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This article was published 27/10/2010 (3626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hewlett Packard is laying off 68 of the 144 people working at its Mountain Avenue service centre.

The move comes about two years after the company announced with fanfare that it was investing about $18 million in Winnipeg to set up a high-tech customer service centre. in part because of Manitoba's superior workforce.

A company spokeswoman in Toronto said the layoffs, to take effect in January and February, are necessary because work on a particular job is being moved to an HP shop in Pontiac, Mich.

"The move is the result of a global rebalancing," she said. "There is a service level requirement we have to meet with our clients and by making this shift, we will be able to meet that need."

The move comes a few months after the staff voted for union certification and about a week after bargaining began for a first contract.

The HP spokeswoman said the decision to make the move to Pontiac was made long before the Winnipeg office was unionized and had nothing to do with it.

But Robert Ziegler, president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832, said Wednesday there are concerns that is not the case.

He said the company said the moves were required because of performance issues in Winnipeg. However, "our information from our members is that this was one of the best-performing shops in their system."

Manitoba labour law says there is supposed to be a staffing freeze for a period of time after union certification.

"We are going to verify why the moves were made," Ziegler said. "If we are not satisfied, we will proceed with (a) Labour Relations Act (challenge), because they are not supposed to change conditions."

When HP announced the creation of the Winnipeg high-tech service centre, the company said it decided to come to the city even though there were more attractive incentive packages in other places.

At the time, the province said it would contribute up to $3 million to HP for training assistance.

Paul Holden, executive director of the province's industry workforce development office, said the province committed to help cover some HP training expenses if it met certain thresholds and if not, the money would not flow.

Holden said that to date, the province has provided $1.475 million in training services, but since HP's full build-out has not materialized, the company was entitled to only $557,662.

He said the balance is to be repaid and the company has agree to those conditions.

The HP spokeswoman said the company remains committed to the province.

In fact, HP provides information technology support services to some provincial government departments.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca