HP to slash 1,100 UK jobs

Vendor branded 'long-term addict' to job cuts by Unite union

HP has been branded as a "long-term addict to a culture of job cuts" as its redundancy plans are set to reach the UK at the start of next year.

Back in October, HP announced it was to swing the axe on 7,500 jobs across EMEA but today the union Unite slammed the vendor as it confirmed it would trim its UK headcount by 1,124 from next month.

The lion's share of the job cuts – 618 positions – are expected to come from its Bracknell base, while 483 will go from Warrington and 23 from Sheffield.

HP said the cuts form part of its global reorganisation led by boss Meg Whitman and added that they "address current market and business pressures".

"HP remains committed to supporting the employability of its employees through a number of internal initiatives, including re-skilling, redeployment and support to obtain alternative employment as appropriate," it added.

Unite condemned HP's decision.

"For the past five years HP has been addicted to a culture of job cuts in the UK to such an extent that its highly skilled workforce has little faith in the way the company is being managed and will be going forward," said national officer Ian Tonks.

"Unite will be doing everything possible to mitigate these job losses which are a hammer blow to the UK's IT sector and very distressing for employees in the run-up to Christmas. At the recent renegotiation of the European works council (EWC), senior European managers were unable to answer any questions about the future EWC, as they could not get hold of their American bosses because of last week's Thanksgiving holiday.

"It's no wonder there is so little faith in the European management."