NARENDRA Modi’s ‘Make in India’ is now turning into ‘Pack from India’. Yes. After Nokia, now it is Foxconn. FIH India Private Limited, formerly known as Foxconn India Limited, a global company and subsidiary of Hon Hai Group based in Taiwan, has made it official that it will suspend production on December 24 after finishing off residual inventory in the SEZ at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Its action comes as a sequel to Nokia's decision to stop production at its Sriperumbudur factory. As a multinational, Foxconn Technology Group, ie, FIH employs over 1,10,000 people in its subsidiaries spanning Europe, Asia and the Americas and it has over 40 production and R&D centers across the world. Its official website boasts that the company is ranked 30th among Fortune Global 500. The FIH India cited reasons that there are no job orders for the manufacturing plant at the SEZ near Chennai, which is employing nearly 2000 workers. Nokia India had closed operations in the same SEZ earlier. The management urged the workers to settle for a package similar to what Nokia offered. But employees stood firm and said: “We need the job and not a package.” “We will not allow the plant to close. Nokia’s issue was different. Foxconn gets orders from across the globe. They can’t give an excuse that they are suspending operations because Nokia left. They can still run the plant and supply to other handset makers,” said E Muthukumar, president of Foxconn’s Employees Union. Shocked by the closure announcement of the company, the employees of FIH India said getting a job in the Sriperumbudur corridor was like finding a needle in a haystack. The options were narrowing down as many companies opted for fresh candidates. “Companies in this belt want employees who are fresh, young with an average age of 17-22. By doing this they can get the maximum work with a minimum salary. They just don’t want to hire experienced people,” said a worker. “My friends who left Nokia are still looking for a job, and the same would be our fate,” he added. But E Muthukumar, who is also state secretary of the CITU, said if the employees were united, the unions would definitely stand by them. The Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) was recently recognised as the employee union at Foxconn, after a long struggle. Revenue from the Foxconn facility here has dwindled following the suspension of production at Nokia plant in Sriperumbudur last month, S Kannan, another state secretary of CITU said. "About 70 percent of Foxconn products were supplied to Nokia. Remaining 30 percent were exporting to China and Vietnam. Now, they say the sales have got declined and there was no business," he said. Government officials said not only Foxconn but several ancillary units that have been supplying parts to Nokia also had seen impact on their revenue. "Already 3,000 people were offered voluntary retirement two years ago. The employee strength which was once around 6,000 has come to 2,500. And now there are only 1,306 permanent employees working at the facility," S Kannan said. "When the plant became operational, the unit was producing parts and other electronic equipment for Sony and Motorola. But after that project was over, the employees were doing it for Nokia and to Nokia Siemens Network. Now they are saying that due to poor revenue, they will be suspending production", he said. CITU state president and CPI(M) MLA A Soundararajan said the government should come forward and save the lives of employees. "Already people have lost jobs after Nokia had exit from Tamil Nadu, that should not happen again. The state governments should come forward and revive the facility," he said. In this background a tripartite meeting between FIH India workers, the management and officials of the Labour Department has taken place on December 18. “If the management fails to keep production and if it is strong in its decision of lay off, the CITU will enter the company with workers,” E Muthukumar said. He rejected the management's argument that a factory primed to manufacture feature phone does not fit in a smart phone world. "They can upgrade the machines, and keep the workers employed. Considering the workforce is down to a fraction, they will not have major costs to bear," he asserted. The management had said there were few chances for any machine upgrade. The management has stuck to its stand of stopping production. Earlier in a statement it said: "We can confirm that our India operation, FIH India Private Limited, will be suspending all operations at our manufacturing facility in Chennai, effective from December 24, 2014." Now, the ball is in the court of workers. They are gearing up to kick it heavily on December 24.