This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/business/international/french-workers-hold-goodyear-managers-over-jobs.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Goodyear Managers Held by French Workers Then Released Goodyear Managers Held by French Workers Then Released
(about 3 hours later)
PARIS — When negotiations broke down this weekend at a Goodyear tire factory slated for closing in northern France, employees resorted to a brazen tactic to get management’s attention: They kidnapped the bosses.PARIS — When negotiations broke down this weekend at a Goodyear tire factory slated for closing in northern France, employees resorted to a brazen tactic to get management’s attention: They kidnapped the bosses.
On Tuesday, for a second day, hundreds of employees at the plant in Amiens held two senior executives captive before the men were released in the afternoon when police intervened. Union leaders had threatened to keep them sequestered until the company agreed to pay out “huge amounts of money” to workers in exchange for shuttering the factory. On Tuesday, for a second day, hundreds of employees at the plant in Amiens held two senior executives captive before the men were released in the afternoon when the police intervened. Union leaders had threatened to keep them sequestered until the company agreed to pay out “huge amounts of money” to nearly 1,200 workers about to lose their jobs, following a two-year fight to keep the factory from closing.
Earlier Tuesday, a court in Amiens had appointed a bailiff to ensure “the security and free movement of goods and people” at the factory. Goodyear refused to negotiate or make concessions.
A tense standoff between employees and management had been going on for more than a year. Various episodes verging on violence — including the mass burning of tires, and workers’ blocking the assembly line — flared up regularly as unions sought to prevent a planned closing of the factory, which would wipe out about 1,200 jobs. The “boss-napping,” as the tactic has come to be known, revived a sort of guerrilla theater that was used at several multinational companies’ French operations, including Caterpillar and Sony, at the height of the financial crisis as workers despaired about layoffs and cutbacks.
The “boss-napping” revived a sort of guerrilla theater that was used at several companies including Caterpillar and Sony at the height of the financial crisis as workers despaired about layoffs and cutbacks. While this standoff was short-lived, the workers’ tactic may not help with overall concerns about France as a place to do global business. As a debate resurfaces over whether France is in danger of becoming the next sick man of Europe, the Goodyear factory has become one of the most potent symbols of the challenges that companies face here.
The workers’ tactic may not help with overall concerns about France as a place to do business. As a debate resurfaces over whether France is in danger of becoming the next sick man of Europe, the Goodyear factory has become one of the most potent symbols of challenges that companies face. France’s rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace have long been a source of aggravation. France’s rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace had long been a source of aggravation for employers.
The imminent closing of the Goodyear factory — the latest in a series of mass layoffs at large companies across France — underscores the economic consequences for workers in a country that is grappling with a decline in competitiveness. “This happened because workers were desperate,” said Jean-Paul Fitoussi, a professor of economics at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. “But it is still an act that will underline the perception that it’s difficult to do business in France.”
Goodyear had said that it refused to negotiate with the unions as long as the managers were being held against their will. It condemned the action and said it was “especially inopportune and counterproductive at a time when we should concentrate on the future of employees affected by the restructuring, after several years looking for a solution.” France’s rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace had long been a source of aggravation for employers. Despite that, France remains one of the Continent’s top destinations for foreign direct investment. But conscious of the stigma, the country’s Socialist president, François Hollande, took steps last year to enhance the business environment after a report commissioned by his government urged him to administer a “competitiveness shock” needed to avoid long-term industrial decline.
The workers are unlikely to find any other job once the factory is closed and were pressing for severance packages of 80,000 euros, or about $110,000, plus €2,500 for each year worked, before the bosses were freed. Mr. Hollande pushed through a series of changes to French labor laws, including making it easier for companies to fire workers or reduce their pay and work hours in an economic downturn. He also introduced 20 billion euros, or $27 billion, worth of tax breaks for businesses.
The issue had flared last year after the chief executive of an American tire company, Titan, responded to a government request to step in and buy the plant, partly in order to help avoid mass layoffs. Still, the imminent closing of the Goodyear factory — the latest in a series of mass layoffs at large companies across France — underscored the economic consequences for workers in a country that is grappling with a high unemployment rate and is on the verge of slipping into a second recession in two years. While other big economies in Europe are showing at least glimmers of growth, France’s is heading in the opposite direction.
“How stupid do you think we are?” Maurice Taylor Jr., the head of Titan International, responded to the country’s industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg, in a letter published in French newspapers last February. Mr. Taylor, who had wanted to buy some of the operation, eventually gave up, saying he had had numerous confrontations with unions over the plant’s workers, whom he described as loafers who generated little productivity. Unions at the Goodyear plant had been demanding higher-than-usual severance packages of 80,000 euros, or about $110,000, plus 2,500 euros for each year worked, as a condition before the bosses were freed. “It will take years for these workers to find new jobs, and the older ones will have almost no chance,” said Mr. Fitoussi.
Once he pulled away, there was no other buyer in sight, and the factory was eventually slated for closing with the loss of all 1,173 jobs. While Goodyear’s French tire factory was not as profitable as operations elsewhere, French courts tend to assess a company’s plans to close based on overall group performance.
Late last year, Mr. Montebourg again reached out to Mr. Taylor — nicknamed “the Grizz” by Wall Street analysts for his abrasive negotiating and management style — in an attempt to lure him back to the bargaining table. But Mr. Taylor has so far not made a firm commitment and Goodyear began winding down the operation, starting with notices of redundancy to be issued this month. France’s high court has ruled that if a company is flagging, “if you’re making money on an international level for that particular activity, then that should be taken into consideration in order to see if downsizing is justified,” said Laurent Guardelli, a Paris-based partner at the law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse who specializes in French employment law.
Late Monday, Mr. Taylor said he was appalled by the latest vigilante action at the factory, in which workers rolled giant farm tractor wheels in to block the doors to the room where the managers were being held. Goodyear condemned the holding of managers, saying it would refuse to negotiate with the unions as long as the men were being held against their will.
“In the United States, we call this a kidnapping,” he told Europe 1 Radio. “These people would be arrested and prosecuted. This is a very serious crime, you would risk life imprisonment. But in France, your government does nothing — it’s crazy.” Before they were released, the two executives — Bernard Glesser, the director of human resources at the Amiens plant, and Michel Dheilly, the director of production — were filmed by journalists and spoke with their families. They appeared mostly at ease, smiling and consulting their cellphones. But as workers milled about and occasionally shouted at them, the executives were not casually accepting their situation.
A dozen police officers arrived at the plant Tuesday afternoon, The Associated Press reported, and two went inside the facility. Minutes later, the two bosses walked out and entered an unmarked police car. They did not speak to reporters. The news agency reported that Franck Jurek, a CGT union representative, said that scores of workers planned to remain on site until managers agree to hold negotiations over severance pay.
In France, there is a certain sympathy with workers who see their livelihood eroded.
“We must acknowledge that the life of these people is going to stop. We’re talking about families with children, people who won’t have any more revenue, and older people who will never find new work,” Pierre Laurent, the national secretary of the P.C.F., the French communist party, told the French radio station RTL before the managers were freed. “They have enriched the country, they have worked for France. We can’t just throw them outside with nothing.”
Before their release, the two managers — Bernard Glesser, the director of human resources at the Amiens plant, and Michel Dheilly, the director of production — were filmed by journalists and spoke with their families. They appeared mostly at ease, smiling and consulting their cellphones, as workers milled about and occasionally shouted at them.
“When we are kept against our will and forced to submit to humiliations and insults, we are not being well treated,” Mr. Glesser said in a video posted on the French business news site BFM.“When we are kept against our will and forced to submit to humiliations and insults, we are not being well treated,” Mr. Glesser said in a video posted on the French business news site BFM.
Franck Jurek, a member of the militant Confédération Générale du Travail union, said that workers were holding out hope that a buyer would emerge for the factory. “Even if we have to wait three or four days, they are not getting out,” he said. A dozen police officers arrived at the plant Tuesday afternoon, The Associated Press reported, and two went inside the facility. Minutes later, the two bosses walked out and entered an unmarked police car. They did not speak to reporters. The news agency reported that Franck Jurek, a CGT union representative, said that scores of workers planned to remain on site until managers agree to hold negotiations over severance pay.
In 2009, workers in France engaged in a series of boss-nappings. Employees took executives of Caterpillar hostage temporarily when talks over revamping the company’s operation broke down. Workers trapped François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of PPR, the group that owns Gucci, in his car that same year, while bosses at 3M and Sony were also held against their will in an attempt to get strong severance packages. While boss-nappings have taken place in other countries — workers at a medical device factory in China held the American owner for a week last year before he met their wage demands — the tactic has become associated with France.
The standoff came amid unemployment in France that is near 11 percent, up from 10 percent a year ago, and an economy showing signs of slipping back into a shallow recession. In 2009, French employees took executives of Caterpillar hostage temporarily when talks over revamping the company’s operation broke down. Workers trapped François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of Kering, the group that owns Gucci and which was known as PPR at the time, in his car that same year. Bosses at 3M and Sony were also held against their will in an attempt to get strong severance packages.
The French government has frantically sought to avoid large-scale layoffs. Mr. Montebourg had even brandished the threat of nationalization to try to save jobs at the steel giant ArcelorMittal in 2011, calling the management liars who were not welcome in France. Last year, Air France-KLM, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Alcatel-Lucent and Sanofi all announced major job cuts, though with far fewer fireworks than those that have been set off at the Goodyear site. Such actions are considered hard-line negotiating tactics, and often the police do not intervene immediately so as not to aggravate the situation, Mr. Guardelli said.
Although criminal charges could still be issued in the Goodyear case, Mr. Guardelli said that “judges are reluctant to impose severe sanctions, because they also take into account that people have been going through some hard times, and that these are more of an act of desperation rather than a voluntary violent act of abduction.”
Tension at the Goodyear plant flared last year after the chief executive of an American tire company, Titan, touched off a furor in France by rejecting a government request to step in and buy it.
“How stupid do you think we are?” Maurice Taylor Jr., the head of Titan International, responded in a letter to the country’s industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg, at the time. Mr. Taylor, who had nonetheless wanted to buy some of the operation, eventually gave up, saying he had had numerous confrontations with unions over the plant’s workers, whom he described as loafers who generated little productivity.
Once he pulled out, there was no other buyer, and the factory was eventually earmarked for closure, meaning the loss of all 1,173 jobs.
Late last year, Mr. Montebourg again reached out to Mr. Taylor, who is nicknamed “the Grizz” by Wall Street analysts for his abrasive negotiating and management style. But Mr. Taylor has so far not made a firm commitment, and Goodyear recently began issuing layoff notices. Late Monday, Mr. Taylor said he was appalled by the latest vigilante action at the factory, in which workers rolled giant farm tractor wheels in to block the doors to the room where the managers were being held.
“In the United States, we call this a kidnapping,” he told Europe 1 Radio. “These people would be arrested and prosecuted. This is a very serious crime, you would risk life imprisonment. But in France, your government does nothing — it’s crazy.”
Among the public, however, there is a certain sympathy with workers who see their livelihood eroded.
“We must acknowledge that the life of these people is going to stop,” Pierre Laurent, the national secretary of the P.C.F., the French communist party, told the French radio station RTL. “We’re talking about families with children, people who won’t have any more revenue, and older people who will never find new work, " he said. “They have enriched the country, they have worked for France. We can’t just throw them outside with nothing.”