry HP) are on strike?

  3. Bruce Ordway

    Strike

    So let's say the workers are justified.

    Almost every business I've worked at, the jobs have been getting more and more portable.

    Is ti just me or have employees started to look like commodities?

    Can a strike succeed in this age?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Largest profits ever

    yet they are still cutting jobs?!?!?!

    I don't work for HP, never have, and from what I've been hearing, I never will. They sound like a terrible company with no regard for their staff.

    I doubt the strike will have any immediate impact, however if they were my IT supplier I'd be looking elsewhere at renewal time.

    1. Richard 102

      This is not your father's HP

      HP used to be considered a great company to work for, one of the tops in Silicon Valley. However, the world changed back in the mid-late 90s and management was prepared for it. What's more, under the Fiorina regime, the culture changed greatly, and it became all about the executives instead of the techies/engineers.

      And boy, does it show.

  5. tempemeaty
    Alert

    Arrogance and the executives....

    I work for a company like that. Being lied to and taken advantage of has become a daily issue and nothing short of bodily harm to the execs running the company and it's partner companies will deter it.

    Nothing else the employees do deters the willingness of executives to financially rape and take advantage of them because of the extremes of the executive arrogance.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Really title needed to reply??

      I'm a little shocked by this news:

      For one I hate EDS as they are terrorable and HP are also terrorable - I mean you change your helpdesk/support desk from the Irish technical people to an Indian helpdesk which they seem to be more interested in your name, address, phone number and email address than fixing the fault - seriously why can they not just ask if my contact details have changed as I phone them on an almost daily basis.

      Strike action: I do support strikes as they do tend to work as planned the problem is how they are managed by the union involved; also they if the employers are taking the piss then I think its deserved.

      I wouldn't work for either HP or EDS though due to their public image problems unless I was a high ranking engineer I wouldn't be interested and it wouldn't look good on my CV.

      Anon

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    HA

    I'll bet the don't have the stones to go through with it. And besides it would be better if every customer site had a 2 day strike on the same day, and not in December, but when it will hurt the customer the most.

    The engineers should no longer be serving the best interests of the customer, but their own best interests. The customer doesn't care and neither does HP. They need to stop playing nice and start being bastards.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    The upper management at HP sounds like a bunch of cunts

    Haven't HP taken over ViStorm as well? HP is creepy as fuck in some peoples' minds - remember when they hired Private Investigators to spy on their board members? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_spying_scandal

    The thing I hate is their printers; mine forces me to fucking replace my ink cartridge after x number of pages are printed cos the chip tells it to, even if there's ink left.

    It's all about money-money-money. What is sad is that the EDS employees are good people. In stark contrast, the HP execs are cunts.

    Am I allowed to say 'cunts' on the Register? I hardly use strong language -this just indicates how feel about them.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who is the strike good for?

    The staff go on strike for 2 days, saving HP on salary costs and hence increasing their profit margins.

    If anyone at DWP complains then HP blame the unions.

    If no one complains then HP can make a further round of job cuts.

    Who wins? Who will be impacted by a strike?

    I feel really sorry for those who still at HP/EDS.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Happy to go on strike to make a point...

    The strike has come about for a majority of reasons. I am one of the ones who are going on strike. In saying that I do feel for the customer, but at the end of the day, that is a responsibility that HP management need to recognise, that it isn't managers who run and maintain the service, it is the people at the lower level who keep things going. HP management (EDS as well) seem to think that people are just bums on seats, and that anyone can do anyone else's job.

    When you are continually told to cut costs, and take pay cuts, and work in an environment where this no matter how many times it is highlighted to management that these cuts are potentially going to cause problems for the customer, they don't listen. Everyone is wondering where it is all heading, and personally, can do without the worry of knowing whether or not you have a job come the end of the month. I guess it is the same everywhere in this current economic environment, but not when you are already stretched and are in a contract where HP are making a very good healthy profit. HP are also trying to apply the same principles from selling printers and hardware to people, and also apply production line standards to the EDS side of the business. A classic example was that everyone received and email saying that HP was going to shut down over the Christmas period, all well and fine if you are making printers, but not especially good when it is one of the most busiest times for the client for systems upgrades and changes.

    Earlier in the year we were asked to take a 5% pay cut, which when the massive profit was announced they offered to pay the 5% back, but what they didn't do is give it to you as a permanent rise. What they should have done was said, take a 5% cut now, but when things are good we will give you 7% and you can go back onto your normal pay, as a sort of little thank you. What also was ridiculous was that our leader said, I will take a pay cut as well. Of course, he was trying to make it seem that he was taking a huge cut as well. If you did the maths, it worked out something like a 0.3% pay cut. The other thing is that he also got paid $42 million last year, how can that be justified? Don't get me wrong, EDS were exactly the same. But what should have happened is that the pay cuts should have been reflective of relative pay. If his pay is worth 1000 odd employees, then his pay cut should have reflected around a 50% pay cut.

    Every year you have to fill out a employee development plan, and every year you do one, you request training. So far it has been 3 years, and the only training you receive on a regular basis is ethics and standards. Yet you have to do a best efforts in supporting environments of which you may not have a complete understanding of, which from my perspective places the client at a great risk.

    For me I am going out on strike to get it through to management that they need to make their intentions clear. I do feel bad for the customer, but this has been going on for at least the last 6 months, and for me the only way that management are going to ever wake up and understand that they need to do things better and fairly is to go on strike. If there was another way to shake the tree, believe me I would, at the end of the day what else is going to wake them up?

    Paris.... cause she likes getting shafted..

  10. Tek-1
    Paris Hilton

    WTF

    So let me get this right, they recorded a billion dollars more profit than forecast in Q4...and they're still making people redundant and freezing pay?

    How can these people look at themselves in the morning?

    Paris, because at least she's worth getting fucked by.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Paging Matt - Paging Matt

    HP desperately need someone to put a positive spin on this and you seem think that you can polish the turd that is PHUX. Come on then Matt - why is this good for the Customer and for HP in the long term?

    Shame to see all these poor EDS people suffering but unfortunately that's life under the Mark Turdettes - a pervasive culture since the Pink-slip Princess.

    It's not as though HP makes any good products anymore! Their printers and drivers suck, their servers suck more and PHUX could suckstart a 747!

    I tried their 614C "smart" phone - great product if you like something that crashes 4 or 5 times a day and the battery only lasts 6 hours.

    A once-great company that has lost it's way.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Life at HP - if you can call it that.

    I've spent the majority of my working life at HP and I can't wait for the time they kick me out. Like the ex-EDSer above I believe that HP management have no idea of how the work actually gets done at HP. They think that anything can be fixed by issuing a management edict or cutting employee costs. Worker-bee employees used to be valued at HP, then the changes started to creep in and they were viewed as just another commodity. Things have progressed where HP management now consider its employees as a necessary evil, to be exploited and screwed at every opportunity and told to f**k off if they don't like it. All this while Hurd has pocketed well over $100M in the last few years and the assortment of dead-wood SVPs, VPs, country VPs and managers have been enjoying similar obscene pay awards.

    Over the past year or so Hurd and his cronies have been working hard to figure out more ways to screw the workforce. I am a remote worker and run my own car for company business so they cut my car allowance - it now seems to me I am funding HP to use my own car for their business benefit.

    Because I am a remote worker I use my own broadband connection for company business (email, collaborating apps, backups etc.) and so they have stopped reimbursing me for this broadband connection - no discussion - they just removed the payment. Not wanting to fund a broadband connection out of my own pocket for HP's benefit I (stupidly) asked what they suggest I should do to read my email. "Drive to your local HP office and read it there" they said. "But that is 50 miles away" I wailed. "So..." they replied. "But the mileage cost to HP will be more than the cost of the broadband subscription" I pointed out. "No it won't." they countered. "Come again" I replied. "Because you will be driving to an HP office on non-direct-customer business you cannot claim the mileage. So you can either drive to the office at your own expense or use your personal broadband connection to read your HP email. It's your choice." was the beautifully crafted explanation of the strategy to me. I was, for the first time in living memory, struck dumb.

    I am a union member but I unfortunately I am in the minority within the group I work for - we have not reached the level where the union is officially recognized. If we were recognized I would vote for industrial action if the opportunity arose and I fully support any HP employee who thinks that industrial action is now needed. Everything else has been tried (so-called workers councils, engaging with management in forums/discussion groups, offers to share managers goals...) and I think that HP management need to see that there are only so many times you can kick a loyal dog before it turns around and bites back.

    Oh, and don't get me going on the FPR process (Focal Point Review), more commonly known as the F**king Pointless Review :-)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Glad I quit

    I'm an ex EDS-er and quit 2 years ago to go contracting. I've never looked back. I really feel for my ex-colleagues that are currently riding out this fiasco.

    To HP/EDS you're just a resource, charged out to the customer like a contractor. I would advise an entire account team handing their notice in, all leaving, then the next day offer to come back as a team of contractors. They'd probably let it happen and STILL make a profit.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @HP employee comment posters

    Just so you know, it's also the same in the Netherlands @ HP.

    A pile of shit and every word you said outlines exactly the same issues here. I am amazed that it is so... widespread. Good to hear you guys can take action. I wonder if there are any unions around here...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What they don't realise

    What they don't realise that is that next time it comes to renewal of any of their contracts, the union should let the client know that, should they renew the contract with HP, that people would walk. The thing is that, any new company taking over the contract will want staff, and outside of London it would be pretty hard to put together a large team of people without taking people who are currently working on the account. All they would need is the a bunch of new managers.

    It would be very interesting to see what would happen if the entire workforce was to walk out, and either join or create a completely separate company. I wonder what the client would do in that case, because they wouldn't really be in a position to accept much else, at least for the short term.

    I thought EDS were bad, but HP definitely takes the cake, even taking over how bad working for CSC was.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    IT for all - New Labour Comedy Club !

    Remember Tony Blair saying he wanted every school kid to have their own laptop!. What the hell for Blair, so they can waste their time using friggo Facebook.

    News to you Tony and Gordon - the skilled IT jobs are dissappearing they are been shipped to India and China by every giant IT company, bank or oil company. We have lost 10,000's of well paid jobs ober the last few years. If the blue chips aren't training any British grads in IT then haven' t we got a bit of a problem?.

    We have lost manufacturing, engineering and now IT is on it's global bike. Any suggestions Mr Borwn what we do next or what our kids do next , because i don't think our once proud society can feed itself on supermarket wages!.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Good on you guys

    HP used to be a great company to work for, it used to be said that HP broke up marriages because some people loved working thier so much they would put in loads of free overtime, do what it took to get the job done, I remember when I started the office would be full way before 9am and would not start to empty until 6pm, nowadays, a lot of people are working from home, doing as little as possible, the office is empty by 4pm. Its a misserable place to work. I have worked with the DWP guys, and those that I have worked with are dilligent helpful nice people who go out of thier way to get things sorted for DWP, without this dedication the DWP would be on its knees.

    I would say good on you guys, we are also striking next week for 24hrs, expect this to become a regular feature on the register, I have it on very good authority within about the next 12 months HP will close the final salary pension to existing members, well Gary Buzausky said we would pay if we didnt take the 5% pay cut they wanted us to and this is how we will pay. I would suggest anyone still working for HP join a union and get recognition or get out as soon as possible.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Its not about the money

    I'm an ex-EDSER and I fully support this strike. I never ever thought I would support a union, but seeing what HP is up to this was always inevitable.

    HP is a company with no leadership and no respect. Most people I know would have swallowed pay-cuts if they trusted and respected their leadership. Executives in HP are just hypocrites and liars.

    2010 is going to be a miserable year in HP for all employees unless we get proper leadership.

  19. SNS
    FAIL

    This strike is a joke...

    I work for EDS/HP in the North East branch, within second line IT support (not DWP), and this strike is a joke and an insult for several reasons...

    1) Its obviously only aimed at improving the working conditions and pay for those staff who have EDS/HP contracts.

    2) Its only for the DWP department.

    I makes those points because I work for EDS, via Kelly Services, and DO NOT have an EDS/HP contract. Its virtually impossible to get one. My wage is WORSE then those who do have a contract. Those who do have one, are generally paid between 3-15k more then myself and my colleagues.

    There are 2nd line teams within the same building, who do LESS work then we do (I'm not going to mention which department i'm on), but are paid twice what we are, because they DO have contracts .

    We have also been advised as "Kelly employees" (if a member of the PCS) to not take part in the strike, as it could be a risk to our jobs because we do not have the same job security as those with contracts.

    How are we (as Kelly Employees) going to be fairly reprosented in this strike?

    Its pretty obvious that if any pay improvements do come about as a result of this strike, the ONLY people who will benefit will be DWP staff with EDS/HP contracts.

    All while the rest of us, who work for the company via Kellys, will no doubt remain on our pathetic wage. These contracted staff have it far better then we do, and they feel unappreciated? Imagine how we feel!!!

    We are constantly (and its very patranysing) being told how much great work we do, by higher management. We are expected to contend with a 700% increase in work load, with a team which has not expanded to meat that increase and yet we do manage. We have a wonderful team in my department, the best in the building, and yet our wage doesnt reflect this IMMENSE increase in workload.

    They think the occassional email saying "great job guys" is enough compensation for the amount of work we do every day!!!

    I support a strike completely, but not one which is not a fair reprosentation of the ENTIRE workforce. The strike does not reprosent Kelly Staff!!!!!!!!!!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Good riddance?

    Now if only they could make this permanent maybe the taxpayer could be spared half our biggest IT fiascos.

    As for the other half, can we persuade Accenture to join them?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Didnt even happen!!

    Well the strike didn't happen. They are in "talks" about something which will not doubt NOT impact anyone except DWP and contracted staff. A waste of time for Kelly Staff or anyone outside of DWP who works for EDS.

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