Irish HP subsidiary workers begin stoppage


28 Sep 2010

Employees at a HP subsidiary started the first of two 24-hour stoppages at the firm’s plant in Dublin over job security, redundancy terms, pay and conditions.

Engineers and technicians employed by HP Customer Delivery Systems (CDS) have said their management refused to engage with their union.

These workers provide maintenance services for electronic equipment, which include ATM machines and point-of-sale devices in shops.

They maintain computer systems in numerous Government departments, such as the processing of social welfare cheques.

The staff has raised concerns over job security, terms for redundancy, pay, possible transfer, the general management culture and issues in regards to dignity and respect at the workplace.

The 40 Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) members at the Leixlip plant were joined by other workers on the picket.

The IBOA have said the management intended to back out of an existing collective agreement and rejected a Labour Court recommendation telling HP CDS to engage with the union.

The union was going to have this picket at the start of August, however, the management gave the impression they would engage with them.

According to a union spokesperson, in the weeks following this, these attempts “fell flat” because the talks were to be confined to a small group of workers.

“IBOA has repeatedly indicated its willingness to negotiate but management has refused to enter into meaningful talks by rejecting the best efforts of the Labour Court and seeking to rescind previous agreements with the union,” said Larry Broderick, general secretary at IBOA.

“The stance taken by management in HP CDS is all the more surprising because IBOA has developed a constructive relationship with the management of the parent company, HP, on behalf of our members directly employed there.”

The union has said that the second stoppage will take place on Thursday, unless negotiations occur in the meantime.