July 13, 2009
First there was boss-napping, now angry workers at a factory in France have come up with a new tactic in their battle against redundancy.
Staff at bankrupt car parts maker New Fabris are threatening to blow up the plant if they do not receive compensation from the companies that provided most of the firm's business.
The 336 workers at the factory at Châtellerault, near Poitiers in central France, want Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen to pay £25,850 to each of them in return for the company's remaining stocks of equipment and machinery.
And this is no empty threat - alarmingly, bottles of gas have already been placed at various parts of the factory and are apparently connected with each other.
This makes boss-napping look like a bit of a laugh. Earlier this year, staff from at least eight companies took their managers hostage in return for better pay and fewer redundancies. France has a history of boss-nappings dating back to May 1968 and the 1970s.
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