By IANS,
Chennai : The striking workers in the Nokia India plant near here will resume work Saturday morning, ending their four day strike that began Tuesday over the transfer of an employee.
The stalemate was broken after a long meeting of the Nokia India Employees Progressive Union (NIEPU), Nokia India’s management representatives and the Joint Labour Commissioner here.
“We have called off the strike. The management has assured us to take appropriate action on our demands on resumption of work tomorrow (Saturday),” NIEPU’s joint general secretary P. Suresh told IANS.
In a statement issued here, Nokia India said: “The issue has been resolved through mutual dialogue and to the satisfaction of all parties involved. However, the suspension pending inquiry notice to some employees who are reported to have committed acts of serious misconduct still remains and will be concluded through disciplinary proceedings.”
However, Labour Progressive Front (LPF) general secretary M. Shanmugam told IANS that as per the understanding arrived after the meeting, the suspension orders for 23 workers will be revoked when they report to duty Saturday.
“Decision on the balance 40 workers under suspension will be taken on Jan 29 at the labour commissioner’s office,” he added.
The NIEPU is affiliated to LPF – the labour wing of the ruling DMK in the state.
The workers were on the backfoot as they struck work without giving the statutory notice for the strike.
The Nokia India plant can churn out around 500,000 mobile phones a day and has the highest productivity among all Nokia plants across the world.
Nearly 50 percent of the production are shipped out to Nokia’s global markets.
The company has around 3,700 permanent workers, around 2,000 trainees and 1,000 contract workers.
According to union officials, nearly 70 percent of the total workforce are women.