Foxconn, a Taiwan-owned manufacturer of plastic components for mobile telephones, plans to dismiss about 300 of its regular employees in Finland. In addition, the company will get rid of about as many employees working on fixed-term contracts.
The dismissals follow negotiations on job cuts that the company began with representatives of personnel in June.
On Tuesday the company announced that it would close its factory in Hollola. The approximately 200 employees that remain will work at the company's facility in nearby Lahti.
Sari Toivonen, the head shop steward of the Lahti factory, said that the number of jobs to be cut was approximately what she expected. "Sad reading. Feelings in Lahti and Hollola were very intense."
Deputy CEO Timo Harju did not have any comments on the job cuts or the factory closure.
Harju said in June that the company plans to focus on components for more expensive mobile phone models. He said that there is not a big enough market in Finland for cheap and mid-range handsets.
Sari Toivonen believes that the moves were prompted by the fact that there have not been enough orders from Nokia.
Foxconn was formerly the Finnish-owned plastic components manufacturer Eimo. It passed into Taiwanese hands in 2003, and the name Foxconn emerged in 2004.
