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EDS HP staff vote to strike

Break out the braziers

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) at the division of HP formerly known as EDS have voted by a more than three-quarters majority to go on strike over jobs and pay.

Some 78 per cent voted for a walkout, with 92 per cent supporting action short of a strike including refusing to work overtime.

PCS said its members working on Department of Work and Pensions contracts will strike for one day on 10 December.

The dispute has its roots in HP's takeover of EDS last year. Some 3,400 UK workers have since been axed, and those remaining have been hit with a pay freeze.

PCS general secretary Mark Serawotka said: "The ballot result illustrates the depth of anger amongst a workforce who face a second year of pay freezes despite the company delivering fourth quarter revenues of 30.8 billion US dollars."

In November the HP Unite branch also voted to walk out, in a separate dispute over engineering cuts.

The PCS said its action will hit HP sites contracted to DWP at Newcastle, Washington, Preston and the Fylde Coast. ®

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