| Layoffs Begin at the Nokia Plant in Jucu |
| (2011-10-31) |
| Last updated: 2011-11-01 12:32 EET |
Nokia’s leaving Romania means a worrying future for its more than two thousand employees. Local authorities say they are struggling to offer them an alternative, and are negotiating with the company the severance pay they should get.
The much publicized move away from Romania by Nokia is now a reality. 200 of the 2,200 people employed by the Finnish based mobile phone giant at Jucu, near Cluj, were told that their contracts would not be renewed. This announcement came against the background of intense negotiations between trade unions and management on the number of additional salaries meted out as severance.
Employees are calling for a few dozen salaries as part of the deal, based on the fact that German employees who were made redundant four years ago got 60 months worth of wages in a similar situation. Faced with this difficult situation, the local authorities, who are trying to avoid an explosion of unemployment, said they are working on a project to access 6.6 million Euros in European funds to support the unemployed.
Nokia registered losses that amounted to half a billion Euro in the first half of the year, causing them to close down the facility in Jucu, as part of a streamlining process involving a massive move to Asia, as posted by the company on its website. Nokia also estimates that it will make cuts in Finland, Hungary and Mexico, involving even more lay-offs.
The Finnish group started mobile phone production at its factory in February 2008, after investing 60 million Euro. Nokia’s decision was predictably upsetting, and reactions all across the country were not late in coming.
Financial analysts claim that this departure of an investor considered strategic is the first warning that more corporations may pull out of Romania. This event also prompted the opposition to renew its attacks against the government. Senate chairman Mircea Geoana, of the Social Democratic party, claimed that the government, which did nothing after hearing of Nokia’s decision, has no fundamental respect for jobs, which, he says, must be protected.
|
2025-04-03
Print
Listen again