Nokia signs wage pact with employees, ends strike

CHENNAI: Finnish handset major Nokia India has signed an agreement on wage revision with employees of its manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur last night -- bringing their six-day strike to an end.

The tripartite agreement was signed between the Nokia India Employees Progressive Union and the company management in the presence of Tamil Nadu Labour Minister T M Anbarasan and labour officials last night, an official release said on Tuesday.

The pact comes days after a section of employees belonging to the Nokia India Employees Progressive Union, owing allegiance to DMK trade union wing Labour Progressive Front, went on a sit-in strike on July 13 to demand wage revision and revocation of suspension of around 50 workers.

The management and the union preferred to settle the issue amicably during a discussion held in the presence of Anbarasan, following which an agreement on wage increment for a three-year period was signed, it said.

Sources said that around 3,500 employees at the Nokia plant would stand to benefit from the agreement.

Meanwhile, a company statement said that "the long-term wage agreement with workers has been resolved. Work will resume with immediate effect".

"The management, as a gesture of goodwill, has offered to revoke the suspension of the employees," it said.

The employees were suspended in January this year for alleged misconduct.

The Sriperumbudur Nokia plant, with a head count of around 8,000, produces about four lakh handsets a day.