After closure of the Nokia plant at Sriperumbudur on November 1 this year; the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn has also announced suspension of production at the same location.

The fate of 1,700 employees working at the Foxconn's  Sriperumbudur plant is at stake as the company plans to suspend operations on December 24 as there is no new business and that it is willing to make settlement offers to the employees.

However, the employees need job and not settlement, said S Kannan, president of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Kancheepuram district. He told Governance Now: “We are holding a protest in front of the gate of the plant at Sriperumbudur on December 22. The employees are ready for agitation; however, in case of Nokia, the employees themselves were not willing to stage any protest and most of them walked out silently.”

Reports said Foxconn was keen to talk about separation terms but it was rejected by the union. The assistant commissioner for labour has adjourned the hearing to December 26.

Meanwhile, Foxconn is suspending production at its Sriperumbudur plant located inside Nokia SEZ due to lack of orders, as its biggest customer in India (Nokia) has exited the mobile phone business.

Foxconn is keen to wind down its India operations.

Foxconn came into India in 2006 following its most-important client at that time: Nokia.

The company had two units in Sriperumbudur HiTech SEZ and one inside Nokia SEZ. At the peak of its operations, the company employed more than 6,800 persons directly inside the Nokia SEZ factory alone.

The other two plants in Sriperumbudur HiTech SEZ on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway have already been shut down as Nokia started downsizing its orders to Foxconn over the past two years.

The company is learnt to have invested nearly Rs 850crore in India for manufacturing phones and components.