Plight of workers in ancellory industries of Nokia which is downsizing 800 BYD electronics workers are on strike since yesterday. They are protesting the announcement of Voluntary Retirement Scheme by the BYD management. Foxconn announced VRS 3 days back (tnlabour.in/). This all follows Nokias down-sizing and announcement of VRS..its had a massive cascading effect. All these companies were suppliers to Nokia. 1000s of workers are loosing jobs in matter of weeks..in Nokia about 5000+ workers are out of job, Foxconn wants to get rid of 800 (they have 1700 total) and now BYD. Other supplier will close shop soon. BYD workers who have been with the company for more than 8 years have been offered VRS of around 50000Rs and 2 months basic salary. There are around 1500 permanent workers(including 500 women) and no contract workers in the company. BYD supplies rechargeable batteries for mobile phones. Dissatisfied with the package, the workers went on a sit-in strike since yesterday and have not let 5 the Chinese managers and 2 HR representatives outside until their demands are met. Over 850 workers are participating in the sit in strike without any amenities including water and food. The workers say that while they have tried to treat the management who are held inside with respect, the workers have been met with abuses. They also say that the police has stepped in under the guise of protection but has been intimidating them. They have also arrested two representatives of their union NDLF. I just saw that Puthiyathalaimurai (Tamil Channel) has been doing a feature
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 04:54:34 +0000