According to its previous announcements, Nokia is closing down its factory near Bochum, Germany in June 2008, which results in sacking the 2.300 employees working there. The main reasons for the decision were high salaries and additional costs, lost production will be recovered by the new factory in Romania. Of course political leadership of North-Rhine-Westfalia (NRW) has taken the necessary steps, and requested the previously issued 41 million EUR worth subsidy to be repayed, along with the interest worth 19 million euros. Nokia refused to repay the sum, in spite of not accomplishing the terms of the contract (they had less than 2.856 full-time emplyees), but they think that the 1000 part-time emplyoees have compensated for this. The company has also emphasized that they are trying to reach a rational agreement with the employees' representatives.
Nokia, factory representatives and IG Metall (German union alliance) have agreed in Düsseldorf about the sum of the compensation. According to the agreement, the Finnish manufacturer compensates its workers with 200 million euros, which will be payed as severance pay to the 2.300 employees. Most employees will have their labor relations ended as of May 1, while 300 workers will be taken over by a supplier. Due to the announcement, Nokia shares have fallen 1.8%, to a value of 21.42 euros. Analasyts say that these expenses were foreseen, which also means that for Nokia, cheaper factories will mean a real saving only much later.
Translated by Szaszati
