Nokia and Romanian trade unions agree on compensation packages for Jucu employees

Nokia and the leaders of the Romanian trade unions have signed an agreement regarding the compensation packages to be received by the employees of the Finnish company working in the Jucu plant.

Discussions between Nokia and the trade union leaders started after Nokia announced its intention to close the Jucu plant by the end of 2011.

Nokia started production at Jucu at the beginning of 2008, having invested EUR 60 million into the Jucu plant. The company was producing in Romania feature phones, not top-of-the-range smartphones, which was the reason why it made the decision to close down the plant.

“We are aligning our manufacturing in Europe with consumer behavior in Europe. Specifically, smartphones sales in Europe have increased while feature phones sales in Europe have decreased, and the majority of our work in Cluj has been around feature phones manufacturing,” said the company representatives.

Nokia will move its operations to Vietnam where it will invest EUR 200 million into a new plant.

The compensation program for Jucu employees, under the name of Bridge, includes compensation salaries, consultancy for re-employment, training& development packages, support for those workers who want to become entrepreneurs, according to a pres release of the company.

Thus, the compensation packages that Nokia will give to its employees in Romania include three salaries for each employee plus one monthly salary for every year spent in the company, says the press release.

This is a much-different value package compared to the compensation the Finnish company paid in Bochum, Germany, when it decided to close down its plant, before opening up in Jucu, Romania. Thus, Nokia agreed to pay compensation salaries to Bochum workers for the following 12 months, granting over EUR 200 million for this social program, according to an article in German publication Der Spiegel.

Compensation packages for Jucu employees will be granted starting with April 2012.

From January 1, 2012 until the end of March 2012, Nokia will also offer a paid grace period which consists in a paid supplementary time for employees who lose their workplace to adjust and focus on getting re-employed.

Employees will also receive a Nokia smartphone (not top-of-the-range), a Christmas bonus of RON 200 and they can tap into a sum of EUR 500 for entrepreneurial purposes.

Approximately 2,200 employees worked in the Nokia plant. Most employees worked for a gross average salary of RON 1,000 (EUR 230). However, only 1,830 employees will have access to the compensation package negotiated by the trade unions with the company’s management, according to Ziarul Financiar.

Read here a Business Review piece on the employment options of Nokia employees in Romania.

Otilia Haraga

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