French Workers Refuse To Take Layoffs & Plant Closings Lying Down

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/10790

By Doug Cunningham

In France workers are not going meekly into that good night when bosses slash their jobs. French workers lately have “boss-napped” their bosses, detaining them until they agree to pay more compensation for the lay-offs. Police have not intervened. The latest detention of a boss by angry workers as at 3M in central France. Before that its at Sony France. At Continental Tire angry workers threw eggs at their bosses when a plant closing was announced. The bosses have not been injured, just detained. Bruno Lemerie of the CGT union says those who sew misery reap fury. And the real violence, he says, is done by those who slash jobs, not those who try to defend them.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10597022

[ikojo]

1. WHY don't more Americans react like this?

I'll tell ya...CALVINISM..at the core of American protestant culture is a strain of thought that says if you are rich or well off, you are favored by God. If you are poor it is your fault and you are not so favored.

Also, in this country workers are brought up from elementary school to even graduate school to identify not with being a working person but with the B0SS! Somehow I seriously doubt they have "bosses day" in Europe.

Maybe that's why the corporate media and many politicians like to demonize France. They don't want workers here to look at how workers there react, lest we get any ideas.

[Angleae]

3. Because it's illegal.

[Golden Raisin]

4. Sorry. "Dancing With The Stars" is on.

[dickthegrouch]

2. We should be half as lucky

A few years ago the company I worked for shuttered all of its plants of a particular product.
The French, despite having a 35 hour work week and 5 weeks minimum vacation, were given 2 years of layoff pay. Made our 1.5 weeks per year of service look absolutely pathetic.
A good union can be an amazing thing.

[pberq]

5. Thanks for posting - that's inspiring