Hewlett-Packardstaff have held a protest outside the company's City of
London headquarters in Wood Street today. Organised by the
Uniteunion, the demonstration
followsHP's decision to cull 3,400
jobs.
Unite national officer Peter Skyte said, "This is not about the
credit crunch taking its toll again. HP/EDS is cutting a quarter of
the UK workforce because this already rich company wants to
increase its profits by indiscriminately cost cutting. In 2008,
HP's profit rose 15% to $8.3bn, sales climbed 13% to $118.4bn and
it is outrageous that HP chief executive Mark Hurd's 2008
compensation rose by 31% while his workforce is being forced to
make huge sacrifices."
Unite warned the company that by cutting workplace levels to the
bone, remaining workers would be in danger of developing
stress-related illnesses.