- Title: Nokia workers protest against planned job cuts in Paris
- Date: 8th July 2020
- Summary: PEOPLE HOLDING UP PLACARDS NOKIA ENGINEER LAURA HAMON HOLDING UP SIGN READING (French): "Keep Nokia R&D in France" (SOUNDBITE) (French) NOKIA ENGINEER, LAURA HAMON, SAYING: "I find that it's a very strange way of congratulating us for holding on during the confinement, for working Saturdays, Sundays, for working hard... to finally be fired, it's really very hard to take, and again, it's not happening in a context of financial losses."
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2020 12:37
- Keywords: France Nokia layoffs
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA003CLY9QH3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Several hundred Nokia workers protested in Paris on Wednesday (July 8) against plans to cut over 1,200 jobs in its French subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent International.
Nokia has said most of the layoffs would come from research and development (R&D) teams. Unions say this is incomprehensible when Europe is preparing to deploy the next generation mobile network.
Member of the French parliament from the ruling party LaRem, Eric Bothorel, who was elected in the northwestern region of Côtes-d'Armor, where there are planned job cuts, said Nokia's announcement came just after the date set releasing the company from commitments to preserve jobs.
Nokia was bound to job retention commitments when it acquired Alcatel Lucent in 2015. They expired in June.
Bothorel said the move was "making fun of the government" as it targeted people who were recently hired.
Nokia says it will continue to be a major employer in France with a strong foothold in R&D.
(Production: Emilie Delwarde, Thierry Chiarello, Yiming Woo, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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