Workers to strike at US giant

ANGRY workers the north of England are to go on strike at an American computer giant.

Staff at Hewlett Packard in Preston and on the Fylde coast are to stage a 24-hour strike after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action in a dispute over pay and jobs.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said its members at the firm's Enterprise Services section, including those working on Government IT contracts, will walk out on December 10.

Reports the Fleetwood Weekly News: "Officials said there had been growing anger among staff over job losses and a pay freeze since Hewlett Packard (HP) took over EDS in August 2008.

"Up to 1,000 union members will take part in the strike, including those working on IT contracts for the Department for Work and Pensions in Newcastle upon Tyne, Washington, Preston and on the Fylde coast."

The local paper quotes PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka as saying: "It is disgraceful that hard-working staff who are shouldering greater workloads and contributing significantly to HP's revenue and profits should be rewarded with pay freezes and job losses.

"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.

"Management cannot continue to take staff for granted and need to start rewarding staff properly and give them guarantees over job security."

Northern England on recession riot alert

SOCIAL unrest could flare up in Yorkshire, UK, unless the problem of youth unemployment is tackled, the boss of a major quango has warned.

Regional newspaper The Star reported on November 28 that Tom Riordan, the chief executive of business organisation Yorkshire Forward, warned MPs the number of young people out of work is a "huge risk" to the region.

He said "one of the biggest risks" is that youth unemployment could spark social unrest.

Added the report: "His blunt warning will raise the spectre of the riots which broke out in 1981 – a time of recession and rising unemployment – in Liverpool and Brixton.

"There were 49,600 people under 25 claiming jobseeker's allowance according to the latest figures."

Irish army gears up for riots

THE IRISH state is preparing to use the army to suppress major civil unrest by spending a third of a million Euros on providing it with new riot gear.

Reported the Irish Independent on November 15: "The order, placed with Daniel Technologies of Dublin, includes protective knee and armpads, helmets and visors, while soldiers also have access to body armour, batons and shields. Enough material has been ordered to equip 500 soldiers.

"The equipment will be kept in barracks near locations where public order disturbances could break out. These are likely to include the Dail, the border and Shannon Airport. The last order for such equipment was in 2000.

"Tender documents show the order was for the 'supply of public order blunt trauma personnel protective equipment for use in public order, crowd and riot control operations at home and abroad'."

A Defence Forces spokesman was quoted as denying the army was being told to prepared for the proposed national strike on November 24.

A recent report from the IMF said Ireland was suffering the severest recession of any advanced economy.

It said the the country was in “the midst of an unprecedented economic correction” with losses at its banks predicted to swell to €35bn (£30bn) over the next two years.

“The stress exceeds that being faced currently by any other advanced economy and matches episodes of the most severe economic distress in post-World War II history,” the IMF said.

McDonald's quits Iceland

GOOD news from Iceland - McDonald's is to close its business there because the country's financial crisis has made it too expensive to operate its franchise.

The US-based fast food giant said its three outlets in the country would shut - and that it had no plans to return, reported the BBC on October 27.

Besides the economy, McDonald's blamed the "unique operational complexity" of doing business in an isolated nation with a population of just 300,000.

Iceland's first McDonald's restaurant opened in 1993.

Who knows - maybe Britain will be next.

Have a nice day.