Boss Held Hostage After Announcing Laid-offs

Posted on March 26th, 2009 in France | No Comments » |

Disgruntled workers at a US owned factory 3M Corporation located in Pithiviers, France have locked up their boss in an office for more then 24 hours after he announced that half of the workforce will have to face laid-offs.

The industrial director of 3M Corp, Luc Rousselet, was barricaded in his own office on Tuesday evening after refusing to a more favorable terms for the 110 employees who face laid-offs. The workers were demanding better pay-off packages for those being laid off and better working conditions for those who are staying.

The 3M workers began their strike on Friday and escalated through Tuesday afternoon until 3M finally agrees to securing better terms for their demand.
“We will go to the end to get what we deserve,” said one of the workers.

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They eventually released him from captivity after he agreed to re-negotiate compensation packages for the 110 workers facing redundancy at the plant.


Locking up managers is becoming a tradition in French labour disputes because there are no laws against it and police officials does not want to intervene to avoid violence. Just earlier this month several employees at a Sony factory in southwest of France also held the chief executive and human resources director hostage overnight after the Japanese electronics giant refused to give them a bigger severance packages. They eventually let them go after agreeing to provide funds to their demand.

“It’s true that this might seem surprising abroad, but it’s less surprising in France, where we’re more used to this kind of situation,” said a Sony spokeswoman.

Linky via [france24]

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Tags: 3M, angry, Bizarre, boss, France, hostage, laidoff, Latest, Luc, Odd, Paris, Pithiviers, Rousselet, Wacky, workers