EDS cuts thousands of UK jobs

A union has warned the loss of 3,378 jobs at technology firm EDS could hit public services.

London-based EDS has major contracts with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which it has served for 30 years, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Union PCS has warned public services could be affected by the redundancies.

PCS national officer for EDS, Jim Hanson, said: "Our worst fears have been confirmed. We feared 3,000 job losses for the UK, and the figure is even higher.

"It is disappointing that these figures have been made public before we have discussed how they have been arrived at."

General secretary Mark Serwotka added, "This announcement creates further uncertainty with little or no detail of where the axe will fall and comes as a huge blow to the workforce in a time of economic turmoil."

"Our concerns about government IT contracts in the MoD and DWP will not be alleviated by this announcement. It's not just jobs that are at risk, but the delivery of public services that rely on IT services provided by the former EDS.

"We will be pressing management for more detail and assurances on compulsory redundancies and service levels in this period a massive economic uncertainty."

The job losses, which will be made over two years, are related to the takeover of EDS by US giant Hewlett Packard (HP) in August, which will see 24,600 posts axed globally.

HP said it would try to redeploy those affected within the organisation where possible.