EU job-search aid: €3.5 million for 1 000 former Microsoft workers in Finland

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Parlement (EP) i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 30 augustus 2017, 18:01.
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    Staff made redundant by Microsoft Mobile Oy and eleven of its suppliers and by downstream producers in different regions of Finland;
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    Job losses were the result of worldwide competition in the mobile phone sector and the consequent loss of market share by Microsoft.

EU job-search aid worth more than €3.5 m for 1 000 dismissed workers in Western and Southern Finland was approved by Budget MEPs on Wednesday.

A draft resolution by rapporteur Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, FI), recommending that €3 520 080 be released from the EGF, was passed by 34 votes to 4, with 0 abstentions.

The redundancies made by the Microsoft Mobile Oy are mainly located in the regions of Helsinki-Uusimaa, Länsi-Suomi and Etelä-Suomi. In total, 1 248 workers were dismissed, and 1 000 are expected to receive financial and/or vocational assistance.

The Microsoft Windows operating system’s global market share declined, while the competitors’ operating systems, like Android and iOS (Apple), increased their market share. Even though “Microsoft Mobile launched new mobile devices and invested into design, components and marketing”, it could not make up for the competitors’ offer of cheaper hardware and operating system products, MEPs note.

MEPs also underline that “the redundancies are linked to the shift of manufacturing of mobile devices to lower wage countries.”

Next steps

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) was approved by the Council of Ministers on 17 July 2017 and still has to be approved by EP plenary vote planned for the 11-14 September session.

Quick facts

The measures co-financed by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund help redundant workers by providing career coaching and individual guidance, employment and business services, a variety of vocational training schemes, services for new entrepreneurs and start-up grants, hiring incentives, training-related allowances, subsidies and contributions towards removal costs. The Fund’s annual ceiling is €150 million.

Finland submitted application for aid from the EGF on 1st February 2017.

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