May have to cut headcount in Chennai: Nokia to workers

Fate of factory, 8,000 workers remains uncertain

Finnish mobile maker Nokia has told workers at the Sriperumbudur factory, near Chennai, it might have to slash their number. The workers’ union has said it will take steps to protect the employment of around 8,000 people, half being women.

On Wednesday, the union and the management had an hour-long meeting here and discussed the fate of the factory and its employees. The plant was to be transferred to Microsoft before March 31 as part of a euro 5.44-billion deal.

Lat week, the Supreme Court asked Nokia to give a Rs 3,500-crore guarantee before transferring one of its biggest plants globally, which is also under an income tax dispute. The order upheld an earlier verdict by a lower court.

President of Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangham M Saravana Kumar, who represented the workers in the meeting, said, “The management said it hasn’t got any update from Microsoft or its seniors on the deals. The management also said it may reduce number of workers in the factory since order flow has slowed.” “Three months ago, the company reduced the number of shifts from three to two,” he added.

Nokia officials and its spokesperson did not comment on any of the issues. Kumar said, “We told them there is no question of cutting workforce and we will take any step to protect our jobs.” The union is also planning to approach the state government requesting it to interfere in the matter, as labour is a state subject.

Sources in the company confirmed  the number of shifts was reduced to two but it was not related to slowdown. The move was to balance operations between plants across the world.

The Sriperumbudur factory currently employees around 8,000 people directly and another 25,000 indirectly. So far, since its inspection, the factory produced 800 million handsets.