The Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia announced in a press release Monday the loss in France of 1,233 jobs from its subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent, or one third of the workforce of this company in France. The group plans to cut 402 jobs in Lannion (Côtes-d'Armor) and 831 in Nozay (Essonne), Bernard Trémulot (CFDT) and Frédéric Aussedat (CFE-CGC) told AFP after a central social and economic committee (CSE). The job cuts will concern research and development (R&D) positions, as well as support functions, according to management and the unions.
The Ministry of Economy reacted in the wake, asking Nokia "to significantly improve" its social plan. A source in Bercy said that the government was going to work with Alcatel-Lucent workers to make counter-proposals to Nokia and show that France was an attractive country.
"A global plan to cut costs"
The Finnish telecoms equipment maker said in a statement that the job cuts, which should result in voluntary departures and "reclassification solutions", were "part of a global plan to cut costs". This announcement comes when 5G in France is on track for a commercial opening in late 2020 and that auctions to allocate the 11 frequency blocks still available must take place from September 20 to 30.
According to Bercy, the participation of Nokia and its subsidiary in the deployment of 5G will be part of the discussions with the Finnish group, even if the government wants to be in an incentive logic and not of constraint. Next to Nokia, the Swedish Ericsson and the Chinese giant Huawei are in the ranks for this new technology which should allow the advent of the Internet of Things and autonomous vehicles, in particular.