Eight French workers who held two bosses captive at a Goodyear tyre factory in northern France have been handed stiff prison sentences, a punishment that has shocked some in France.
A US tyre tycoon on Friday ridiculed French laws and trade unions that he said had prevented him from investing in a stricken factory, saying France should become "communist".
Workers facing lay off and hoping to win themselves a better severance package, became the latest French employees to kidnap their bosses as a bargaining tactic. Workers at a printing factory nabbed the bosses on Tuesday evening, and are holding them 'without violence.'
US tiremaker Goodyear has won a court battle after a US federal judge threw out a lawsuit by French workers fighting to keep their jobs by preventing a plant closure in Amiens.
After spending more than 24 hours being held hostage by their angry employees, two executives from a doomed Goodyear tyre plant in northern France were set free on Tuesday afternoon.
French and American cultural differences in the world of work were once again underlined on Tuesday when a controversial American CEO reacted with astonishment to news that two French bosses at a factory he is set to invest in had been taken hostage by workers.
French workers facing job cuts rarely lie down without a fight and are often prepared to resort to extreme measures, which was the case at a doomed Goodyear tyre factory in northern France on Monday, where two bosses were being held captive.
Workers protesting against the planned closure of a loss-making Goodyear factory in northern France on Thursday used a pile of burning tyres to blockade the plant, and had a colourful message for US company Titan, whose takeover bid could save the factory.
A US tycoon has reportedly made an offer to invest in a doomed French tyre factory, just months after he ridiculed the workers for being lazy and talking all day. The bid by Titan's Maurice Taylor would save 300 jobs, a French minister claimed.
Maurice Taylor, the hard-nosed CEO of American tyremaker Titan, has hit back at comments by a French minister, once again attacking French workers, labelling France’s government "extremist", and calling union bosses "nutcases".
The head of US tyremaker Titan has mocked French workers at a Goodyear factory for putting in only "three hours" a day and talking and eating too much. French union bosses hit back suggesting the CEO might need psychiatric care.
