With the prospect of Nokia’s India plant in Chennai being excluded from the company’s deal with U.S software giant Microsoft, the Nokia Employees’ Union has spoken up, saying that its members are not open to the idea of contract manufacturing.
The Delhi High Court, in November, had ordered a freeze of Nokia’s India assets, putting nearly 6,500 employees of the Finnish subsidiary here in a fix. In the wake of the court order, the management indicated to them that there could be problem in transferring them to Microsoft rolls.
M. Saravana Kumar, President of the union, asserted that the onus was on the management to resolve the imbroglio caused by tax-related issues. He asserted that whatever had been agreed upon under the global deal with Microsoft should be adhered to in Sriperumbudur facility as well.
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In view of the High Court order, the management, he said, had indicated to the employees that the local facility would have to do “contract jobs” for a while to Microsoft until the issue was resolved. The union was not agreeable to this suggestion at all, he added.
With their fate hanging in balance, they have now moved the Prime Minister, seeking his intervention to find a fair solution to the ongoing imbroglio.
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In a letter to the Prime Minister, dated November 26, the Nokia India Labour Union had chronicled the circumstances that led to the present predicament. On September 3, the management informed the employees that there was no question of job loss in the wake of sale of parent company to U.S. giant Microsoft. At that time, it also informed them that from January 1, 2014 onward they would become employees of Microsoft. The Delhi High Court order, however, has altered the whole scene.
Out of the 6,500 employees at the Sriperumbudur factor of Nokia India, nearly 3,500 are women.