Nortel Employees in France Go on Strike

By Mark Evans | Published: July 7, 2009

About 200 Nortel employees in France have gone on strike today to demand better severance and other compensation in the wake of expected jobs cuts. For more, check out Le Monde.

Here’s a letter from Nortel’s French employees:

Châteaufort, Yvelines (France) – 7th July 2009

The employees of Nortel France (NNSA), the worldwide R&D centre for Nortel GSM are going on a general strike. For 800 French families, including the subsidiary (NNF), a veritable harassment has been endured for several months.

Our situation is as follows:

The company went into administration 6 months ago,

The payment of our salaries is called into question each month,

We are told of 500 redundancies and yet no buyer has been announced and the accounts remain unclear after 6 months of administration.

The North American parent company, which has cash reserves at its disposal, refuses to support the French subsidiary which has always been profit-making: the accounts of Nortel France have been drained by up to 300 Million dollars by a mutual transfer mechanism which in fact only works in one direction! Faced with this situation, the Law court of Versailles is investigating, the authorities have frozen the research funding and the AGS (an Association for employee debt guarantee management) has called into question its contribution to the legal minimum redundancy payments.

The management who have driven the Nortel group to insolvency are still in control and grant themselves 45 Million dollars in bonuses to carry out the liquidation! We no longer have confidence in this management without any industrial vision and who have established greediness as a merit.

It’s one more financial scandal, after the corruption of accounts which led Nortel in front of the North American justice in 2002; it’s also an industrial fiasco for a high-tech group which had over 100 000 employees worldwide, 2 000 of which were based at the French site in Châteaufort.

We have contributed to the wealth of the group whilst being subjected to relocation and collective redundancies; now the anger and exasperation forces us to go on strike to defend our rights at work. Conscious that the economic climate is unprecedented, we demand financial compensation and reclassification measures to help the families concerned to survive this difficult period which is looming.

The workforce of Nortel France (NNSA)

Here’s a video showing Nortel’s facility in France and striking workers:

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  • GoProto

    People should not respond/reply to ANY of his posts.. then he will go away .. do not give haters a platform and will stop performing.

  • joremero

    me thinks it's more like 2 weeks. (i.e. 8 + 7 + 7 = 22)

  • PeopleAreOurStrength

    Again ex_executive you seem to be utterly misinformed… Nortel GSM BTS installed base in France alone is roughly 25000 units today (Orange France + BouyguesTel). Definitely nothing to be ashamed of.
    That's typically how Nortel France could recognize very significant $$$ of revenue during the 'golden age' of GSM & subsequent GPRS/EDGE rollout, when Operators invested a LOT. Part of this revenue was repeatedly 'sucked' by the corporation over several years, as part of the so-called 'RPS' mechanism that the letter is referring to.

  • reasonreality

    hey mis-informed clown…. about 20,000+ GSM BTS in France and another couple of thousand UMTS…. that is more BTS than Nortel has sold to VzW (I think). In any case, it basically means 50% market share in France.

    What was contributed to CDMA? If you had half a brain, you would realize that CDMA was in the red for its first 5ish years… when GSM was profitable and funding it.

    Re: BSNL? The BTS were profitable, it was the pricing on generators, towers and a monumental screw up on the calcualtion of duties and taxes that caused the losses…

    Finally, in reference to your assertion up top, less than 50% of the UMTS R&D was sepnt in France… The BTS development was largely in Ottawa, the MSC and PC development was largely in Richardson and Ottawa and China had a chunk as well…

  • reasonreality

    sorry dude – I jumped the gun on my response above… looks like we are generally aligned, however… great stuff!

  • The psychiatrist

    Too busy wiping the dust off their Thriller CDs anyway… lambs..The silence of the lambs.

    I think you meant to say vinyls-their too busy wiping the dust off their vinyls.

  • The psychiatrist

    You earned this as much as you earned yor salary. You should feel good about that.

    I wonder if these clowns at the top realize that employee production and efficiency has dropped somewhat due to the never ending uncertainty surrounding Nortel's future and various business lines.

  • The psychiatrist

    “I still believe in power of people all together: “YES WE CAN”
    Speak to your colleague, friends… and join a worlwide Nortel wave.”

    your absolutely right with that assumption,the only problem is that the ones in power know that the ones below are in almost never going to unite and create a force that demands attention and so corruption shall continue in all facets of society.

    Once in a lifetime we get to enjoy the rarity of witnessing an individual with unbreakable passion in his or her quest for change.

    Money for the rarest of these individuals is never the motivator.

  • ChaiTea

    What was the exact change in OSM?

  • scalppeeler

    FU
    Was that direct enough.
    And you just made my point.
    The heroes of yesterday would not fight for what Canada is today. Good Point.
    I am Native.
    Can't get out of canuckistan fast enough.

  • scalppeeler

    Yer missing the point.
    It is selective cutting.
    The white, english established people get cut and discriminated.
    Lots of money to go around for asylum seekers, refugee payouts, free legal aid for visible minorities, special interest groups, Arar, multiculturalism. Wake up.
    Visit the courthouse in Toronto or Ottawa.
    Get with the program.
    Far as the UN. They couldn't find their way to the washroom.
    Rwanda, Bosnia, Kofi Anan. Yea the UN are one potent informed voice that makes a ton of difference and has lots of credibility aren't they. So what are you saying. McGuinty is making up for perceived shortfalls of Harris in your opinion. We know you love
    McGuinty.

  • felixmk

    How will anyone know if the French are on strike? I guess if productivity goes up and costs go down we know they are really on strike…

  • NTblinker

    doesn't matter, we are on a terrifying trip from Jan 14, and we can wait one more week :) but if you take July 20 for the news agencies to announce the MP bid and if you don't count this week then we can say only next week is the barrier in front of us to jump over.

  • tryn2makealivin

    Hey we go through re-orgs it seems once a week to try and make ourselves look better for potential buyers….I would not worry about it one bit.

    http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news…

  • GoProto

    see above posts reasonreality….copied below
    =============================
    JL123 8 hours ago

    I totally agree with “reasonreality” and “compass”.

    This blog is “All About Nortel”. and has nothing to do with Scalppeeler's Nazi ancestors.

    Mark Even should STOP Scalppeeler from hijacking this blog for promoting his racism and hatred. NO one wants to read Scalppeeler's ugly & poisoning comments.
    ================================
    GoProto 4 hours ago ;
    People should not respond/reply to ANY of his posts.. then he will go away .. do not give haters a platform and they will stop performing.

    Please peeps- just S-T-O-P responding to him.

  • scalppeeler

    My God.
    What a bunch of Chicken Heart, Bleeding Heart, Left Leaning, Overly tolerant, Overly accomodating, Gutless, give away the past Canuckistainers we have in here.
    Hopeless.

  • ERworker

    If they want to play mean, the employees should have just picked up their ball and walked home. Without employees there is no company , nothing to reward cutting costs with, restructuring or even sell.
    ______________________________________________________

    Your right – there would be nothing left, no chance of Nortel's surviving (slim as it may be) and no chance for any of us to come out of this somewhat intact. While I applaud the efforts of our French colleagues, I really don't see what it will accomplish in the long run. Nortel is going to hide behind the bk proceedings and continue NOT paying any severances for as long as they can get away with it, or until the government forces them to, which is highly unlikely. A lot of noise may be made, but what will really come of it?

    While Nortel's problems are huge, they are no less spectacular than the collapse of MCI several years ago. But, there are a lot of former MCI employees that survived to be picked up when Verizon bought them out that are still working there even today. I would like the chance for something like that to happen here. Striking and destroying what is left of Nortel will not allow that to happen.

    Its a matter of practicality, not lack of will or courage.

  • reasonreality

    boy, now there is an intelligent comment! After all those years reading the economist and attending business school, your proportional equations with a peppering of xenophic rhetoric have truly enlightened me. Glad to see you joined the blogging as we really need a smart little dude to help add some perspective to the situation. I finally get it now…. wanker.
    PS – no attempted jokes about hygene or garlic or 35 hour work week?

  • reasonreality

    the only thing people at the top care about is colelcting their KEIP/KERP payments and ensuring they are part of one of the divestitures (on the Nortel side) and collecting fees and paying back selected creditors (on the E&Y side). There is little regard for productivity, UNLESS, it impacts the success of the two above stated objectives. The strike at CTF is making an impact as many people are beginning to realize that spectacle is potentially devaluing the sale price of the GSM business and also making the business harder to sell. The longer the process goes, the longer people have to wait for KEIP and the longer E&Y need to wait for what will likely be a reduced sum. Chuck in potential legal and reputation issues and you get the motivation. There is 0% regard for the health and welfare of the employees unless they have a direct impact on a handful of objectives that will make a select view very happy

  • Anonymous

    I certainly don’t and I don’t think the other bloggers would like them either given that this is: 1) a tech blog, 2) a Nortel blog and 3) MJ just died – love him or hate him, have a little bloody respect

  • Teleguy

    No. If everyone at Nortel went on strike that would only accelerate the move to Chapter 7. And what would be the point? To force Nortel execs and BoDs to suddenly realize they were wrong not to pay severance and benefits to departing employees? Do you think they would? Even if customers are waiting for product deliveries? No, me either.

    If the French employees want to strike in an effort to demonstrate the injustice of their situation and to feel empowered to continue fighting, then I think that is a noble goal. If they are hoping to convince Nortel to treat them fairly, with respect, it is a lost cause.

  • felixmk

    I have some Michael Jackson jokes that are funnier than the usual French 35 hour-garlic-body odour jokes. Do you want me to post them?

  • reasonreality

    No and I am quite sure that nobody else does either. This is a Nortel/tech blog and you should have a little respect for the family and friends of someone that has just passed away.

  • reasonreality

    got it… will do. I am fairly new to the blog and just finding my feet. Thanks for the note.

  • felixmk

    OK, since you asked. What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a Grocery Bag? Ans: One is white, plastic, inert, and a danger to children, the other one is used to carry groceries.

  • ex__executive

    Wow, 25,000 units over what; 10 years!!
    That almost covered Pascal Debon compensation package.

  • ex__executive

    Listen bonehead – go and check past quarterly reports and see how much you've contributed to Nortel's bottom line.
    The truth is – the UMTS was always a black hole and the GSM didn't generate a single penny in profits.
    If it wasn't for the CDMA and couple of other products, you would have lost your overpaid job 5 years ago.

  • yes4aapl

    BSNL? The BTS were profitable, it was the pricing on generators, towers and a monumental screw up on the calculation of duties and taxes that caused the losses…
    =====
    re
    What if the calculation was good?
    Would Nortel get the BSNL deal?
    I don't think so…
    Fact is Nortel lost $500 mill on that deal with the business Plan accepted by Bill Owens.
    I think $500 mill would help you all today if Owens did not lose it…

  • yes4aapl

    you tube is powerful!
    check this protest
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&feat…
    United breaks guitars.
    Write a song!

  • GoProto

    Remember what i suggested about scalppeeler? Same applies here.

  • freqmgr

    Hmmm…don't know if it means anything….but neither of the videos are running just now….says “errors” are the reason….maybe too many trying to see them at this time…

  • reasonreality

    I won't get into a name calling match with you as you are clearly a very clever person…, but I will say that 25K BTS (G and U) in France is “pas mal” and 225K G BTS and about 30K UMTS (until sold to ALU) is not too bad eitehr… any other products gave that kind of volume? And GSM has made money for most of its life… not sure where you are getting your info

  • ex__executive

    This means that you must be even cleverer than I am. You've started the name calling…

    BTW, on every GSM BTS than Nortel sold prior to Noy's “cost reduction” the company lost over $10K. After the “cost reduction” the BTS's were profitable but then, even BSNL didn’t want the crap, fork-lifted it, and replaced with Ericsson's gear.
    Of course the UMTS was even a bigger black hole.

  • scalppeeler

    That's funny.
    Poor mike. Never had a chance to be a kid.
    There use to be lineups at his house when he was in the jackson five, under 10 years of age being treated like a reichsfurhrer. Pathetic.
    He couldn't handle it later in life.

  • scalppeeler

    Take a pill mother theresa.

  • scalppeeler

    Saw you at the pool the other day.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4cmrMJul1g

  • less

    The least welcome were the French, seen as the meanest tippers and the rudest in Europe. The French were also the worst tourists internationally, accused of being bad at foreign languages, tightfisted and arrogant.
    Expedia marketing boss Timothee de Roux, said: 'They don't go abroad much so they get stressed.'

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198707…

  • yes4aapl

    United breaks guitars.
    Write a song!
    ======
    update
    yesterday it was 502,110
    today 1,384,878 views
    wow!

  • CCArchitect

    Where did the 45 mil go hidden under friends name that Mike Z can pick up later after he has moved on. The French should be applauded for standing up to be counted/ All of us that are left should be follow in the steps

  • yes4aapl

    United breaks guitars.
    Write a song!
    ======
    update
    yesterday it was 502,110
    today 1,384,878 views
    wow!

  • CCArchitect

    Where did the 45 mil go hidden under friends name that Mike Z can pick up later after he has moved on. The French should be applauded for standing up to be counted/ All of us that are left should be follow in the steps

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