Lib Dems call for government IBM black list

Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidleyhas called on the government to black list major IT supplier IBM for not treating its workers fairly in its pension reforms. Gidley is MP for Romsey in Hampshire, which is home to a number of IBM workers from the Hursley research centre in nearby Portsmouth. IBM proposed changes to its final salary pension scheme earlier this year and has been attacked by the union Unite who accused IBM of inflicting “pain” on its employees for “gain for executives”. IBM has revised its planned pension changes so that the closure of the final salary scheme will be deferred until April 2011, but again Unite believe this “does little” for its employees.

“I have written to the government to ask that they review their existing contracts with IBM, and do not consider IBM for future contracts until the company promises a fair deal to their longest serving employees,” Gidley wrote on her website today. Gidley says she has met with Brendan Riley, IBM chief executive to explain the case of her constituents. Gidley is the third Liberal Democrat MP to go into battle against IBM, following Chris Huhne and Mark Oaten, the MPs for Eastleigh in Hampshire and Winchester.