Nokia staff to approach political parties in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Nervous employees of Nokia India plan to approach all political parties in the state, seeking help to save their jobs on news that management had warned authorities of impending retrenchments if the current impasse with taxmen continued. Nokia, whose devices and services unit is being bought by Microsoft, has been fighting a Rs 21,000-crore claim by the income-tax department over royalty payments made to its parent company in Finland.

Further bad news emerged last week after it received a Rs 2,400-crore claim from the Tamil Nadu government, which alleged that the mobile handset maker avoided taxes on devices sold within India. This raised doubts about whether the facility, which provides direct and indirect employment to 7,000, would be part of the Microsoft acquisition.

“The fear (of losing jobs) increased when the Nokia management indicated to the Labour Commissioner in Tamil Nadu and to some factory workers on the floor that if the situation continues, we might have to retrench employees gradually,” said A Soundararajan, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and honorary president of the Nokia India Employees’ Union. The union members will go on day-long hunger strike on Tuesday in Chennai to highlight their problems.