The DGB confederation of German trade unions called Thursday for a boycott of Nokia, the world's leading maker of mobile telephones, in response to the planned closure of a western German factory. "Boycott Nokia" was the title of a statement sent from a DGB branch in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
"Those who buy a mobile telephone today should consider the catastrophic consequences of Nokia's behaviour for thousands of workers," Dietmar Muscheid, president of the regional chapter, added in the statement.
In response to the campaign, a Nokia spokeswoman told AFP: "It is hard to estimate the impact and I do not wish to speculate, but we hope that people will understand our reasons."
Germans were enraged by news that Nokia would close its plant in Bochum, slashing 2,300 direct jobs and hundreds or maybe thousands of others. Nokia planned to move its mobile telephone production to Romania, where labour costs are lower.