As reported by the Journal, workers at a Goodyear factory in northern France have taken two managers captive as they up their fight against the planned closure of the site and the potential loss of hundreds of jobs. The director of production at the plant in Amiens and the head of human resources have both been locked in a meeting room since Monday morning in a “calm” atmosphere, Franck Jurek of the factory’s works council said.
Goodyear’s management and unions have for years been locked in negotiations on how to handle the loss-making plant, but proposals put forward by the US firm have all been rejected by the majority labour union, the CGT. One proposal that was abandoned in 2012 was a plan for voluntary redundancies, and the CGT hopes to bring an improved version of the plan back on the table. “We want to come back to the negotiating table, which means a plan for voluntary redundancies and seeing if there is a buyer (for the plant),” Jurek said.
At the height of the financial crisis, the practice of so-called “bossnappings” to protest layoffs often took place in France, but these kinds of radical actions have tapered off. Workers at the plant said all other avenues had failed after Goodyear concluded a consultation process with employee representatives in November, paving the way for a complete shutdown of the 1,173-strong factory. Workers now fear that they will start being officially laid off in the coming weeks.
The full article is available here, but it is a radical way of gaining attention for workers. You may remember the long running vita cortex sit which revolved around redundancy rights for employees.
