Nokia/Alcatel Lucent: unions from both groups are demanding more information on the industrial plan

In July 2015, the European Commission gave the green light to Nokia’s plan to take-over French company Alcatel-Lucent. For the unions there is clearly an industrial strategy underlying the acquisition decision. However they are not getting the insight they need because there has been a lack of real information about the impact of the acquisition decision. As a result, on 11 September, IndustriALL Europe (European Industrial Trade Union Federation) organized a coordination meeting with the unions resulting in a letter being sent to both CEOs of both companies requesting an explanation of the companies’ strategic plan. For Luc Triangle, deputy general secretary of IndustriALL Europe this issue also merits debate at the European level given the risks of both some R&D and technology based activities being transferred elsewhere in the world.
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The meeting, which was held under the auspices of IndustriALL Europe, gathered 45 union and workers’ representatives from ten EU Member states in which the companies have a presence.“The acquisition was announced a few months ago, and it was clear from the beginning that there was an industrial logic behind the acquisition,” explained Luc Triangle, deputy general secretary of IndustriALL Europe. “If you look at the telecoms market, you have on one side the Swedish group Ericsson and the Chinese

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