HP France employees strike over job cuts

Bad weather didn't prevent Hewlett-Packard employees from showing their dissatisfaction over planned job cuts in the company.

On Friday, more than half of employees answered a call to strike that was put out by a group of trade unions, including the Conf?d?ration Fran?aise des Travailleurs Chr?tiens (CFTC) and Conf?d?ration G?n?rale du Travail (CGT), according to official figures.

A spokesman for the CGT told silicon.com's sister site, ZDNet France, that the strikers included 90 percent of the employees--350 to 400 people--at HP's site at Ulis in the Essonne region. At Grenoble, 1,200 went on strike, 200 at L'isle d'Abeau in Is?re, another 200 at Sophia-Antipolis in Alpes-Maritimes and 300 at the company's French headquarters, in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

On the morning of the strike, Patrick Starck, the head of HP France, met with G?rard Larcher, minister for employment. No information has yet become available on how the discussions went.

HP France plans to lay off 1,240 employees as part of a restructuring plan that will affect 10 percent of its workforce globally.

Jo Best of Silicon.com reported from London.

[aroyce]

The French just don't get it

After seeing this HP may just sack all of you. This is an American company you know. As such they could care less about employees...especially ones that cause trouble. They will simply replace you with somebody cheaper and willing to work harder. India? China? Take your pick...either way you lose.

[aroyce]

The French just don't get it

After seeing this HP may just sack all of you. This is an American company you know. As such they could care less about employees...especially ones that cause trouble. They will simply replace you with somebody cheaper and willing to work harder. India? China? Take your pick...either way you lose.

Maybe it's their penchant for strikes...

maybe it's the French worker's penchant for going on strikes that makes HP decide that the workers arent worth keeping around?

Really...how can workers go on strike when they have to 'suffer' through 35 hour work weeks and 8 weeks of vacation a year. Poor, poor, babies.

Maybe it's their penchant for strikes...

maybe it's the French worker's penchant for going on strikes that makes HP decide that the workers arent worth keeping around?

Really...how can workers go on strike when they have to 'suffer' through 35 hour work weeks and 8 weeks of vacation a year. Poor, poor, babies.

[mikekrause]

Crybabies

I was a Hewlett-Packard employee during the darkest of the "Carly Days" when she was laying people off left and right. Who got spared? HP employees in Europe. Why? Because of the entitlement-minded goverments there. There are laws that make it difficult to fire people. Even if you deserve to be fired, and trust me, out of 100,000+ employees there are at least a few firable employees.

The French need to realize that their socialist approach to labor only works as long as there are people willing to earn a living and pay for those that don't want to work.

This won't happen, but HP would be doing themselves a favor by pulling out of France completely and outsourcing those jobs. HP has been outsourcing for years, so they ought to be pretty good at it by now.

Just my 2 cents.

[mikekrause]

Crybabies

I was a Hewlett-Packard employee during the darkest of the "Carly Days" when she was laying people off left and right. Who got spared? HP employees in Europe. Why? Because of the entitlement-minded goverments there. There are laws that make it difficult to fire people. Even if you deserve to be fired, and trust me, out of 100,000+ employees there are at least a few firable employees.

The French need to realize that their socialist approach to labor only works as long as there are people willing to earn a living and pay for those that don't want to work.

This won't happen, but HP would be doing themselves a favor by pulling out of France completely and outsourcing those jobs. HP has been outsourcing for years, so they ought to be pretty good at it by now.

Just my 2 cents.