Did politicians cock a snook at Nokia staff? Chennai plant to shut today

In 2004, when Nokia first announced that it was scouting for a manufacturing plant in India, Tamil Nadu’s then chief minister J Jayalalithaa was the first to ask her babus to ‘Go get Nokia’, but 10 years later when the same plant is shutting down, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has remained mum on the issue.

Little wonder that as Nokia’s Tamil Nadu operations will be suspended from todayquestions are being raised as to why the state’s political parties did not take up the cause of the workers who have lost their jobs due the closure of the factory.

According to a PTI report, a financial package of Rs 7.5-9 lakh has been finalised for the last 900 employees.

Though the company had offered voluntary retirement scheme for 5,600 employees at the facility post the Nokia-Microsoft $7.5-billion deal, the fate of about 900 employees had “remained uncertain” following the suspension of production at the plant, the report said.

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While both DMK and AIDMK welcomed Nokia with a red carpet when it decided to set up shop in Sriperumbudur, both parties have done little except stage protests to oppose Nokia’s decision to suspend production.Earlier, in order to protect the interests of workers at Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a Central government-run company, the Tamil Nadu government had come forward to acquire a 5percent stake in the company, which the Centre was planning to dilute to outsiders.

So why is the state government not taking over the Sriperumbudur factory? The factory can manufacture mobile phones, laptops and set-top boxes.

V Bharathkumar, an employee in Nokia, was quoted by Times of India as saying that “We believed that the governments would intervene and do something to safeguard the factory and our lives.. Barring one or two political parties, many of them have not even issued statements. These people have been writing letters to the Prime Minister and conducting mass protests for other issues. Only a few parties, like the CPM, DMK and PMK have issued statements on the issue.”

Had the government intervened and decided to rope in a private player and get the factory running under a (public-private-partnership) model, there may have still been some hope for the Nokia staff.

In its prime days, the Sriperumpudur plant was one of its biggest handset manufacturing facilities, producing over three lakh handsets a day. At its peak, the Nokia factory employed around 8,000 people directly and another 25,000 indirectly. But ever since its tussle with the income-tax authorities for non-payment of dues of Rs 21,000-crore to the centre and Rs 2,400-crore to the state and the Microsoft take-over deal of Nokia’s hand set business, the company has been pruning its workforce.Microsoft made it absolutely clear it was not interested infighting the tax department in India and hence decided to leave the Chennai plant out of the deal.

When asked why Nokia’s Tamil Nadu factory could not be saved, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union minister of telecommunications, information technology and law & justice, told the Business Standard, “Nokia Chennai became an orphan after Nokia sought to sell its assets to a buyer. And, to the best of my knowledge, the new buyer was reluctant to take over the liability of the Nokia plant. The difficult situation of that plant arose out of a peculiar circumstance, local to a particular transaction. It cannot be seen as an impression that India is not moving.”

Most of Nokia India workers-5,600 employees-had opted for voluntary retirement scheme in May when Microsoft announced that it will turn the facility in Sriperumbudur into a contract manufacturing unit.

The Tamil Nadu labour department, Nokia India management and workers are now expected to meet on 30 October to discuss the severance package for Nokia’s remaining 800 workers. Thisacceptance on the employees’ part is a climb-down from their earlier demand to keep the Nokia factory open.