Nokia Press Bulletin Board

JOINT RELEASE OF NOKIA AND ITS GERMAN EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES 

Today Nokia and its employee representatives started negotiations on Nokia’s plan to close its Bochum site. Representatives of Nokia management in Germany and employee representatives met for an initial meeting and agreed to continue the negotiations over the coming weeks. The aim of the negotiations is to reach socially responsible, acceptable and fair solutions for the Nokia employees affected by the company’s closure plan.  

After the initial meeting ended, both parties confirmed that “the start of the negotiations was conducted in a good and open atmosphere with the shared aim to reach a satisfactory solution for all parties concerned as soon as possible”. 

It is mutually understood that these negotiations are to be conducted in a confidential manner and any further information about important steps or certain outcomes of the negotiations will be provided as soon as any important milestones are reached.  

Leading the negotiations from the employer side is Klaus Goll, Managing Director and Director of Labor Relations for Nokia in Germany, and from the employee representatives side is Werner Hammer, head of the Germany works council.

Nokia has submitted its statement to North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Bank today regarding subsidies received back in 1998/99. The statement, which Nokia compiled after having access to the records of the NRW Bank and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the State of NRW, underlines Nokia’s strong view that it has acted according to the terms of the subsidy grant, and any attempt by NRW Bank and the NRW government to recall subsidies is without merit. 

Without a doubt, Nokia created jobs at the Bochum factory: since 2001 Bochum has employed an annual average of some 3,200 Nokia and third-party employees. The conditions of the state aid granted to Nokia for the expansion of the Bochum plant in 1998/1999 called for Nokia to provide 2,860 jobs, thus Nokia over-fulfilled those job creation requirements. 

Throughout the period in question Nokia submitted via Deutsche Bank documents to NRW Bank in an open and transparent manner, disclosing all relevant facts including information on types and number of jobs created as well as on how the subsidies were used. Based on this, and based on some documents filed in the records Nokia has been able to review, Nokia assumes that all parties had a similar understanding about the job creation status and terms, and all agreed that Nokia had fulfilled all the terms. Until January 2008, no concerns were raised about Nokia’s reports to the company, neither from NRW Bank nor the NRW government.  

As previously communicated Nokia also made significant investments in Bochum. Since 1999 it has invested more than 350 million euros in the site, well above the amount stipulated in the agreement.

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT 

The working group established by Nokia and Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) government met for the first time today following Nokia’s January 15, 2008 announcement that it plans to close its site in Bochum. 

During the meeting the parties discussed a number of ideas on how Nokia and the NRW government could encourage and support employment initiatives and entrepreneurial activities in the Bochum area. The purpose of these discussions is to find ways to create alternative employment opportunities for affected Nokia employees as soon as possible. This was the first of several such meetings the two parties expect to have on the matter. 

“We welcome the formation of this working group, which has shown us that Nokia sincerely wants to contribute to the future development of the Bochum area,” said Dr. Jens Baganz, NRW Secretary of State. “The activities of Nokia and the NRW government will contribute to the economic development activities that we have been conducting in the region for many years.” 

“Nokia expects to continue discussing with representatives from Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal German government in order to find good solutions for the future of the Nokia employees,” said Kristian Pullola, Nokia. “It is important now that this working group with the NRW government takes decisive action in order to produce concrete proposals that we can start implementing promptly.” 

The NRW team will be headed by Dr. Jens Baganz. The other NRW representatives in the working group are Dr. Patrick Opdenhoevel, NRW Minister-President’s Office, Head of Division Government Coordination; Marina Weichhardt-Hilgers, NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, Head of Unit Preservation of Enterprises; David Scrimgeour, Consultant, Munich; and Dr. Martin Grimm, Real Estate Consultant, Essen. 

The Nokia team will be headed by Kristian Pullola, Vice President & Nokia Treasurer. The other Nokia representatives are Juha Äkräs, Senior Vice President, Human Resources; Michael Bueltmann, Senior Legal Counsel, Nokia GmbH; and Maximilian Kammerer, Vice President, Customer Care. The Nokia team reports to Rick Simonson, Nokia’s Chief Financial Officer and a member of the company’s Group Executive board. Mr. Simonson, who has significant experience in supporting industrial and technology initiatives in their different phases, has been appointed by Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo to oversee Nokia’s future role in the region. 

The NRW government and Nokia have been receiving expressions of interest from investors, both German and foreign. Potential investors should make contact with either NRW officials or Nokia directly.

The parties had a constructive discussion about the future of Nokia’s Bochum site and agreed to start the negotiations on February 20, 2008 
 
Nokia’s Germany Works Council representatives met with Nokia senior managers in Helsinki today to discuss Nokia’s earlier announced plans to close its Bochum site.

During the discussions, which were conducted in a constructive spirit, the parties discussed the forthcoming negotiations between the Nokia Germany Works Council and Nokia’s management in Germany, while employee representatives presented several alternatives for the future of the Bochum site. These included increased automatization in production and a change of focus for the Bochum site. Nokia’s management concluded that the proposed alternatives were not feasible and would not meet the required efficiency targets or support Nokia’s overall strategy.

In the meeting various options for employment in Bochum were discussed. Works Council representatives and Nokia shared the aim of finding innovative solutions for the future of the Nokia employees in Bochum. Both parties agreed that the key focus will be to find alternative employment for Nokia’s Bochum personnel in companies that are well-established and have long-term business targets.

Both Nokia and the Nokia Germany Works Council representatives agreed that their close collaboration about new employment opportunities will continue. As a next step, a working group comprising representatives from Nokia and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia will meet on February 14, 2008 to discuss innovative solutions for the future of of the Nokia site in Bochum.