Nokia Workers Walk Out To Protest Micosoft Deal

Workers in one of Nokia's offices walked out Friday afternoon in protest after the announcement of the strategic alliance between Nokia and Microsoft.

Nokia has 3,000 workers in Tampere, where the walkout took place. About 1,500 of them work on the Symbian operating system, which is being phased out in favor of Windows Phone 7.

During the press conference Friday morning announcing the deal, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said there would be job cuts, though he declined to say where and when. He added that Nokia plans to stay in Finland. Everyone asks is we are moving the company, to Hawaii or wherever, he said. Nokia is first and foremost, and will always be, a Finnish company.

Helsingin Sanomat reported that workers in Tampere used their flexible hours to stage the walkout, so it doesn't count as a strike. The paper also reported that of the 2,000 Nokia employees in Oulu, 1,000 work on the Symbian platform while another 600 work on MeeGo, and they are all worried about their jobs.

MeeGo will be the platform on an upcoming Nokia device, but after that it too, will be phased out.

Staffers in Finland said they haven't heard any concrete plans, and many are worried about their jobs. Nokia reportedly warned the Finnish government that there might be reductions in the workforce.

Nokia has 132,000 employees spread across 120 countries, but the company still employees some 23,000 people there. Nokia is the largest Finnish company, and accounted for 1.6 percent of the country's entire gross domestic product in 2009.

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