Hewlett Packard aims to transfer the jobs from Erskine, Renfrewshire, to the Czech Republic

Times (Scotland) , Nov. 9, 2005
An electronics giant announced plans yesterday to make 200 contract staff redundant at one of its plants in Scotland.

Hewlett Packard aims to transfer the jobs from Erskine, Renfrewshire, to the Czech Republic, reducing its Scottish workforce by a tenth.In a statement, the company said: "We have taken this decision as part of our global supply chain strategy to drive increased value for our customers and ensure that we remain competitive in the marketplace." The company went on to say that they remained "committed to our presence in Scotland".Jim Sheridan, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, accused Hewlett Packard of "corporate greed" and called for new laws to ensure that companies carry out proper consultations.He said: "This is devastating for the local community, the workers and their families. It's just sheer corporate greed coupled with the opportunity to exploit Eastern European cheap labour."More than 2,000 people are employed on the Erskine site in manufacturing, sales and customer service.

The Herald (Scotland) / Nov. 09 2005

The decision by HP will bring further pressure on the government to tighten up its employment legislation.The jobs, which have been outsourced to Foxconn, a Hewlett-Packard partner, will move to Pardubice in the Czech Republic.Tina Green, HP's director of government and public affairs, said: "The announcement is part of HP's strategy to use partners such as Foxconn to take on the large volume manufacturing of less complex products."Working in partnership with HP, Foxconn will be able to achieve greater competitiveness through economies of scale, vertical integration of the manufacturing process, and by applying their expertise in low cost manufacturing. This strategy allows HP to focus on our core competencies of innovation and high value services."Ms Green added that the "higher-skill operation" employment base, customer support, and sales call centre positions at Erskine would be unaffected. Jim Sheridan, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, who condemned the job losses, intends to call on the government to take steps to give workers more protection from the whims of multinationals.He said: "This is just corporate greed with employees thrown on the scrapheap. The only thing that is going to stop this is improved and effective employment legislation. Again the consultation process, so called, with HP is a farce. "These decisions are made with little or no feelings for those who have lost their jobs or the wider community. This is about exploiting cheap labour costs in Eastern Europe."Stephen Boyd, assistant secretary of the STUC, said: "It is a long-standing problem that these multinationals are able to treat Scottish workers in this way. The outsourcing of low value manufacturing jobs is happening time and again, and we really have to ask where large numbers of people will find employment in the future."Last month, The Herald revealed workers at the plant were being sent home during quiet periods, but expected to finish shifts at later dates. The workers said they owed the company hundreds of hours and were being forced to give up days off to make up for the "lost" time.Hewlett Packard transferred 260 staff contracts to employment agency Manpower two years ago, and it is understood the majority of those affected by the cuts are employed by Manpower and Excel.