UPDATE: Some Hewlett-Packard employees took exception Friday to what they saw as an attempt by the company to characterize a pro-merger petition as an example of grassroots sentiment.
Although HP spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy on Thursday characterized the petition as an example of employee support and said it was being done outside of the company's public relations effort, employees e-mailed CNET News.com on Friday saying they had received the e-mail from an employee in corporate communications.
"Grassroots support for the merger within HP is, at best, lukewarm," wrote one employee who said the only copy of the petition he had seen was attributed to Judy Radlinksy, director of external communications at HP. "All of us understand that the major cost savings to be realized will come as a result of firing 15,000 to 30,000 of the new company's employees."
In some cases, PR people forwarded the e-mail to employees, saying the petition was being circulated at the request of another, higher-ranking corporate communications employee.
News source: CNet
