According to an article by the BBC, Alex Salmond of Hewlett-Packard rifled some feathers when answering questions at the First Minister’s Questions about jobs being cut at HP’s Erskine plant, which is located near Glasgow, UK.
The plant has approximately 1,300 employees, but after an 843 job cut, only 500 will remain. And when asked about cutting jobs by the local MSP, Trish Godman, Salmond said that HP would do everything they could to help those who would be laid off.
However, Godman didn’t like this answer and recounted by explaining how HP had made significant profits last year, which was due in part to the “hard work of the men and women in my constituency,” the article reported.
Godman wasn’t the only one upset by Salmond’s comments. Local MP Jim Sheridan was also unimpressed with HP. “It is disgusting. These workers are being tossed aside after helping to make vast profits for Hewlett,” Sheridan said.
This is not the first time the Erskine plant has experienced layoffs. In January it was reported that Hewlett-Packard was going to cut its night shift, losing 153 jobs. And when the plant first opened in 2002 as a Hewlett-Packard plant, before that it was a Compaq facility, there were approximately 2,500 employees on site.