Nokia China staff say it has violated Chinese labour laws

IT SEEMS THAT Nokia has attracted a case of 'trouble at the mill' as it has been accused by some of its Chinese employees of violating Chinese labour laws.

Nokia announced in April that that it would cut around 4,000 employees by the end of 2012. It will also transfer 3,000 Symbian employees to Accenture.

According to the National Business Daily, 29 employees refused Nokia's proposals to cut their contracts in a joint letter to the Nokia China's Human Resources Department.

However, Nokia insisted that the job cut is "in accordance with relevant laws" and will still carry out its plans.

Nokia China's job termination announcement states that 170 company employees, all from the R&D and Service divisions responsible for its Symbian operating system, will be transferred to Accenture, a global technology consulting firm.

The affected employees can agree or disagree to work at Accenture but in either case their relationships with Nokia China will be severed.

The angry employees affected by the terminations said Nokia had given them no information before 24 June about its plan to cut jobs despite their constant requests for information.

On 22 July the company announced plans to transfer its Symbian workforce to Accenture. 12 days after that the employees were informed that they had to make their decisions within 10 days, which they say is too short.

Nokia UK employees have 90 days to negotiate terms for final settlements.

IT legal expert Zhao Zhanling claims that Nokia China has violated the relevant procedures relating to layoffs, as required by the country's labour laws, saying that as Nokia China is cutting jobs for economic reasons, it should inform its employees or unions 30 days ahead of the reduction and report its action to the relevant authorities.

However, Nokia China advisory director Gong Wenfei refused to call the job reduction "layoffs for economic reasons". Instead he said it is a strategic readjustment of Nokia, adding that the phone maker has tried to offer affected employees new jobs. µ