1,100 jobs to go at Chesterfield tech giant
Chesterfield-based tech firm Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is set to make 1,100 jobs – 22% of its workforce.
The move comes after the firm announced an initial 499 redundancies last month. The Unite union says that the job cuts are due to CSC merging with competitor HPES in April with many of the roles beign offshored.
The job cuts are due to happen between March and September this year, and will be spread across CSC’s Aldershot, Banbury, Chesterfield, Chorley, Leeds, London and Preston sites. The union’s members include IT support staff and IT consultants.
Last month, UK managing director Craig Wilson told staff that the 499 redundancies would make CSC UK profitable, but this week he lost his job.
CSC in the UK was founded in 1967 and supplies IT infrastructure to major suppliers and corporations including the Network Rail, the NHS, Diageo, Whitbread, BAE Systems, Aviva, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays.
A spokespeson for CSC said: “In order to align skills and resources to the demands of the market, we are continuing to restructure parts of our UK organisation.
“As a result, we have identified a number of roles that potentially will be removed from the business. We have opened a Voluntary Redundancy programme in some areas of our business and there will also be opportunities for employees to reskill, with the potential of joining other areas of CSC’s UK business.”
Unite regional officer Mike Eatwell said: “These cuts are aimed at culling backroom staff of the many ‘household name’ clients that CSC has.
“We condemn the management for not coming clean as to the exact details on the two tranches of job cuts. The bosses need to be more transparent with those under threat of losing their jobs.
“You cannot remove this number of jobs and not seriously undermine frontline deliveries, whatever the product or service being provided.
“Some of the accounts affected impact on the smooth-running of the NHS and can only worsen healthcare services, given that many of them are under strain at present. This is particularly worrying.
“The NHS cannot run without effective computer support systems and the reductions – in some cases proposals to make 50 per cent redundant – could put patients’ lives in jeopardy. However, these decisions are not even made in the UK, but in America.
“As UK workers are sacked, the senior directors of CSC prepare to share out $90.5 million in stock options and other payments when the new company becomes operable on April 1. This is sickening.
“Our members are very angry and our union will support all their efforts to push back on this. We will fight this tooth-and-claw.”
