The announcement was a blow for employees and unions. The Finnish telecoms equipment supplier Nokia announced Monday in a press release the reduction in France of 1,233 jobs from its subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent, or one third of the workforce of this company in France, which it had bought in 2015. For its part , the government warned: Nokia must "significantly improve" its plan.
What exactly does Nokia plan? 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 group also plans a voluntary departure plan and "reclassification solutions," he said in his press release. The job cuts will concern research and development (R&D) positions, as well as support functions, according to management and the unions.
"We will be behind them", promises the government
Nokia had nevertheless made commitments during the acquisition of Alcatel Lucent, promising in particular to maintain the workforce at the same level. Maintaining means potentially eliminating positions in one division, but creating others to compensate. The equipment manufacturer had for example promised to hire engineers, and to have 2,500 engineers in France until June 1, 2020. But the group did not arrive there in France, and waited for the lifting of this commitment to announce this huge social plan.
For the unions, it is a betrayal, and a disaster. Because the company is dropped in the global competition in particular, on 5G. Nokia management recognizes this: "We have to adapt to a complicated market situation". "It's a global plan that also affects France," said management. But in government, we do not hear that ear. "We are going to be behind them to force them to do better," we say in Bercy, where we recognize, despite everything, that we lack room for maneuver.