French workers threaten to blow up factory

[depakid]

Source: ABC

Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris have threatened to blow up their factory if they do not receive payouts from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs by July 31. New Fabris was declared in liquidation in April, so the workers stand to get no redundancy money, although they are entitled to draw state unemployment benefit.

They want Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen to pay 30,000 euros ($53,500) for each of the 336 staff at the factory, or some 10 million euros in total, in return for its remaining stocks of equipment and machinery.

"The bottles of gas have already been placed at various parts of the factory and are connected with each other," CGT trades union official Guy Eyermann told France Info radio. "If Renault and PSA refuse to give us that money it could blow up before the end of the month," he added.

A delegation of the workers has a meeting on Thursday (local time) with Renault, which had no immediate comment.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/13/2623680.htm?section=justin

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Americans just bend over and take it- the French, not so much!

[drm604]

1. And these guys aren't already in custody?

:shrug:

[Posteritatis]

30. Funny thing about guys with bombs, you can't just walk up and cuff them (nt)

[geek tragedy]

2. I support the right to strike and everything, but

setting off bombs is going too far.

[tularetom]

4. That may be true but as far as I can tell, no bombs have been set off

[dbonds]

3. Now they are speaking the language of the negotiation

(although I don't think that's what priceline had in mind with their slogan).

This is definitely over the top tactic, but to add another quote from Frank Herbert's Dune 'He who can destroy a thing controls a thing'.

[boppers]

5. Blackmail, extortion...

Time for people to go to jail.

[conspirator]

26. Who the greedy bosses? nt

[blindpig]

28. Yes, the owners

for what are their methods but blackmail and extortion?

Fuck them, their "ownership" of the means of production ain't nothing but a social convention that can be changed at any time.

[JI7]

6. and the Americans who just take it are often the ones accusing French of being cowards

[smirkymonkey]

46. Touche!

[billyoc]

7. A perfectly reasonable action. Management routinely threatens to destroy factories.

[drm604]

10. Whether it's reasonable or not

I find it surprising that there aren't people already in custody for this.

[Soylent Brice]

21. yup.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. Vive la France!

[aquart]

17. Where the government is afraid of the people, God bless 'em!

[Odin2005]

9. OK, that's taking things a bit too far!

Mon Dieu! :crazy:

[Gman]

11. Now THAT's a real concerted job action

guaranteed to get management's attention!

[anonymous171]

12. Good. nt

[pleah]

13. Tough love?

I love the French!

[valerief]

14. Tres bon! nt

[tomreedtoon]

15. Wish the UAW had the nerve to do that.

If they had, they might have kept their jobs and forced their companies to build cars that weren't crap. But, of course, they didn't want to dirty their fingernails...

[tomm2thumbs]

16. who knew the French had such terrorists in their midst. Let it blow -they need new equipment anyway

and it'll make the chasm created by this tactic for their cause irreparable. Talk about cwazy.

[destes]

18. Now THAT'S a union.

Unions are about the balance of the power of the worker vs the power of the owner. Their contract ranks until they relinquish their power. The initial owners had no right to sell the facility without that obligation. The earnings from the sale MUST be used to honor the contract with the workers thus fulfilling that obligation.

If the new owners bought the facility with the obligation unfulfilled, they owe/own the obligation. In the event that the new owners refuse to pay their obligation even as they control the facility, they place the facility at risk. The balance of power must be re-established.

If third party investors hold the greater might then there is poverty for everyone else. A system where the gambler is guaranteed against loss is unsustainable.



It's only numbers. C'est la vie! C'est la guerre.

[Vidar]

19. Vive la France!

[msanthrope]

48. Beat me to it, by days....n/t

[ipaint]

20. Good for them.

The union is speaking to the thug owners in a language they can understand.

[bertman]

22. For all who are so concerned about the workers threatening to blow up the plant, please

remember that after laying off the workers (bye guys and gals, no more work for you!!) the plant would likely have been sold along with the equipment. Where would the money from the sale go?? Into the pockets of the owners and stockholders is my guess.

Or, option two: the plant is moved to a third-world country where cheaper labor is available and no benefits are paid.

[treestar]

42. All of that is more constructive than destruction

at least someone would be working. And the $$ reinvested.

[blindpig]

47. You don't like workers much, do you?

Has it occurred to you that the workers might run that plant just fine without overcompensated management and parasitic share holders?

[Historic NY]

23. la bombe est allée le grondement

[scarletwoman]

24. Bravo, workers!

I love your closing line! "Americans just bend over and take it- the French, not so much!"

Notice also that Americans (just look at some of the posts on this thread) have been well-trained to hold property as sacred -- much more sacred than rights of workers to economic justice.

Owners screwing over the livelihood of the workers? Oh well, that happens.

Workers threatening the Owners' property? OMG, the HORROR!

Such good little capitalist slaves we are.

sw

[conspirator]

25. Vive la revolution! Vive la France! nt

[seabeckind]

27. We need a heluva lot more of that around here

Lord, my grandpa, a miner, would be turning over to see the corporatist bulls--t we have today in this country.

BTW, whatever happened to that a--hole who killed those miners in Utah and the other one in WV? Did they get the medal of freedom like W promised? Oh, and where's the MSHA guy? What mining company does he work for now?

If I had the chance, I'd be standing next to the french workers and helping them light the fuse. At least they are standing for THEIR country.

Idiots around here are helping Boeing pack and yelling at the union workers cause they wanted PAY and security. The very thought!

[kskiska]

29. There's a great French movie, "Human Resources"

where striking workers weld the doors to the plant shut to protest the 35-hour workweek.

[Eryemil]

31. I love the French. n|t

[truthisfreedom]

32. I can't separate this in any way from simple extortion.

How do the workers at the plant figure that they own it?

[TBF]

33. They are very brave,

and I commend them. In solidarity, TBF.

[mitchum]

34. Another reason to lament my ancestors leaving there a couple of centuries ago

[blindpig]

35. CGT, CGT, CGT!

n/t

[Hugabear]

36. Sometimes extraordinary action is required

Kudos and good luck to these workers, I have a feeling they're going to need all they can get.

[robcon]

37. Criminals.

Disgrace to the union movement.

[blindpig]

38. Well, we know whose side you're on.

I suppose you say the same about all who fight for worker's rights.

I suppose those who made the unions in this country were criminals too.

I suppose that property is more important than the livelihood of workers.

I suppose you're a capitalist or a scab.

[treestar]

41. Probably not

This is a threat of violence.

come on, there's no defending that.

[blindpig]

45. Bullshit

There have been no advances without at least the threat of violence. Do you know nothing of union history? How about the Civil War or the American Revolution? Do you think that money and power responds to anything else?

[jakpalmer]

39. FYI:

The company had (under PSA and Renault) to make big investments (in fact buying a new automated assembly system worth over 300,000 euros). A part was supported by PSA and Renault but 2/3 were supported by New Fabris.

The robot was installed a few weeks ago and now PSA and Renault are letting them fall with a useless investment of 200,000 euros (the robot is for specific parts assembly, seems it couldn't fit other use).

It is partly because of that investment that the company is in liquidation, or at least it didn't help.

So that's why the workers are pissed off.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

40. Good.

Let me know when they start blowing up working Renault factories. I've still never forgiven them for the Alliance and the Le Car.

[Flagg]

43. There's a life outside the US you know.

Renault has been doing just fine in Europe, South America and else where.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

44. Ya, I know. I lived in the UK until recently.

It was a joke. I actually like the new Clio and whatever the Nissan equivalent in the US is called.