'Nokia'

 

Tags: Globalisation, relocation, Germany, Nokia, machinery, production line, workers, manufacture, mobile phones, cell phones, picket, petition, Romania, horse and carriage, village, Romanov, Gypsy, factory, beer, Jucu, Bochum, children, business man talking on the phone,

 

IN: 10:00:00:00

 

10:00:00:00	Nokia workers on the production line making mobile phones.
10:00:31:00	Bochum, Germany. Nokia workers protesting outside factory. Interviews.
10:02:07:00	France, Paris students hand over petition.
10:02:51:23	Romanov / Gypsy on horse and carriage in Romania.
10:02:59:00	Romanian village. Villagers drinking beer outside a bar. Romanian feeds horse some beer. Romanian Nokia workers.
10:04:07:00	Interview with Nokia Village (Jucu) mayor – hopes to get money to repair schools, roads, and improve public services.
	Picture of Nokia sign. Nokia factory. Trying to get interviews with staff.
	Security man talking on walkie-talkie. Get moved on by security men.
10:05:06:00	Interview with Grigore Pop
10:06:29	“Solidarity Tent”, Germany, outside Nokia factory. More interviews with workers.
10:07:48	Boys playing football in muddy village street. Horse and cart. Interview with Romanian villager, old man. Couple walking down street, meet child and kiss a greeting. Cute Romanian child. Family life. Household, living room, children.  Mum is cooking, men drink alcohol. Showing family photos.
10:09:36	Baby playing with mobile phones.
10:09:38	More interviews with men. Mother nurses baby in the background.
10:10:00	Factory, construction. Interview with German business man, talking on the phone.
10:10:46	Outside the Bochum factory.

 

 

OUT: 10:11:08:00

 

 SCRIPT BELOW

0.03

…… 14.00 - time for the change of shift at the Nokia factory in Bochum…..

 

0.08

Two thousand three hundred people work here, in three shifts. For seven days a week, twenty four seven, round the clock, they manufacture mobile phones. The Finnish company is a world leader in its field. Forty per cent of all mobile phones sold world wide are made by Nokia.

 

0.20

The balance sheet of the company is formidable. Last year Nokia reported a sixty seven per cent increase in its profit margins. After tax, that comes to 7.6 billion Euros, believe it or not.

 

0.33

As a result, it came all the more of a shock for its workers, when, in spite of record sales, the company stated that it would be closing down the factory to relocate in Rumania, where its products could be produced more cheaply. The announcement, in the middle of January came as a complete and utter surprise.

 

OT

Woman

They told us of the planned factory closure at work between the breakfast and the lunch breaks. We were stunned, in shock at the news.

 

OT

Man

It was a complete blow, a dagger in the back.

 

OT

Man

You cannot imagine how it feels, after working so long for the firm, to have the rug pulled out from under your feet this way.

 

OT

Woman

I simply cannot understand why the company has to shut up shop if it is still making a decent profit.

 

OT

Man

I have been working for Nokia the last eighteen years. My wife too. We met here. Three kids, bought a house, we thought that we had job security.

 

1.30

The work council remind us that behind every job statistic, there is a human life. Two thousand three hundred Nokia employees will be unemployed as from June this year. In addition there are also around two thousand workers who have temporary jobs or work in ancillary industries.

 

1.44

The plan to close down the factory, in spite of its outstanding track record, has released a storm of outrage right through the whole of Germany. There is talk of rip offs, with petitions and speeches of solidarity coming through every single day.

 

OT

Here you have 1032 signatures from students and parents

 

OT

Thank you, thank you very much. We hope that you will continue your struggle and accomplish your aim.

 

2.14

The work council chairperson comes to inform colleagues of the latest developments in the negotiations. Nokia has to assume responsibility to find new investors and will pay statutory redundancy money as compensation.

 

OT Achenbach

Nokia is not an impoverished organisation by any stretch of the imagination. With 7.2 billion Euros we do not have to be modest in our demands. Since before Christmas we have been slaving away with extra shifts round the clock. The company has exploited us. They have taken us for a ride – and that’s putting it mildly.

 

 

(Martin)

 

02.52

Open

 

02.53

The global company with its billions of profit is relocating in a Rumanian province. The labour force in the region of Cluj is promising. People have been living here from the early days of civilisation. Since Nokia came into their district, many have had the first real job in their lives.

 

03.15

OT

Man 1 (Alex)

I read that in Germany workers earn 2500 Euros a month. Here we barely get two hundred. For the wage of one German, you can employ ten workers here.

 

03.28

OT Mann 2 (Patrick)

Perhaps they will finally repair the holes in the road, once the municipality gets taxes. Or better still, build a new road rather than this mud track.

03.44

OT MAN 3 (Alex)

I don’t think so. The others would like to put the money into their pockets. That is how it goes here.

 

03.49

Open

 

03.51

The mayor of the four thousand strong population of the district of Jucu is sitting in the car. Over the last two weeks Jucu has taken on a new name: Nokia Village. The head of the village has not had the cash to fund major projects. His corrupt predecessor embezzled it and was sacked. Thanks to Nokia, the economy of the place will improve. The mayor is hoping for abundant revenue from taxes, for which he has some plans.

 

04.17

OT Emil Boc, Mayor, Jucu (Alex)

Thanks to the arrival of Nokia, we will be able to develop our infrastructure. I hope that the younger generation will start returning, now that there is more employment. I have schemes in mind to upgrade the sewer system, to build a new school, a new hospital, a hothouse, to refurbish the town hall and also to create a sports complex for youths.

 

04.49

Nokia is still building in the area. A couple of weeks ago the factory, on the site of a former vegetable field was opened. Soon three and a half thousand employees will be assembling mobile phones here.

                                                                                                               

05.00

Open

 

05.03

However none of the new recruits to the Nokia workforce are keen to talk to us.

 

05.08

Male reporter (Patrick)

Have you been forbidden from talking to the media?

 

05.12

The management has muzzled its workers. They are not to discuss anything to do with it outside the factory.

 

05.18

OT Woman (Angelika)

Everything that happens here is confidential. And with that I mean everything.

 

05.23

A private sentry intervenes and expels us (Open: It’s a public area) A request for an interview was rejected.

 

05.34

OT Reporter

Why doesn’t anyone here wish to talk?

 

OT Man

No idea – we are tired after work.

 

05.41

The truth is: no one has found out what the workers are actually earning.

 

05.48

Trade Union leader Grigore Pop knows otherwise: Nokia pays the lowest wages, even by Rumanian standards. A worker takes home 220 Euros gross a month. Nokia has banned its workforce from admitting that.

 

06.03

OT Grigore Pop, Trade Union leader “Cartel Alfa” (Alex)

 

(Chair)

 

At the same time, in the solidarity tent in front of the factory in Germany there is much talk. The workers feel betrayed and sold out. Here they encourage and comfort each other. Personal anger has developed into collective resistance - nevertheless they cannot impede the closure of the factory.

 

6.40

Torsten, Raimund, Karina, Surayya and Marlies have all been working for more than ten years for Nokia. Their apprehension for the future is great.

 

OT Carina

We are all at an age when it would be difficult to find work because in Germany so many people are unemployed, and for anyone over forty it is difficult.

 

Raimund

It is an important matter. Everyone stays up at night, worrying about the future.

 

Surayya

Your husband works here, my husband works here. We cannot be cut off just like that.

 

Carina

Eventually I am going to reach a point when I find myself in my house, crying.

 

7.28

The proposal that German workers move to Rumania is met with blank derision and scorn.

 

OT Torsten

I do not think that they will be as offensive as to tell us to move to Rumania, for 219 Euros

 

OT Marlies

I have seen some pictures, good Lord!!!

 

(Martin)

 

07.49

Open

 

07.51

In Nokia village in Rumania, there is little sympathy for the problems of what they consider to be rich Germans. As far as solidarity with the people of Bochum goes, there isn’t any.

 

07.59

OT Man (Alex)

I have school age children in my family. For them this is good. Later on they will be able to find employment here. (Pause) These Germans haven’t a clue how bad it is for us.

 

08.17

The Paraschiv couple have a free afternoon. It is one hour’s walk from their home to the factory. Both work for eight hours a day as machine cleaners at Nokia.

 

The Paraschivs live in a converted stable, together with their sister, brother-in-law and seven children. Even though they may be towards the bottom of the ladder on the social scale, still they see themselves as winners. They know that they have taken over the work of others, who could soon be on the street. For them, Nokia is their opportunity for move on from day labour into salaried employment.

 

08.49

OT Ninel Dogeanu, … at Nokia (Alex)

(….Nokia) since Nokia came, things have been better for us. We shall be able to improve ourselves when we get regular wages. Our family now has a future again. At least that’s what we hope.

 

09.05

Their sister has moved to America. She has already made it there. A house, a car, good prospects for her family.

 

09.16

OT Nicoleta Paraschiv, cleaner at Nokia (Angelika)

We have waited for other people to give us work. One person comes and asks me to chop up some wood for them. These occasional jobs bring in between ten and twelve Euros a day, which goes straight for food. But it was not particularly good work.

 

09.33

Among all the joy, moral doubts about the new employer are already germinating.

 

09.39

OT Nicolai Paraschiv, cleaner at Nokia (Alex)

When I see the example of Germany I do query how long Nokia will stay here. Perhaps just for a couple of years. If the same thing happens as in Germany, we will again end up unemployed.

 

09.50

Up to now the family should not be worried. Nokia Village is like a magnet. The Japanese too want to come here; Toshiba and Hitachi as well as the airline manufacturer Lockheed are already there. From 2011, the Mercedes A-class will be manufactured here – and the village road in Jacu?

 

Indications are that the tar machine will be on its way soon.

 

(Christa)

10.11

It is what economists call caravan capitalism, where businesses move on to cheaper countries – a phenomenon that has to be acknowledged.

 

OT Hanke

The case of Nokia is an acrimonious one. Nevertheless one must ask oneself, how are they otherwise to advance, if they find more favourable terms of production that we in the old European states can offer. Thereby they create growth and income, so that through European Union membership they rise to comparable standards of living.

 

10.46

 

In Bochum the traffic lights are now stuck on red. Extra shifts, night shifts and Sunday work could not hang on to the jobs. One cannot compete with cheaper labour costs. People are asking, which enterprise will be the next to pull out.