CHENNAI: The mobile phone revolution might have made 'mobility' easy on the common man's pockets, but for employees of mobile manufacturing companies functioning from Special Economic Zones around Chennai, near-empty pockets seem to be quite common, says a recent study. Precarious jobs and insufficient wages are common according to the findings of a new report prepared by Finnwatch, a Finland based agency that monitors activities of Finnish companies in developing countries. The report, released on Wednesday at the makeITfair campaign, studied the working and economic conditions of workers employed at four mobile electronics factories owned by Nokia, Flextronics, Foxconn and Salcomp. The report found that around half of Nokia’s workforce is employed in precarious positions as trainees and contract workers, without the benefits that the permanent employees get. At Salcomp, Nokia’s Finnish supplier, the proportion of temporary employees is as high as 80 per cent. “The bulk of workers employed as trainees and contract workers had no claim to permanent employment and were often trapped in unfair and exploitative positions,” noted Finnwatch’s Päivi Pöyhönen, in the report which was made available to City Express. Their wages were also considered unfair and way too low for Chennai standards, it recorded.For example, pay for Nokia’s trainees and contract workers, as shown in the report, is around Rs. 4,000 – 5,000 per month. “In the workers’ opinion, a comfortable living wage would be Rs. 9,000 – 15,000 per month. With that money, they could rent their own room and think about starting a family,” says Gopinath Parakuni of Cividep-India, makeITfair’s local research partner. According to an international campaign of trade unions and NGOs, Asia Floor Wage, the minimum living wage for India ought to be Rs. 8,500 per month. But unfortunately, only the most experienced permanent workers at Nokia and Foxconn had reached this level. “Most of the workers in these factories were found to be migrant workers who lived in rented rooms and had a daily commute of over one hour each way. Although the buses in which workers commuted to work were provided by the companies for free, the commute lengthened an already long work-day. Around Chennai, a room with a kitchen costs about Rs. 3,000 per month. Such a room is typically shared by five to seven workers to cut costs. Many workers may visit their families three to four times per year,” says the report.But the problems do not end with low wages. Says Pöyhönen, “In our survey of over 100 workers, many revealed that they arrived at multinationals with the expectation of good salaries and employment benefits, but they were bitterly disappointed – not only with the salary, but also with the insecurity of their jobs. It is not clear what the future holds for those workers who do not manage to secure permanent jobs.”
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