Tripartite meeting on Nokia India workers to be held on Oct 30

The talks are said to be directed towards an amicable settlement on the labour reports

While rumours of an amicable settlement are doing rounds, the tripartite meeting between Nokia India management, workers and the labour department officials has been fixed for October 30. It may be noted that the Sriperumbudur facility, which has been producing the mobile handsets for the company, would see its operations suspended from November 1, as Microsoft has stopped its contract with the company for manufacturing mobile phones.

Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangam - the Nokia workers' union - leader M Saravanakumar confirmed the date but refused to comment on the discussions that took place yesterday in the meeting held between the management, workers and the labour department. CITU leader and the honarary president of the union, A S Soundarajan, said that there was no development in the meeting on Monday evening.

Sources close to the development hinted on an amicable settlement in the shaping, though the workers' union did not confirm. A worker said that the labour department and the company management are putting pressure on the workers to take decision on the settlement option within the end of this year, as the facility is expected to suspend operations from November 1. This is despite the workers seeking more time to come to a decision on the terms of settlement.

As reported earlier, majority of the workers in the Nokia factory, in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in a meeting held on Saturday, has expressed that it is better to leave the beleaguered facility accepting compensation, rather than fight against the management.

The meeting on Saturday was to discuss the next course of action to protect their interests in the eventuality of a complete shutdown (from November 1) of the factory.

According to Union sources, around 450 workers have attended the meeting and majority of them were of the view that it is better to go for a compensation, rather than fighting it out in the courts. They said that they will not be able to bear the cost of a legal procedure besides losing their hopes of continuing in the job further, considering the State and Centre Governments are silent and not showing any interest in the matter.

After the meeting on Saturday, the workers have said that they would pressure the company to offer more than what they did in the last Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), which was announced in April, this year. They said that they shall also approach the State and Central governments and request them to give tax exemption for the compensation.

The facility, which manufactured around 800 million units till March 2014, was not transferred to Microsoft since it was freezed by the Income Tax Department, which slapped a Rs 21,000 crore notice against Nokia. Following which Tamil Nadu has slapped Rs 2,400 crore sales tax notice. The workers have presented their case in both High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court while the income tax matter came up for hearing, requesting court interference for their job security.

The VRS announced by the company saw a large number of its nearly 8,000 workers moving out accepting the offer. Earlier this month, Nokia has informed its workers that Microsoft has decided to terminate the contact with effect from November 1, 2004.

"In absence of further orders from Microsoft, Nokia will suspend handset production at the Sriperumbudur facility from November 1. Unfortunately, the continuing asset freeze imposed by the tax department prevents Nokia from exploring potential opportunities for the transfer of the factory to a successor to support the long term viability of the established, fully functional electronics manufacturing ecosystem," said Nokia in a statement.