Walkout
Nokia employees stage walkout in Oulu to protest planned dismissals
Of the 3,600 white-collar Nokia employees in the Oulu region, a "significant part" walked out of their offices on Monday afternoon to protest the dismissals the mobile phone manufacturer is planning.
This estimate was given by Sari Halonen, a Nokia employee representative in the Oulu region, after she left her own desk. The exact number of people participating in the stoppage was not available.
Nokia has several units in Oulu, located in various parts of the city. The employees wished to express their disagreement with the measures Nokia has selected for improving its financial result.
Nokia announced last week that it will begin negotiations with employee representatives with the aim of cutting jobs in the multimedia business group. The negotiations will affect 250 employees in Finland, and hundreds in Germany. The possible job cuts will be carried out during 2005.
In Finland, the majority of the threatened jobs are located in Oulu, where the current head count is 400. The projected number of job cuts in the Oulu unit is 150, but efforts will be made to find them alternate jobs within the group.
The overall aim of the dismissals is to cut Nokia’s research and development expenditures to less than ten percent of sales. The first talks with Nokia shop stewards were held at corporate headquarters in Espoo on Monday.
Halonen commented that feelings of insecurity resulting from the numerous rounds of dismissals at Nokia affect motivation, and therefore results. She believes that there are more job cuts in store for the Oulu region.
"This type of action is not constructive, because the company is profitable. They should come up with other solutions than dismissals for improving results."