)
Workers from the Nokia's Sriperumbudur, one of the largest for the company globally, have started one-day demonstration, including hunger strike in Chennai demanding job security as the transfer of the facility to Microsoft is uncertain, due to tax issues. Around 1500-2000 workers are participating int he strike, which started on Monday morning.
The Workers have started gathering, since Monday morning, behind State Guest House, opposite to Chepauk stadium, less than 2 kms from the State Secretariat,
Nokia India Employees Union has alleged that Nokia has brought down the production in its facility in Sriperumbudur from 13 million units to one to four million units a month and has shifted manufacturing of the entire Asha series of products from the facility to facilities in other countries.
A Soundararajan, honorary president of the Union and State president of CITU, said that the Workers will not accept any move from the company to either remain as a contract manufacturer for Microsoft or retrenchment.
He alleged that the company has shifted the production from the facility and has reduced the number of shift from three to two, almost three to four months back. While the facility was manufacturing around 13 million units a month prior to that, it has been brought down to 1-4 million units a month, shifting the rest to the rest of the country.
The union also alleged that the company has shifted the production of Asha series of phone, which was completely manufactured from the Sriperumbudur facility earlier, from the plant. "We have been thinking that Asha would remain here and it would support the facility to grow," he said.
Commenting on the allegations, earlier Nokia spokesperson said, "we don't comment on internal planning or production. Nokia is a global company, we consistently look for ways to optimise production".
Fate of the Sriperumbudur facility, which employees around 8,000 workers directly and another 21,000 indirectly, remains uncertain. The Supreme Court on March 14 ordered Nokia to give a Rs 3,500 crore guarantee before it transfers the facility to Microsoft. The Order upheld a lower court verdict over the plant, which is the subject of an income tax dispute, and had been challenged by the Finnish company.
Early this month, Tamil Nadu has also levied a Rs 2,400 crore sales tax claim on the company.
The Union also decided to approach Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for protection of the job of employees and would strengthen the agitation after the Lok Sabha election.
The Union also demanded the central and state government not to allow any move from the company to transfer its subsidiary, Nokia India Sales Ltd, the marketing arm formed in 2013, without the transfer of the manfuacturing facility to Microsoft.
The development comes at a time when Nokia Corporation has announced that it will transfer its assets to Microsoft, which agreed to buy Nokia device and service business for Euro 5.44 billion. However fate of Nokia India Pvt Ltd, under which the manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur is coming, remains uncertain due to the income tax dispute.
