PARIS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac has asked the French government to refer Hewlett-Packard's plan to cut jobs in France to the European Commission, a source close to the president said on Tuesday. "On the question of the announcement of the reduction in (the number of) workers at the Hewlett-Packard group, he asked the government to pursue all the efforts underway to respond," the source said.
"Given the impact of this plan throughout Europe, he asked the government to refer it to the European Commission," the source added.
News of the group's job cuts in France emerged earlier this month and was a blow to Chirac's conservative government, which has made tackling an unemployment rate of almost 10 percent a top priority.
"For the time being the Commission has not received anything but once we do, we will take it very seriously and look into it," said European Commission employment spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein.
The negociation will start now: the first WW HP market and the most profitable against a job cutter strategy (Mark Hurd)....
RépondreSupprimerHP against his own employees and customers !?
It's a strange chapter of capitalistic's story
Well done Mr Chirac.
RépondreSupprimerIt is a shame to lay off people
while making profits and after
having spent the money given by
the town of Grenoble to create jobs.
I hope the English, German and other European Hp Employees will
follow the French example.
French Industry Minister Francois Loos told LCI television he expected the government to refer HP's job cut plan to the European Commission "this evening or tomorrow, because other European countries are concerned, like us.
RépondreSupprimer"We want to have a discussion, because a presidential American decision from (HP's California headquarters in) Palo Alto saying 'there is a 10 percent cut because I'm here, and so that there is in an effect on the stock market' -- that's no company policy," Loos said.
Other Country as to act also act against this, we need the power of EU against this kind of job cutting i work for HP since 15 year, and do my dialy engineering job, what is the issue? the indian.. and so whos the next one?
RépondreSupprimerwho will bougth HP product if their is no left one in civilized country to do it? is the end of the logic they use so its a short one.
BBC today :
RépondreSupprimerBrussels set to study HP job cuts
HP's proposals have aroused particular controversy in France
The French government has asked the European Commission to scrutinise plans by US computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) to cut 1,240 jobs in France.
HP wants to reduce its workforce across Europe in a cost-cutting move that has aroused real controversy in France, where unemployment is close to 10%.
Brussels said it would treat France's request "very seriously".
Mark Hurd, HP's new boss, wants to cut 14,500 jobs globally over the next 18 months, including 5,900 in Europe.
Protests
The European Commission plans to make an official announcement about the French request later on Wednesday.
The firm hopes the job losses in France, which would represent about a quarter of HP's total workforce there, can be achieved through voluntary redundancies.
Workers have staged a number of demonstrations outside HP offices during the past week and unions have called for a one day strike.
We want to have a discussion
Francois Loos, French industry minister
In referring the decision to the European Commission, the French government said it believed the California-based firm had been pressurised into the move by financial analysts.
"We want to have a discussion, because a presidential American decision from Palo Alto saying ' there is a 10% cut because I'm here, and so that there is in an effect on the stock market', that's no company policy," French industry minister Francois Loos told LCI television.
President Chirac has urged ministers to ensure that Hewlett-Packard fulfills its obligations to its workers under French law.
"Given the impact of this plan throughout Europe, he asked the government to refer it to the European Commission," President Chirac's spokesman said.
Under pressure
Mr Hurd has been under pressure to improve the company's competitiveness since taking over from Carly Fiorina in March.
Analysts want the company to cut costs by up to $1.9bn (£1.28bn) and to realise value by selling a number of assets.
HP employs about 45,000 staff across Europe, the bulk of them in France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
It is planning to cut 968 jobs in the UK.
EU says received French request on Hewlett-Packard
RépondreSupprimerWed Sep 21, 2005 08:34 AM ET
BRUSSELS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The European Commission has received France's request to look into planned job cuts by American computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the Commission president said on Wednesday.
"Just now on my way down from the Commission meeting, I received a formal request from the French government to analyse this issue," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) plans to cut 1,240 jobs in France by 2008. The U.S. computer giant is also planning to cut jobs in other European countries.
Barroso said the Commission would consider giving social assistance to workers laid off by the American firm.
Forbes :
RépondreSupprimer"We don't know if Mark Hurd can sing, but chances are the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard might be humming We'll Always Have Paris this morning.
Last week, HP said that Europe would bear 6,000 of the 14,500 job cuts it was planning worldwide. And of those 6,000, French workers would account for 1,240 layoffs (See "Hurd's HP To Cull 6,000 Jobs In Europe").
That of course did not sit well with folks in the French capital. President Jacques Chirac yesterday ordered his government to appeal the downsizing plan to the European Commission. And, according to AFX News, French Labor Relations Minister Gerard Larcher is saying he will meet with HP's European president to seek a revamp of "the content and scope" of its plan. He is also meeting with the leaders of unions for HP's French workers later today. Those workers staged a one-day strike last Friday to protest the job cuts.
No official, elected or appointed, ever relishes job cuts among the voting public of course--even if they won't add materially to an already staggering 9.9% unemployment rate. But Chirac & Cie. would apparently prefer to habituate French unions to labor reform without corporate assistance."
French govt steps up pressure on HP over job cuts
RépondreSupprimerWed Sep 21, 2005 12:12 PM ET
PARIS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The French government, struggling to reduce high unemployment and win back voters' confidence, stepped up pressure on Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday to rethink its plan to cut 1,240 jobs in France.
The government scheduled a meeting with the U.S. computer giant's European head, Francesco Serafini, after acting on a request by President Jacques Chirac to refer the company's plans to the European Commission for it to take a closer look.
The Commission said it was powerless to save the jobs, but the moves by Chirac and his government signalled their determination to put up a fight.
"I am going to meet the European president of Hewlett-Packard (HP) ... to see what is in the restructuring plan," Labour Relations Minister Gerard Larcher told RMC radio.
"I am asking him to take another look at the contents ... but also to see if there aren't any prospects for the future."
The Labour Ministry said Larcher would meet Serafini on Monday and that he was also meeting HP unions later on Wednesday.
"I want to make the (HP) issue one about the future, not one about the past," he said.
HP said in July it would axe about 10 percent of its work force to cut costs by $1.9 billion a year. The world's second-biggest computer maker has said a total of 2,500 jobs will go in Germany and Britain, in addition to the 1,240 in France.
A spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard in France could not immediately be reached to confirm Monday's meeting or comment.
Reducing France's unemployment rate of 9.9 percent is the conservative government's top priority. Concerns over job losses have also contributed to low consumer morale, which Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has vowed to improve.
The government has adopted a policy that it calls economic patriotism, under which it has vowed to take a tough line against any moves by firms that are not in France's interests.
The government, which is drawing up a list of industries to keep out of foreign hands, made clear it wanted to stave off any hostile bid for food company Danone (DANO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) when rumours began that U.S. drinks giant PepsiCo Inc. (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) might make a bid.
LCI television political commentator Jean-Luc Seguillon said the government's comments on the Hewlett-Packard case amounted to "political gesticulation" and that there was little the European Commission could do.
Chirac is trying to assert himself after a crushing defeat over the European Union's constitution, rejected by French voters in May, and Villepin wants to show he is a strong leader with an eye towards a potential bid for the presidency in 2007.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he had received a formal request from France to analyse the case.
"We are conscious of the destabilising effect that large-scale redundancies with Hewlett-Packard can have in different regions of Europe, particularly France," he said.
"We have to make clear, though, that it is not in the competence of the Commission to prevent Hewlett-Packard from dismissing workers," he said in a statement.
He told reporters earlier that the Commission would consider social assistance for workers laid off by the American firm."
the fight will really start in couple of days...That's very interisting hmmm regarding stocks it's a strong sell right now.
RépondreSupprimerYes. Work force reduction does not necessarily mean a higher stock.
RépondreSupprimerI hope the analysts will realize
this soon and question the lack of real strategy of Mark Hurd.
all PC, server divisions are based in Houston...Rita could paralyse the site couple of days; it's not good to centralize too many things in the same site.
RépondreSupprimerGood fight. It's great that the people getting fired will get some additional support... but that seems to be unsure? Getting fired seems pretty sure?
RépondreSupprimerQuestions to HP employees out of France:
RépondreSupprimer- Do you think that what we do in France can help you?
- Would you agree on taking also actions on your side in order to extend the fight?
- Do you feel well supported by your local unions?
- Do you accept this workforce reduction plan, the next one, and the next ones while keeping loyal to HP? In other words, does those plans influence the quality of your work in HP?
A french collegue who feels that we are all in the same boat, wherever we are.
This company thse days has some many people basically doing nothing, so I am pretty much for the reductions.
RépondreSupprimer? what do you mean? I have work for 3 or 4 of us! if the work is not well balanced it's a management problem.
RépondreSupprimer