HP to 800 Springs workers: Move to New Mexico or lose jobs

Hewlett-Packard Co. told the 800 employees of its Colorado Springs customer service center Tuesday that they will lose their jobs unless they agree to move to Rio Rancho, N.M., where the California-based technology giant is opening a similar center, according to employees who asked to remain anonymous.

HP told local workers that the Colorado Springs center is scheduled to close in the second half of next year, when the company plans to open a new center in the Albuquerque suburb that eventually will employ 1,200, said the sources, who said they were told not to disclose the information outside Hewlett-Packard.

HP announced plans last week to open customer service and technical support centers in Rio Rancho and Conway, Ark., that will together employ 2,500 by 2012.

HP spokesman Dave Berman confirmed Tuesday the company was in "internal discussions with employees," but he declined further comment. Last week, he said the New Mexico center's effect on the Springs hadn't been determined because staffing details were still being considered.

Employees at the Springs call center must agree within 45 days to make the move, or they will lose their jobs when the local center closes, the sources said.

"Most of us won't be relocating because of the difficulty in selling our homes here, and even if we do move out there, who is to say that we won't be laid off a week later," one of the sources said.

Employees who agree to move will be eligible for between $5,800 and $11,000 in relocation expenses. Those who refuse a transfer and are laid off will receive a severance payment based on the company's policy at the time. HP recently cut its severance payments from two weeks for every year with the company to one week for each year, sources said.

HP also employs about 300 in Colorado Springs in a data center for DirecTV and other clients and about 700 others who include technical support engineers, others who work in a research and development hub for computer storage and financial operations employees. Those employees are not affected by the planned closure of the local customer service center.

More than 400 Springs residents already have lost jobs in call centers this year, which come on top of Intel Corp. closing its 1,000-employee semiconductor plant last December.

HP has been a cornerstone of the city's technology industry since the early 1960s, when Pueblo native David Packard selected the Springs as a site for a new division. The operation grew to more than 2,700 in the 1980s, and most of it was spun off into what is now Agilent Technologies Inc. HP acquired most of its current local operations in its 2002 takeover of Compaq Computer Corp.

Those operations date to the late 1970s - the customer service center opened in the mid-1980s - and were started by Digital Equipment Corp., which Compaq bought in the late 1990s.

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