Joint letter from UNI-Europa and EMF to Francesco Serafini, HP Managing Director Europe, concerning the job cuts in Europe

Brussels, 21 December 2005
10757/BS/SD

Dear Mr Serafini,

We are writing to you on behalf of the EMF and UNI Europa, the two European trade union organisations that represent employees in the IT sector and in HP as well.

We are seriously concerned about the job cuts announced by HP with some 14'500 jobs to disappear worldwide and more than 6'000 in Europe. We are afraid that redundancies of this size will come with many personal sacrifices and individual hardships, which should be avoided and reduced to the minimum.

Apart from the fact that some countries are affected disproportionately, we are more worried about the lack of a discernible and cohesive business strategy that is guiding the envisaged restructuring.

From what is going on currently one might get the impression that people have to pay with their jobs to please Wall Street and shareholders.

Our member organisations, who are dealing with your national and local management report to us, that the downsizing process is not lead by clear business objectives and the impact on people's mood and motivation is devastating. They have urged us to address their concerns directly with you.

This is why we suggest to meet with you at your earliest convenience in order to learn more about HP's rationale behind the current restructuring and share with you the grievance and sorrows of HP employees that have been brought to our attention.

Yours sincerly,
UNI-Europa EMF
Bernadette Ségol Peter Scherrer
Regional secretary General secretary

HP chief outlines his expansion strategy

"Mark Hurd, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, on Tuesday outlined a three-pronged strategy for expanding the world's second biggest computer maker by capitalising on growing demand for digital printing, mobile computing, and software and equipment for a new generation of corporate data systems.

"[These trends] play to our strengths . . . and we are going to take advantage of them," said Mr Hurd, who has been charged with turning round HP after several years of inconsistent results and stock market underperformance.

Speaking at his first analyst meeting since he replaced Carly Fiorina as chief executive this year, Mr Hurd said HP expected revenue growth of 4-6 per cent for the year ending in October 2007.

HP also announced an expansion into the European imaging and printing market with the acquisition of bilderservice.de, the German owner of Pixaco, an online photo printing service.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, comes on the heels of HP's purchase of Snapfish, a US-based online photo service with 20m registered customers.

It represents the latest in a series of moves intended to transform HP's imaging and printing business, best known for its desktop printers, into a key driver of growth by expanding into the market for commercial-scale printing, digital photos and copying as well as other high-end imaging services.

HP will also try to take advantage of a shift towards decentralised, low-cost corporate IT systems, or "data centre architectures", which are less labour-intensive but require more sophisticated management software than traditional mainframe computers.

Mr Hurd said HP would focus on providing mobile computing services that allow customers to access data securely wherever they want.

Mr Hurd did not announce any new restructuring in addition to a $1.9bn "catch-up action" unveiled in July, which has seen HP shed about 15,300 jobs and restructure its salesforce and IT systems.

However, he indicated the company would keep watching costs as it attempted to adapt to a trend towards lower operating margins in the computer industry.

Shares in HP fell 2.5 per cent to $29.22 in midday trading in New York."

Mr Hurd, where is your expansion strategy ?