HP's EWC taking the company to court

Is HP building its future in the HP Way ?

The huge HP reduction in force plan is not at all convincing employees.

A lawsuit has been filled by the European Works Council, willing to upgrade its rules of procedure to the EU 2009 level.

Read More... (ChannelRegister)

Power Union Website (Do not care the McAffee Site Advisor Warning)

Oracle EWC Training In Rome - An opportunity to draw the future of EMEA Employee relationship

The meeting held for 3 days in Roma is an opportunity for 23 EU Works Council reps to share their point of views and best practices in order to move forward, as a group,  for the coming years.

I do feel a lot of progress has been made in building trust with EMEA management and enhancing the way we share our concerns. We will strive to enhance the value of this body for both parties, and find better ways of informing all employees EMEA Wide.

Disclaimer - This statement represents the CFDT FR Delegate opinion. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the EWC Body.

Transparency in Corporate Reporting

The used-to-be-called "Enabling the information age" Company, Oracle, is receiving a very average rating from Transparency International 2012 Survey, far behind SAP, and HP.

Together with Microsoft, Walt Disney, Verison, Cisco,Oracle gets its lower rating on the "Organisational Transparency".  How many companies have we got in the heaven Islands ?

The full report can be accessed here.

Enabling the Information Age....

Remember this internal marketing program ?

Better be aware of pidgin archives...

Even more if you're one of the most senior executive within the company.

As indicated in Business Insider, The court case between HP and Oracle regarding the Itanium destiny is turning into a bad soap opera as very confidential Instant Messages Archives are beeing uncovered and brought under the sunlight.

Read more Business Insider,  Yahoo Finance,

EWC Annual Meeting in Geneva

The 2012 Oracle European Works Council will be held in Geneva with 23 representants from the different subsidiaries.

This meeting ought to outline the state of the company and its employment trends within EMEA.

Concerns are raised in certain areas, where no presentations were provided beforehand. Employee representatives will make their best effort to report back the main points to their respective employees.

Comporate Transparency Issues (Season 3)

As a followup to the previous post, why would a fully compliant company, strictly implementing business rules according to the Oracle Ethics & Business Conduct code would need subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands ?
Why do we still maintain some black holes within a company, except for hiding things ?
After so many failures from the Audit companies (Olympus scandal, Wikipedia links, big four flaws), how can we truly be confident that massive financial manipulations are a thing of the past.

Can a shareholder assess the effectiveness of the internal whisleblowing processes ?
Can the world governments be so blind about the big corporations good reporting faith ?

Comporate Transparency Issues (Season 3)

What has changed since the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in our big corporations ?
A huge number of employees are made aware of very strict rules of engagement, defined in the business ethics guide.
However, which body controls the whisleblowing process ?
What proof is been made that no black things is still been done under covert ?
Why isn't there any employee representatives in those governance bodies ?

Just have a look at the following Article from the NYT Entitled : Hits, and Misses, in a War on Bribery

Isn't it time to hear employee voices ?

The EWC annual meeting will take place next week in Geneva.
It will be an important opportunity for the employee reps to hear the General Management strategy and assess employment trends.
Moreover, this meeting is a unique opportunity to ask for true employee opinion and field experience.
What's the risk of it ?

Let's remind a few subjects that were proposed last year :
- Consulting & Global Support Access to virtual machines and Hardware pooling
- Employment risks (both in terms of attrition or job dismissals).
- HW Support Takeover and Risks
- Sun Employees remapping

Oracle Women Fair Treatment - The French way

Following the European Directive on Equal Treatment between Men and Women, the CFDT Labor union is proud to announce an agreement with Management on automatic salary reviews for women below their male counterparts.
In the end of the comparisons, 40% of women had a salary increase between 30 and 350 Euros per month.

A detailled summary has been published (in French !) regarding the annoucement.

The comparison was based on the mean men base salary for each internal job code (grading and Lob).
We also agreed to implement a salary supplement for men taking a new born leave.

Working Conditions will also be considered in the coming year (work and live balance...).

Which Future for the Oracle EWC ?

The meeting planned in Barcelona with the EMEA HR Management and the Oracle European Works Council Steering Committee, should give some lights about the way employee representation may take place at the EMEA level.

The stakes are high on both ends, as no aggrement has been reached during the 3 years Special Body Negociation Timeframe (initiated on our formal request).
The EWC is therefore operating on the Legal Subsidiary Requirements from the UK Legislation.

However, EWC consultations rights have been enforced recently and moreover, we definitly believe we can bring value to the company by expressing unmuted "ground" analysis. We know many corporations operate efficiently with a strong hand and top down approach. But when conditions get tougher, employee active participation is absolutely needed, and common understanding, adaptative employee empowerment is critical to take the right decisions at the right time. Top Down Bureaucracy is not affordable anymore is we still want to lead the changes. Let's not be afraid of hearing the EMEA employee voices - Could some good advise also come from the field ?

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Happy new year 2012 - Let's not step down social awareness

Building the bridge between mankind and economics, even the most admired companies need some fuel for their best employees.

And the growing lack of fossil energy has nothing to do compared to the dark perspectives of employee carreer developpement, ever growing bureaucracy, poor performance reviews...

You may read this excellent article on Forbes regarding The "Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent".

Will we have better reasons in 2012 to find new energies to move our company forward ?