German unions on Thursday called for a consumer boycott of Nokia products to protest against the cellphone maker's plans to close a German plant. Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, said on Tuesday it wanted to move production to lower-cost regions and said the plant, in the western city of Bochum, is not competitive enough. The company has said it may cut up to 2,300 staff. "Boycott Nokia!" Dietmar Muscheid, regional head of the Confederation of German Unions (DGB), said in a statement. "Whoever buys a cellphone today should think about the choice they are making and what catastrophic consequences the company's actions in Bochum will have for thousands of workers," said Muscheid, who heads the DGB in the southwest state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
See "German Unions Urge Nokia Boycott Over Plant Closure", Reuters, The New York Times, January 16, 2008