The SC decision came as a shock to Nokia employees in the Chennai plant. M Saravana Kumar, president, Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangham, said, "We thought the court will take our jobs and livelihood into account. We approached the Delhi high court and Supreme Court with this hope. We are worried about our jobs."
Union officials are planning to meet A Soundararajan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and a member of the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The fate of the plant remains uncertain, as the deadline for the transfer of the asset to Microsoft will end on March 31. Nokia had said if the asset was not transferred, they didn't have a choice but to opt for contract manufacturing, which workers were not willing to accept. Nokia India facility in Chennai, one of the largest manufacturing facilities of the company, employs 8,000, 50 per cent are women, directly, and 25,000 indirectly. The unit accounts for nine per cent of Nokia's overall business.
