News

More than forty trade union representatives from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, UK, Italy and the Netherlands, met on 8^th September 2008 to discuss the HP takeover of EDS at a meeting organised jointly the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) and UNI Europa.



Participants expressed concerns about the possible effects on employment and working conditions of the take over of EDS by HP. They also voiced discontent about the lack of information provided by both EDS and HP managements so far.



The meeting:



1) called on the HP management to ensure full and meaningful consultation with the trade union/employee representative bodies both at European and national levels prior to decision-making;



2) expressed their opposition to any compulsory redundancies/layoffs;



3) urged HP management to provide a detailed plan for redeployment and re-skilling of the existing workforce to fill current of anticipated skills shortages as an alternative to redundancies in the event of reorganisation.



UNI and the EMF will closely monitor the impact on the workforce of any proposals expected to be announced by the HP management on 15^th September and with affiliated trade unions take all possible steps to safeguard the interest of the workers.