Leaders of Nokia's Chennai plant employees' union are preparing to meet the company's management on Wednesday to know what kind of steps it was taking to protect jobs at the beleaguered plant.

The future of workers at Nokia's Sriperumbudur-based plant is uncertain as its assets have been frozen by Indian tax authorities, which has made it impossible for the handset maker to transfer it to Redmond-based Microsoft.  

Last Friday, the Supreme Court of India upheld a lower court ruling on the plant related to ongoing income tax (I-T) dispute.  The apex court said Nokia would have to provide a guarantee of Rs 3,500 crore before it transferred the plant to Microsoft.

Nokia has already declared that if it is not allowed to transfer the plant to the American firm, it would be left with no option other than contract manufacturing or closing the plant.

M Saravana Kumar, president of Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangham, said, "Based on the outcome of the meeting, we will next course of actions.  We will take all sort of serious steps to safeguard our employment."

Nokia's Chennai plant is one of its largest manufacturing facilities, with a workforce of around 8,000 people.