Conference 7.286::digital

    Good stuff. Keep it up.
    
    BTW, we still have an 'open door' policy, but it's just not what it
    used to be...

    Rearding 3173.0, could you also post the French version of the 
    memo.
    
    Thks.

    
    
    Bravo! Bravo! pour les fran�ais...  

    re.3 It seems you overlooked the fact that there were colleagues from
    Germany, Austria and Italy present as well.
    
    Charles

	COMMUNICATION DU COMITE D'ENTREPRISE EUROPEEN de Digital 

			MESSAGE EN FRANCAIS ET ANGLAIS

	******************************************************************
	MANIFESTATION POUR L'EMPLOI le 08 Juin A GENEVE -  UN GRAND SUCCES
	******************************************************************


	SOUS UN SOLEIL TROPICAL AU RYTHME DE LA SAMBA ET DES CENTAINES 
	DE SIFFLETS....

	Environ 300 salari�s de Digital venant de France, d'Italie, 
	d'Allemagne, et d'Autriche ont manifest� mercredi 8 juin devant le 
	si�ge europ�en de Gen�ve. 
	Ils ont manifest� contre les licenciements massifs pr�vus
	(6000 en Europe et 20.000 de plus annonc�s dans le monde entier) 
	et les restructurations qui mettent en p�ril toute la Soci�t�.

	Apr�s plusieurs gr�ves de protestation contre les licenciements
	dans diverses filiales en France, en Italie et en Allemagne (en 93)
	le Comit� d'Entreprise Europ�en de Digital, un conseil compos�
	de repr�sentants de 10 pays europ�ens a lanc� cette action
	au niveau Europ�en. La gestion de la soci�t� est de plus en 
        plus centralis�e et toutes les d�cisions majeures sont prises � 
	un niveau Europ�en, voire mondial.

	Les manifestants - soutenus par leurs syndicats locaux,
	entre autres une d�l�gation CFDT des Alpes Maritimes et de plusieurs
	r�gions de France, la FIM (F�d�ration Internationale de la M�tallurgie) 
	et EuroFiet (Association de syndicats de cadres - F�d�ration 
	Internationale des Employ�s Techniques) ont revendiqu� :
        
	- l'arr�t de tous licenciements secs
	- des mesures alternatives cr�atives telles que le temps partag�,
	  la r�duction du temps de travail par semaine, plus de temps
	  partiel, des cong�s sabbatiques, red�ploiement par la formation etc..
	- maintien des conditions sociales et financi�res des plans sociaux
	  pr�c�demment offertes
	- l'implication des salari�s de Digital dans le processus 
	  de r�organisation de l'entreprise pour rassurer la fid�le
	  client�le de Digital, d�velopper de nouveaux domaines et de 
	  nouveaux march�s et sauver des emplois.
	- le d�marrage d'un vrai dialogue social autour de ces points
	  pour sauvegarder les emplois et la Compagnie.
        
	Une p�tition de plus de 1500 salari�s en France a �t� �galement 
	envoy�e � M. Damiani.

	Malgr� la crise qui ne peut qu'�tre r�solue par l'implication
	des salari�s, la direction Europ�enne refuse de d�marrer ce
	dialogue au niveau Europ�en. Aucun directeur responsable de ce
	niveau europ�en n'a eu le courage de venir discuter avec une 
	d�l�gation de repr�sentants.

	Ce comportement va � l'encontre de l'�thique d'entreprise 
	"porte ouverte". Bien au contraire, le b�timent du quartier g�n�ral
	de la soci�t� est rest� ferm� et surveill� comme un ch�teau-fort
	par la police suisse.

	Le Comit� d'Entreprise Europ�en remercie tous ceux qui se sont 
	mobilis�s pour cette journ�e symbolique d'action europ�enne.

	N'OUBLIEZ PAS DE REGARDER PHOTOS et ARTICLES de PRESSE dans les 
	tableaux d'affichages.


	**************************************************************
	DEMONSTRATION FOR EMPLOYMENT 08th June GENEVA - A BIG SUCCESS
	**************************************************************

	UNDER THE BURNING SUN, TO THE BEAT OF THE SAMBA AND HUNDREDS OF
	WHISTLES...

        
        About 300 Digital employees from France (Paris, 
        Valbonne/Nizza), Germany (Villingen, Munich), Italy (Milan, 
        Turin) and from Austria (Vienna, Salzburg) staged a protest 
        rally on Wednesday, June 8, in Geneva at the European 
        Headquarter of Digital Equipment the  US-computermaker now in 
        deep troubles. They demonstrated against massive job cuts and 
        against management policies which put the whole company at 
        risk.
        
        After several strikes against layoffs hitting the Digital 
        subsidiaries in France, Italy and Germany (in 1993) the 
        Digital Equipment Euro Workscouncil a body of elected employee 
        representatives from 10 European countries had called for this 
        coordinated action on the European level. Digital is becoming 
        more and more centralized as all major decisions are being 
        taken at the European or the corporate level. 
        
        The protesters - supported by their local unions, including
	delegations of the French CFDT union from the Alpes Maritimes
	and other parts of France, the IMF (International Metalworkers 
	Federation) and EuroFiet ( an association of white-collar unions) - 
	called for
        
        - the stop of all forced layoffs,
        - creative measures like job-sharing, work-week reduction, 
          more part time, sabbaticals, reskilling etc. to avoid 
          layoffs,
        - no cuts of the social plans and transition packages applied 
          previously,
        - the empowerment of Digital's employees in the process of 
          business reengineering in order to secure Digital's loyal 
          customers, to develop new businesses and markets and to save 
          the jobs,
        - the beginning of a social dialogue to save the jobs and to 
          save the company.

	A petition signed by more than 1500 employees in France has also
	been sent to Mr. Damiani.
        
        In spite of the deep crisis Digital is facing actually and 
        which can only be solved with the engagement of its employees,
        the European management refused to start a dialogue on the 
        European level. No responsible manager had the courage to show  
        up and to discuss at least with a delegation of the 
        protesters. In total neglect of Digital's once-famous 
        "open-door policy" the European Headquarter was locked and 
        protected by the Swiss police like a besieged castle.

	The Works Council would like to thank all those who devoted their
	time to participate in this symbolic day of European action.

        PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CONSULT PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRESS ARTICLES ON THE
	NOTICE BOARDS.







Distribution:

re..4
Sorry, we have not received any german and/or italian version. :-)

    
    	My musings just boggle at what could happen in Mass. if this type
    of action spread across the Atlantic. Say 50,000 DECies in Maynard?
    Could be the greatest....
    
    		the Greyhawk

    re: .7:
    
    ....with precisely the same results, Greyhawk.  I wouldn't bother,
    'cause it's obvious no one is listening.  
    
    m.
    

    .-1
    	Hey, I know that....but wouldn't the idea capture the attention of the
    mass (pun intended) media. I can just see the newscasts...film at 11.
    So what's a little fun, anyway. You're listening.
    
    		the Greyhawk

Maybe we U.S. engineers need a union, too.

The action was mention in the business news section on
NBC Superchannel yesterday evening.

The headline was something like "Digital Europe Management
choose to ignore employee actions"

Svein

 
    
    Following on from some questions written in another Notes conference, 
    and some people who had written to me via E-mail, here are a few
    answers,
    
    Mark.
    
    
                <<< LOBLO::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EF94.NOTE;2 >>>
                       -< Lie back and think of England >-
================================================================================
Note 121.5                     Rise like lions...                         5 of 5
ULYSSE::BUXTON_M "Im pink therefore Im spam"         47 lines  17-JUN-1994 10:48
                              -< Some more info >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Just to clarify a few things;
    
    � This was not an official 'strike' it was a protest. Nobody, as
      far as i am aware, got free leve to attend. Everybody who went 
      took one days leave from their annual allowance. 
     
      NOTE: In some area's this one days leave was BLOCKED by their 
            respective local management. These people were basically 
            told that yes you can have a days leave but not on June 
            8th. 
    
    � Attendees came not from 'local' areas (but then again what do 
      you mean by locaL). People who came were from Austria (Vienna
      and Salzburg), Germany (Munich and Villingen 'Home of Digital 
      Kienzle'), France (Paris and Nice/Sophia Antipolis aka Valbonne)
      and Italy (Turin and Milan). Sophia Antipolis is 600Km from 
      Geneva, I do not call this local.
    
      Yes one contingent did come by Plane (There Works council hired
      a Fokker 50) the rest came by train, bus and car.
    
    � The statement that EHQ was like a besieged castle is a good 
      one. Employees of EHQ were told that they were NOT to join 
      in the manefestation and those who were outside were NOT 
      allowed into the building for any reason including using the 
      toilet or coffee machines. 
    
      Some EHQ employees did come out of the building and to those 
      brave few I take off my hat. In fact one of the people that 
      came out offered to go inside and buy coffee for those outside.
      This person was prevented from doing so by security.
    
    I would just like to add that it took some serious thinking before
    i entered the report into Notes, but considering the protest was 
    covered by the local Media (TV and Newspapers) I consider that this
    information should be made available to employees in general wether 
    or not they work in Geneva.
    
    Mark.
    
    PS: If it was true that one person just came along for the ride
        and went shopping in Geneva instead, I am utterly appalled. 
        This was a protest against the cutting of jobs in Europe in 
        general. It was a protest not just for our jobs but for yours
        as well.      
                      

    Hey! this could be the BONUS!!!! we've been waiting for!
    
    If it gets enough publicity worldwide, everyone would know who DIGITAL is!
    
    I like it ! I like it!  (:^)))
    
    Nick

    
    	Page 4, Section A June 17, 1994 Wall Street Journal. Read all about
    it. Not necessarily my idea of publicity, however; but I do like the
    European style of protest against management stupidity. If that was
    tried here we know whose names would make the TFSO list for sure.
    
    		the Greyhawk

    Greyhawk,
            Digital France has just been taken to court by its
    employees(the Comite d'Entreprise) for allegedly putting names on a
    list for TFSO when in fact the law prescribes that when a company
    presents a plan to downsize,it must justify numbers first then assign
    names.You can't just TFSO people here(not easily at least).The
    judgement is suspended until July 12th.So,the protestors don't really
    risk being put on the 'list'.

    Hello,
    
    	For the record, the Judge's decision is expected tomorrow, Thursday
    July 7.
    
    	If the answer is positive for the plaintiff (the Worker's Council), 
    this means that the present lay-off plan is anything but cancelled.
    Which leaves the Board free either to start a new plan all over from
    scratch (would that be brilliant idea to start the Fiscal Year with?)
    Or just drop the idea. We'll see.
    
    	If the answer is negative for the plaintiff, this means the lay-off
    plan will move ahead swiftly and termination letters will be sent to 
    employees before week's end.
    
    	In any case, to make things look better, we've just been told DC 
    (the major contributor to this plan) is up for sale...
    
        If/when this happens, God knows what will happen anyway. To get an 
    idea, just ask the Philips Information Systems people
    that DEC Europe bought out 2 years ago... No further comments needed.
    
    	Will keep you posted.
    
    	Pascal
        
    	

    .16 'DC's up for sale'
    
    Is there any chance that you could expand on that, either here or in
    3151?  Will it be just France, Europe wide or what? When?  Enquiring
    minds want to know...
    
    Martin

    Hello,
    
    	Yes, we have been told that nogociations are currently underway at
    Corporate level to sell Digital Consulting to an outside company.
    The information comes from Country level DC Management. This is what
    should be announced on July 18.
    
    	The prospective buyer's name we have heard of is : Computer Science
    Corporation, a Washington DC-based Consulting Company that is hardly
    present in Europe.
    
    	The scope of the sale is allegedly world-wide. 
    
    	In fact, I would be interested in hearing more about CSC since they
    are not known on this side of the Big Pond. Anyone knows?
    
    	Regards,
    
    	Pascal
          
    

    What I've been told, you're supposed to stock up on white shirts, ties,
    and dark suits.
    

    
    Nah, white ties look crap on a white shirt.
    
    Now, if EDS buy DC then razor sales would go through the roof :-)
    
    
    N.

    Actually, CSC are present and active in Europe.  They are getting into
    outsourcing deals in a fairly big way and have just won the outsourcing
    for all of British Aerospace.
    
    I've heard that their budget for expansion in Europe is over $50M per
    year at the moment.

I used to compete against CSC in the US Defense Contracting industry.

They were most noted for thier Ada development. Very big in software
engineering. 

I suspect they  are tring to branch out of the defense industry which
is  dying faster than Digital

    Most of CSC subsidiaries in Europe seem to be quite small, especially
    non-NATO countries. Someone claimed that e.g. here in Germany, they
    were mostly active in the military scene (like US/NATO troops in Germany,
    but those are also diminishing fast).

Well we are all getting a pat on the back from the head of DC France for 
our efforts:


93.5% of CERTS Q4

NOR Q4  103.6% of March Forecast

I don't know much about figures but M. Duguet seems pretty pleased. 

Interpret as you will.......

ciao, martin

    It's been several years since I last did business with CSC, but they
    were at the time a very large information services firm primarily
    rooted in US and NATO defense contracts.  They have been trying to
    expand in to the commercial space for some time, the purchase of DC
    would give them that market presence and on an international scale. 
    They would also be getting the still valuable remains of what was once
    the best trained and most professional pool of individual contributors
    that I have ever worked with.
    
    - Evan
    
    (Who sees nothing but remains these days)

    re:.25
    
    You assume, of course, that CSC intends to take the labor force along
    with the contracts and assets?  Are you counting on that?

>    You assume, of course, that CSC intends to take the labor force along
>    with the contracts and assets?  Are you counting on that?
    
      Isn't the primary asset in DC, the labor force?  
    
    -rick

>      Isn't the primary asset in DC, the labor force?  

Actually, I suspect it is the Customer Base.

-steve-

    hmmm...talk to SES/IDC

    It is people, exisitng contracts, assets, access to the net, etc etc. 
    
    It has potential to be a large opportunity for many folks in DC. Let's
    hear what it is first before trying to knock it.
    
    -pb
    

    	Existing contracts may not last long. They can follow the people.
    
    	Case in point, someone I know was TFSOd. A *very* large
    customer told DEC "Either you employ him or we do. We would prefer you
    do since we like to outsource that type of expertise, and it gives him
    access to your net."  DEC immediately took him back on as a contractor.
    
    	If selling off DC meant reduced access to Easynet then the value to
    the new company would have been reduced in that case. If selling off DC
    meant firing that employee then the value of DC (in the customer's
    terms) would have been reduced to zero. And the customer's terms imply
    what the value would be to a buyer of DC.
    
    	Without its employees and access to Easynet DC is worthless.

Date Of Receipt:        inel"  7-JUL-1994 02:49
From:   OLIMPA::sentinel "WGS/AD News Sen
        [email protected]
To:     lgp30::maynardtimes
CC:     
Subj:   Auto Forward by OFFICE FILTER
Subject:        (WSJ):Digital Considers Computer Sciences Corp To Buy Unit -Sentinel DOW Story
Source:         DowVision-Dow International-DI
Size:   1745
Sentinel Delivered by Groupware Advanced Development:   
DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY BY INFORMATION PROVIDER AGREEMENT:    

  BOSTON (AP-DJ)--Computer Sciences Corp. is in discussions with Digital
Equipment Corp. about the purchase of Digital's consulting and
systems-integration business, people familiar with the talks said in an
article published in Thursday's Wall Street Journal. 
  Computer Sciences's chairman and chief executive, William R. Hoover, was
scheduled to meet this week with Digital's chief executive, Robert B.
Palmer, to discuss the unit, the sources said. 
  But the companies aren't close to a deal, one insider said, and it isn't
known what price is being asked for the unit, which has sales of 1.5
billion dlrs. Spokesmen for Digital, in Maynard, Massachusetts, and
Computer Sciences, in El Segundo, California, wouldn't comment. 
  Digital has said it might sell off some assets as part of a sweeping
restructuring intended to transform the loss-plagued computer maker into a
smaller enterprise focused on fewer markets. 
  The first asset sale may be a portion of the company's disk-drive unit,
which is expected to bring in as much as 400 million dlrs. Earlier this
week, Digital confirmed it is in talks with Quantum Corp., Milpitas,
California, over a possible sale. The drive business employs some 4,000
people in Colorado Springs and Louisville, Colorado, Shrewsbury,
Massachusetts, Penang, Malaysia, and Batam, Indonesia. 
  If the negotiations with Computer Sciences are unsuccessful, Digital
could miss out on one of its better chances at raising cash and removing
thousands of workers from its payroll. But the company has other options,
including entering into partnerships or selling other assets, such as the
sale some of its advanced chip-making capacity to semiconductor makers. 
  (END) AP-DOW JONES NEWS 07-07-94
  0647GMT
-
SentinelID:     773563699
MessageSeqNum:  0424
Storydate:      07/07/1994
Headline:       (WSJ):Digital Considers Computer Sciences Corp To Buy Unit
MsgDate:        07/07/1994
ProductCode:    DI
TransmissionTime:       0247
DisplayTime:    0247
OperationClass:         N
MessageType:    N
TempIndicator:  P
NewsSource:     FW
OriginalSource:         
AccessionNumber:        199407070424
categorySubject:        N/EWR N/INV N/JNL N/WED N/WER

    FWIW, I agree with Dave. One of the problems with this Company is that
    a large part of its value can't be touched, smelt, felt or measured.
    The bean-counters forget that, time and time again.
    
    Laurie.

    REPLY TO 3173.18
    
    
    Pascal,
    
    Give me a ring (821-5092), and give me a fax number (DTN/Fax) to
    send you a 9 pages document I have on this company.....
    I have not time to type it in.
    
    It is an official document " Profiles of Professional Services
    Organisations"
    
    It is quite complete and contains :
    
    1.  The Company
    2.  Organisational Structure
    3.  Recent Acquisitions
    4.  Revenues
    5.  Salaries & Incentives
    6.  Products & Services
    7.  Customers
    8.  Strategies
    9.  Alliances
    10. SWOT Analysis
    11. New Items
    12. Company Addresses, CEO's & Number of Employees
    13. Bibliography
    
    Anyone else interested to type it in here ?
    
    Cordialement,
    Brigitte
    

    I have worked for CSC then with them while in Digital and have friends
    still there.  They are one of the major SIs in the U.K.  In their
    Defence division they employ lots of ex military people.  In my
    experience they're a good firm: good pay and conditions, flexible and
    adaptive organizationally, professional and competent at what they do.
    
    We should understand their positioning, at least as far as Defence is
    concerned.  They seek always to be the prime contractor, leading in
    studies and implementation.  They operate in the business process and
    solutions areas.  They were NOT competent, when I was there, in the
    data and systems integration areas.  They had about 80/20 business to
    technical people (and we have 2/98 {:-])  Recently they have moved
    towards FM and they are picking up techies from groups like British
    Aerospace.

    
    	I must be thick or something (and I'd rather no-one commented on
    that please).  I cannot understand how selling off parts of the
    company, which are revenue raising parts, will improve our revenue per
    employee - which I understand to be the name of the game in this
    headcount reduction that we are forever going through.
    
    	Surely, if we sell parts of the company that are making a profit
    (the only sellable parts!), we are reducing revenue - probably faster
    than the headcount that goes with the parts sold - hence the actions do
    not result in any real improvement in the revenue per head of those
    remaining?
    
    	I can still only see this as "selling the family silver!"
    
    	Can anyone explain where I have it wrong (in simple terms - dotting
    the i's and crossing the t's), as I obviously must have my ideas wrong,
    since the company is going down this route.
    
    				Malcolm.

    I think it goes like this:
    
    
    
    Our revenue only justifies 65,000 employees and we have 85,000 
    
    
    
    OK, let's cut 20,000. 
    
    
    
    The quickest way is to sell "divisions".
    
    
    
    Hey, look we've reached 65,000 - we can stop now.
    
    
    
    Oh! Our revenue declined. How did that happen? The folks who are left
    can't be working hard enough - we must have gotten rid of the best
    people. We can only justify 55,000 now - let's cut again.
    
    
    
    :-) (in case you hadn't realised)
    
    
    If our revenue only justifies 65,000, we have to sell loss-making
    divisions in order to improve our earnings/employee. But nobody wants 
    to buy a loss-making concern (unless they need the assets!), so we have 
    to sell profitable businesses. If the divisions we sell have a lower
    earnings/employee than the company average then we will improve the
    average by getting rid of that division, BUT we still won't reach the
    golden figure (current earnings/65,000). Draw your own conclusions.

    I think the argument goes something like this...
    
    We (someone) has to decide what we are going to focus on as a core,
    profitable business for the future.  The outcome is four things:
    	a list of the bits that must be kept, 
    	a list of the bits that must be developed,
    	a list of the bits to be got rid of,
    	an idea of how much money is needed to achieve the new focus.
    
    One way to get some or all of the money for the reshaping to the new
    focus is to sell the bits that are not in the core.  The best way to do
    this is to start with the bits that are attractive to other companies
    -- this generally means they are profitable, or have some other
    valuable asset.
    
    True this means that for a while the revenue and profit per employee
    gets worse, but that's the short term price that has to be paid.  In
    the medium to long term, because the company is concentrating on what
    it does best, the revenue and profit per employee should show a
    dramatic improvement.
    
    However I remain to be convinced that this will work for Digital.

    The livewire story about storage indicates, that there is a fine line
    between what we want to sell and what to keep: 
    
    We sell the commodity parts of the business (heads and disk manufacturing) 
    and keep the value added businesses (storageworks and video services).
    
    In order to build these value added subsystems we will buy the 
    components on the open market, instead of making them ourselves. 
    We will save spending on R&D and manufacturing capacity for those 
    components. Instead of beeing a small manufacturer of commodity disks 
    we will become a large buyer, able to negotiate favorable terms. 
    
    This approach is widely used in the automotive industry. More and more
    components of a car are outsourced to external suppliers, which in turn
    use sub-suppliers. While the margins in the supplier business have
    become razor-thin during the last years due to fierce competition, the
    car manufacturers have a chance to achieve higher margins, mainly
    because of the ability to deliver the products that customers want 
    to buy. Good marketing strategies are an essential here. 
    
    In other words: There might be a real strategy behind this storage story.
    We sell those parts of our business that add little value to our value
    chain and keep those parts that indeed do add value. It sounds like a good
    strategy, but the question is about implementation.
    
    Klaus
    
    Klaus

    I am sure you would do a favor to many people if you could type it in
    (and I know there are nicer things for a passtime). Otherwise you might
    end up getting hundreds of requests for faxes ...
    
    Albrecht

    sorry, my last reply concerned .34
    
    A.

    re .36
    
         It's easy: get rid of 5,000 people earning �1,000 per week and 
    the remaining 500 earning �10,000 per week go from a �/head/week of 
    �1,818 to �10,000.
         
         Talking about "making a profit" is irrelevant and not very 
    applicable to the PBUs since we don't know where or whether we are 
    earning any profit.  Incidentally it's quite easy to increase your 
    losses by increasing your revenue.

No Malcolm, you're not "thick".  You are absolutely right, that selling off
the money making parts of Digital won't help Digital.  It will probably be
a "life saver", though, for those that go.  Assuming, of course, that the new
management is better at doing the job of marketing the products and services
than Digital management has been (I know, Digital management is a tough act
to follow :-).

While, on the one hand, we are reducing revenue; we are, by the sale of por-
tions of the company, increasing cash flow.  This will inevitably improve
our balance sheet because we will have less costs (no packages for those that
go, and no salary payments to those employees) and more cash on hand.  This 
will also raise the value of the stock.  Especially since Wall Street is 
overrun with short-sighted turkeys who assume that cost cutting (read: massive
layoffs) is the only way to save a faltering company.

If you're really talented, though, I assume that it would be possible to use
the extremely short term gain of selling off valuable business units to help
you establish your long-term plan.  If the long-term plan begins to bring in
enough money to offset the loss in business that will eventually come from 
having sold off your "cash cows", you could, theoretically, make your turn-
around.  You're going to have to make the turn-around before you run out of
cash, though.  The greatest advantages being, you have increased your short-
term cash flow, reduced your costs significantly, and Wall Street is happy 
with you for a short time.  Having Wall Street happy, and hopeful that you 
will make it with your new stream-lined structure, will help keep them off 
your backs for a quarter, maybe two.

Rob

    
     I interupt this topic for a news flash....
    
    
>             <<< LOBLO::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EF94.NOTE;2 >>>
>                       -< Lie back and think of England >-
>================================================================================
>Note 121.111                   Rise like lions...                     111 of 112
>BALZAC::STURT "Totally wired"                        12 lines   7-JUL-1994 15:46
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    The industrial tribunal in Evry has thrown out Digital France's
>    redundancy plan due to the company management's failure to follow the
>    legally prescribed procedures. The announcement was made just a few
>    minutes ago.
>    
>    This decision means that management will have to start the whole
>   process all over again. It provides a reprieve for the employees who
>   were on the list, and requires the company to enter the new fiscal year
>   and implement the new, new organisation with the current staff.
>                               
>   Salut,
>   Edward.
     
    
    and now back to the scheduled program,
    
    Mark.

    re .34
    
    I think Martin has typed in the CSC review in 3237.10
    
    Interesting reading, Thanks.
    
    	Euan

    
    	Well, I thought as did .37 - the only sale-able part are those with
    the high revenue per head, hence our revenue per head would go down
    considerably for the remaining part of the company if they are sold off!
    
    	Rob's idea doesn't seem very feasible (as he says - well, writes)
    and assumes that the "lame duck" part of the company that remains (by
    definition, that is what it must be!!!) can be "un-lamed" as you might
    put it, within a quarter or two.  Like Rob in .43, I can't see this
    happening - am I a depressed person, I ask myself?  The answer is -
    keeps smiling, things could be worse ....
    
    
    				Malcolm.

    Taking the alternative view, maybe the non-profitable parts of the
    business are the ones we can sell !
    
    We are arrogant and stupid if we believe that just because Digital 
    can't make money at something then it must be bad business. In fact its 
    probably in a market that our competition thinks provides good business ;-) 
    
    As everyone seems to agree that our resources are great then surely 
    somebody who knew how to sell/market/manage (delete depending on who 
    you blame for Digitals problems) them in the market could make a bit of
    profit at it. 
    
    Cheers,
    
    Andy

Well, just to make it clear.  I believe that you would have to have very good
management in order to make the turn-around within the very limited (at most
two quarters) time that they (management) would have.  I doubt that DEC man-
agement will be able to do it.  Basically, because you would have to fully
restructure the remaining company, and I just think that management is in-
capable of doing that.  They've had a couple years to do it, and they 
haven't been able to do it so far.  Experience tells me: they wouldn't be able
to do it even if they had all of eternity, let alone in two quarters.

I guess that you have to answer a central question: what are our "core com-
petencies"?  You can sell parts of the business simply because someone wants
to buy them.  ie, We end up with a garage sale, everything that people want
to buy gets sold at bargain prices, and the rest gets tossed in the trash.
Or, you decide clearly what businesses you are going to do, sell off what 
doesn't fit, and then *make* the rest work.  But, IMO, you've only got the
above mentioned 2 quarters to get it working.

If you don't make it in the 1/2 year that the investors will give you, you
end up with a new CEO with new ideas...ad nauseaum(sp?)...ie you end up 
where we've been since BP took over, reorganizations without end, no real
results, more layoffs, and eventually liquidation.  Of course, we could
always hope that our next CEO is able to raise a pheonix from the ashes...

Am I depressed about it?  Yeah.  DEC used to be a great company, but Digital
has been reorganized into a catastrophe either by design or total ineptitude.
I've been in this company for almost 11 years and it angers me to see what
has happened over the last 5 years.

Rob

++ Newsflash: outcome of court action ++
    
"[...]
As you know, the CFDT has taken DECTE to court on behalf of the Sophia 
Antipolis section of the union [ ...] 
regarding the closure of the Ferney-Voltaire building and the transfer 
of its activities.

The purpose of the action at the Tribunal de Grande Instance was to 
freeze the closure procedure, that is:

	* stop the transfers to Annecy and Geneva
	* stop the possible job redefinition
	* stop the establishment of working from home and all the other
          alternatives discussed with Comit� Central d'Entreprise de
          Ferney.
[...]

the Ferney representatives, and the personnel, who are 
directly involved, had condemned this action taken without their 
agreement by the CFDT Sophia-Antipolis representatives in a letter to the 
Director of Human Resources.


DECISION OF THE COURT : we have been informed on 29 June 1994 that the 
Tribunal de Grand Instance has concluded not to follow the CFDT request 
to hold the legal procedure concerning the closure of Ferney-Voltaire. 

Therefore, the plan social discussed and agreed upon during the 
consultation procedure with the Comit� Central d'Entreprise can be 
implemented."

    
    If i understand .49 correctly :-
    
    1.	The union persuaded the preliminary hearing to halt the 
    	closure of Ferney-voltaire etc
    
    2.	The staff in Ferney-Voltaire protested about this decision.
    
    3.	Ferney-voltaire will now be closed.
    

    Is this really true ?
    
    
    Nigel
    

         <<< Note 3173.50 by PETRUS::GUEST_N "An innocent passer-by" >>>
                         -< Find it hard to believe. >-

    
<    If i understand .49 correctly :-
<    
<    1.	The union persuaded the preliminary hearing to halt the 
<    	closure of Ferney-voltaire etc
<    

	The union unilaterally - with a little push from the 
Comit� d'Entreprise in Valbonne (against the wishes of those of us in 
Ferney, as far as I can tell) - brought suit to stop the closing plan.

<
<    2.	The staff in Ferney-Voltaire protested about this decision.
<    
	Correct.  The employees here were interested in getting on with 
their lives and not being held hostage so others could get a better plan 
later.  Ferney would, however, appreciate this much concern from Valbonne 
for our welfare in administrative matters, such as getting our expense 
claims paid more quickly.

<    3.	Ferney-voltaire will now be closed.
<    

Correct again.

<
<    Is this really true ?
<    
<    
<    Nigel
<    

>Ferney would, however, appreciate this much concern from Valbonne 
>for our welfare in administrative matters, such as getting our expense 
>claims paid more quickly.

If I understood correctly, it was not "Valbonne" or the Comite
d'entreprise in Valbonne who played any part the legal action, was it?
I understood that it was a unilateral action by the CFDT, which is a
French labor organization which does not currently have a very large
number of members from DECTE (Digital Equipment Centre Technique
Europe, which is a distinct management entity from DEC France, and
which consists of Valbonne, Ferney-Voltaire, and PRL - and I think Annecy?).

Also, just so it's clear: the court decision "unblocking" the closure
of Ferney-Voltaire is unrelated to the (different) court decision
rejecting the proposed layoff plan for Evry (which is part of DEC
France). I'm not aware of any of the details of why the Evry plan was
rejected, or if the CFDT was involved.

    




	This is to inform you that the legal action taken by 
	the work council and the CFDT union has been judged 
	successfull by the court of EVRY on Thrusday July 7.  
	The official judgment states that the layoff plan is 
	cancelled from a legal standpoint. 

Work Council Digital France 

    

	re previous few,

	The UNSUCCESSFUL union court action relates to CFDT action
	taken against DECTE in the court (Tribunal de Grand Instance
	at Grasse - about 15km. from Valbonne) concerning very specific
	plans for the closure of the Ferney-Voltaire site.

	The SUCCESSFUL court action relates to action taken by the
	CFDT union against Digital France in the court at Evry (country
	HQ) relating to Digital France's "plan social" - the generic
	plan for the next round of subsidiary-wide downsizing.


	DECTE consists of Ferney-Voltaire, Paris Research Lab and Valbonne
	(not Annecy) and is mostly owned by Geneva and the Corporation.
	Just to make things more complicated, it has recently been agreed 
	that DECTE will soon (when?) become a 100% subsidiary of Digital France.

	In all likelihood, neither the SUCCESSFUL nor the UNSUCCESSFUL
	rulings will have much impact on the eventual results - merely
	postpones them a few months.

	WHAT A SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS WHEN TALENTED COLLEAGUES
	ARE FORCED TO RESORT TO SUCH ACTION TO ENGAGE MANAGEMENT.   
	

    
    Chris -
    
    
    Thanks for the clarification. Helps me, & at least I know the local
    scene.. 
    
    How our non-European colleagues understand the nuances is beyond me, 
    but perhaps it illustrates very clearly the legal differences 
    of trading in New Hampshire vs legal norms elsewhere.....
    
    
    Colin