Towards a company agreement with EDS in Germany

Lorenzo DeSantis  29 April 2009 12:33:07

A few years ago, the members of the works council at EDS Operations Services GmbH began considering the advantages of a company agreement. The members of the works council and the two unions represented at EDS, IG Metall and ver.di, signed a cooperation agreement which spells out how the two sides intend to work together.

It was only during the course of 2008 that the idea of a “company agreement” was given serious thought. The trigger came during the run-up to the wage negotiations due to take place in 2008 when the management announced that it was only prepared to offer a 1% increase. The works council realised yet again that, legally speaking, there was very little they could do to impose a higher increase. In spite of the fact that they had good arguments, that the workforce had shown its support during the "Gimme five!" campaign, and that the mediator had suggested a significantly higher amount, the management stuck to its original proposal of a mere 1%.

As a result, the works council came to the conclusion that it would canvass support for a company agreement and to apply for trade union membership. This led to a lot of heated discussion among the workforce and many of the colleagues began to organise. Over the following few weeks, the number of individuals joining IG Metall and ver.di increased in leaps and bounds.

In May 2008, it was announced that EDS had been taken over by Hewlett Packard (HP). As far as the company’s employees were concerned, this new situation raised a number of important questions. They wanted to know if this takeover meant that the social standards they enjoyed would now be in jeopardy? What could they do to secure those standards for the future? There was general agreement that a collective agreement would offer greater protection than an agreement between the works council and the employers.

By August 2008 the company’s shareholders and the antitrust authorities had cleared the way for HP to take over EDS. Immediately afterwards, HP announced that it intended to make a significant number of staff cuts both in Germany and abroad, meaning that 24,600 employees stood to lose their jobs at HP and EDS! The take-over was going to cost 1,400 jobs in Germany – of which 1,150 at EDS. In other words, one out every four jobs at EDS was going to be eliminated. This mass redundancy programme was met with a great deal of indignation by both the works council and the employees. After all, EDS in Germany has returned to profit, order books were full, and such a massive reduction in the headcount was bound to have a negative impact on the level of customer service. On 21 October 2008 employees made their views known with a large public demonstration at the main production site in Rüsselsheim. At the beginning of December 2008, demands were made for the management to negotiate a collective agreement on the following three main issues:

1.        A social collective agreement, including securing the future of existing sites

2.        A collective agreement to secure existing working conditions

3.        A pay increase for 2009

After the management refused to negotiate, starting in February 2009, four warning strikes were organised with the participation of a large number of staff at all German EDS OS locations. On 28 April 2009, a meeting will take place with the management of EDS OS and trade union representatives, but no negotiations are being planned.

In order to increase the pressure on the company management, all the colleagues working in the German EDS OS locations who are either on stand-by or on the emergency support roster and who therefore could be required to go on stand-by, have been asked to join the warning strike between 5 p.m. on 24 April 2009 and approximately 8 a.m. on 2 May 2009. That is why we are asking all EDS and HP employees working in Europe not to accept to take on any of the activities that may be transferred from Germany. To do so would break the strike.

Furthermore, the works council is also increasing the pressure on the management, and both trade unions are in the process of organising a strike ballot. Once we have a clearer idea of the possible dates, we will come back with more information. As soon as the strike ballot has been completed, a full-scale strike may be called, in which case all support, and in particular the refusal to take on any jobs that may be transferred from Germany, would be very useful.

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