| Nokia and trade unions
in dialogue on employees' rights in Nokia's units around the world Helsinki (30.05.2010 - Juhani Artto) Jyrki Raina, the General Secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), was satisfied following the meeting on 18 May with Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. The parties had confirmed their willingness to continue dialogue on employees' rights in Nokia's units around the world. In December 2009 the Finnish-based ICT multinational Nokia had production units in IMF would like to negotiate and sign a international framework agreement (IFA) with Nokia but the company is not yet ready for it. Raina is hopeful that Nokia will warm to the idea of an IFA within the next two or three years. In But even without an IFA, Raina believes that constructive cooperation with Nokia may be advanced in several ways. One of them is this: The International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) and the unions representing Nokia's personnel in And, this kind of cooperation is not new as Nokia played a positive role when such a study (2002) was made on Nokia's factory in He visions that Nokia could become the ICT industry flagship, not only in terms of being the leading mobile telephone producer, but also by virtue of ethical criteria. Raina stressed that high ethical standards are as important for the company as for its personnel. He referred to the recent news of ten suicides this year at Foxconn's factory in In the May 18 meeting with trade union representatives Nokia undertook to ensure that the company will do everything in its power to see that sustainable ethical standards extend to its subcontractors also. This was something that was clearly underlined at the press conference, by Pertti Porokari, the President of the Union of Professional Engineers. However, in today's world such announcements and commitments are not longer convincing. If Nokia wishes to be taken seriously and maximise or take full advantage of the much vaunted commitment to genuine corporate social responsibility which it professes in its declarations (code of conduct) then Nokia should let independent auditing organisations permanently monitor its own units and all of its production chains, including the subcontractors and raw material providers. Nokia is still far away from that level of commitment. Outside pressure does not only come from consumers but also from investors. Raina made the point that the IMF receives weekly inquiries on the behaviour of companies from investors. Read more:
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