Taiwanese electronics maker Foxconn Technology Group (富智康科技集團) on Monday said it was trying to understand the needs of workers unhappy with being laid off at its Indian handset assembly plant that will reportedly soon close down.
“We are negotiating with the labor union of the plant, and we are trying to better understand the situation,” Foxconn spokesman Simon Hsing (邢治平) said by telephone.
The Chennai plant, operated by Foxconn’s handset subsidiary FIH Mobile Ltd (富智康), is to close today, the Times of India reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed FIH Mobile executive.
Layoffs began on Tuesday last week, with the factory’s remaining 1,306 workers offered severance pay of up to 12 months of wages and other bonuses for last year, the report said.
However, some workers have yet to accept the terms and continue to negotiate with the company.
According to the Press Trust of India, FIH Mobile suspended production at its mobile phone factory in Sriperumbudur Taluk in southern India on Dec. 22 last year after a decline in orders from major client Nokia, which sold its mobile phone business unit to Microsoft Corp in April last year.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and a major supplier to Apple Inc.
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