Poll: HP workers oppose Compaq deal

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Posted 10:48AM on Tuesday, February 26, 2002

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - A second independent poll commissioned by the son of Hewlett-Packard Co. co-founder David Packard has also found that nearly two-thirds of HP employees at one site oppose the $21 billion purchase of Compaq Computer Corp. Sixty-three percent of HP employees in Boise, Idaho, oppose the deal, while just 26 percent are in favor, according to the Field Research Corp. poll released Monday. The poll also found that 57 percent of former HP workers in the area are against buying Compaq, while just 18 percent support the merger. Todd Glass, a spokesman for the deal's chief opponent, HP director Walter Hewlett, pointed out that many employees opposed to the deal shared Hewlett's main concern - that Compaq wouldn't bring enough value to HP. But HP appeared unfazed, with a spokeswoman saying the survey offered ``zero insight'' because it concentrated on a small set of HP's 88,000 employees, and since it was widely known that David W. Packard had sponsored the poll. Packard has said he wanted an objective source to determine employees' positions, because he has gotten hundreds of letters critical of the deal and yet the company claims its internal surveys - overseen by an undisclosed third party - show widespread support. ``The opposition is clearly trying to distract shareholders from the merits of this deal,'' HP spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy said. ``We urge David Woodley Packard to stop harassing our employees and the communities in which we do business.'' Packard's office said he would have no comment. The first Field poll, released last week, found that HP employees in Corvallis, Ore., oppose the deal by a margin of 63 percent to 31 percent, with former employees against it 59 percent to 20 percent. Field selected Corvallis and Boise because both cities have high percentages of HP workers. The Boise poll, which reached 235 current and 237 former employees from last Tuesday through Sunday, had a margin of error of 6.4 percentage points. HP employs 3,750 people in Boise, primarily in its imaging and printing division - the same part of the business polled in Corvallis. The battle over the acquisition is heating up as the HP shareholders vote on March 19 draws near. HP executives will make a daylong pitch to financial analysts on Wednesday in New York, and a report from Institutional Shareholder Services, an influential proxy advisory firm, could come within the next week. HP shares gained 69 cents, or 3.6 percent, to close at $19.98 on the New York Stock Exchange, where Compaq shares rose 10 cents, or 1 percent, to $10.60.