Friday, December 12, 2014: The world’s largest contract manufacturer of handset and electronics, Foxconn is reportedly planning to suspend production at its Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu from third week of December onwards, because of the lack of orders, while writing off almost Rs 8500 million investment made in India.
According to the sources, Foxconn management has written to the assistant commissioner of labour (ACL) of Kancheepuram district, about suspending the production in a phased manner, starting from 15 December. E Muthukumar, president of Foxconn’s employees union said that the management have been threatening the employees about shutting down of the plant because of lack of orders from sometime. He added, “We will not allow closure of the plant.”
Foxconn came to India in 2006 and it involves almost 1,306 direct employees and 189 technicians. The company initially had two units in Sriperumbudur HiTech SEZ and one inside Nokia SEZ. It came following its most crucial client of that time, Nokia. Reports reveal that the company will put down its plastic division on 15-16 December and moulding division on 22 December, thereby putting halt on its operations in the plant.
A Soundararajan, honorary president of the CITU-backed union said, “The management has informed about an imminent closure in the past month during our interactions. I raised this as an issue in the just concluded (Tamil Nadu) assembly session too. Let us wait and see what happens next.”
Also, the Foxconn management has initiated an exit dialogue with representatives of three trade unions including, the DMK-backed Labour Progressive Front (LPF), the AIADMK-backed Anna Thozhir Sanga Peravai (ATP) and the official union, which is backed by CITU.
