Nokia workers protest against planned job cuts in Paris

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. (Reuters)
(Production: Emilie Delwarde, Thierry Chiarello, Yiming Woo, Ardee Napolitano)