Hostage and manager. These are not two words that you would
usually expect to hear spoken in the same breath. However, during
the first Few months of 2009, workers at manufacturing Facilities
of 3M Company, Sony Corporation, and Caterpillar, Inc. in France
have taken managers hostage. Why? To negotiate be³er severance
packages and benefits For laid-o´ employees. French workers have
long been known For their aggressive and radical responses to what
they Feel is wrong or oppressive treatment. One French executive
said, “Protest is inscribed in the genes of French culture. In the
past, peasants protested against their lords. Today the difference
is that the lords are chief executives.” Protesting French workers
have been known to burn piles of tires in city streets or tie up
traµc with caravans of Farm tractors. In one instance, striking
truckers blockaded roads and highways to highlight their campaign
For retirement at age 55. The labor blockade worked, as the French
government relented when Food supplies started to run out. And the
tactic of taking the boss hostage has been used previously, as
well. for instance, in 1997, workers at the state-run mortgage bank
Crédit foncier de france, took their boss hostage For five days to
try and prevent the bank’s closing even though it had been losing
money. Although kidnapping your boss isn’t legal, a French
sociologist who surveyed 3,000 companies in 2004 Found that 18 of
them had experienced in “executive detention” in the prior three
years. The actions being taken by workers, which have been peaceful
and more of a symbolic protest, are in response to a continuing
economic downturn. Although France isn’t in any worse shape than
the other big industrialized economies, the country’s “strong
tradition of egalitarianism triggers strong reaction when people
think they are being mistreated or when be³er-o´ people appear to
¶aunt their wealth at a ±me of general hardship.” At Caterpillar’s
French Facility near Grenoble, unhappy workers first went on strike
For a day. The next day, they detained the plaint director and Four
other managers For about 24 hours. The managers were released only
after the company agreed to resume talks with unions and a
government mediator on “how to improve compensation For workers
being laid o´.” The incident at Caterpillar Followed others at Sony
and 3M, where managers also were held captive by workers angry over
being laid o´. Although all the hostage-taking incidents were
resolved peacefully, some analysts wonder if more violent actions
may be in store especially if workers Feel they have nothing to
lose.
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Hostage and manager. These are not two words that you would usually expect to hear spoken in the same breath. However, d
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Hostage and manager. These are not two words that you would usually expect to hear spoken in the same breath. However, d
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