French Workers Kidnap Bosses

A heap of burning rubber outside the Siemens office in central France marks the latest in a spree of so-called French boss-nappings.

Workers protesting, what they say is the planned closure of the office said they had detained two senior executives of the electronics giant.

[Georges Boncompain, Employee Representative]:

„We have two executives who are being detained in a room. We continue to talk to them and we know that they don’t have any power. So they’re on the phone all the time with the Chairman.“

The employees at the site in Saint-Chamond said the two had been bossnapped since late Monday to press home their demands.

[Georges Boncompain, Employee Representative]:

„We hope to save jobs. We hope to get a bit of money for the people who will be sadly leaving us. A group like Siemens is an international company that has 400,000 employees in the world which makes colossal profits. It is inadmissible that they should offer us crumbs.“

The hostages are reported to be the human resources director and the chief financial officer.

So-called ‚bossnappings‘ have become increasingly frequent in France as the recession takes its toll on employment and companies trim back on costs.

Sony, Caterpillar and 3M have previously been targeted in often spontaneous employee action.

Foto: NTDTV