This event serves as a lesson for all employers, regardless of which industry you belong to – never hold back on your former employees’ salaries, especially if you’ve gone bankrupt. Otherwise, you just might come see your former office building one morning and find nothing but burnt rubble.
These unemployed workers gathered outside the New Fabris factory around the borders of Chatellerault, a small town in France. They were demanding for US$43,000 in back-pay from Renault and Peugeot-Citroen and were threatening to blow up their old factory. The angry mob of unemployed French workers lined up a number of gas canisters which were wired to a worker using electrical cords. Their former employers have a few reasons to believe that the gas canisters are actually empty. However, because of several incidents of kidnapping company executives, the workers finally got their former employers pretty scared.
The incident follows a series of layoffs by Renault and Peugeot-Citroen of their employees to cut costs. Other workers all over France have similarly brought up protests to seek redress of their grievances through other means – kidnapping company executives, blocking company gates, as well as barricading factories. This is reportedly the worst economic downturn in the history of France since the 1940s.
The unemployed workers are dead serious. According to union leader Guy Emermann, most of the workers have given almost half of their lives working for the companies. The canisters, 20 in all, contain acetylene and butane, both highly flammable materials. Explosion of the said canisters would start a massive fire which can engulf the whole factory. As of June 16, the New Fabris factory was shutdown, with all its 366 workers slowly being put out of their jobs.
A view outside the gates of New Fabris shows several cutout cardboards shaped like coffins. Each black cutout lists the names of the laid-off employees, plus the date when they were terminated. A lonely blue uniform hung on the gate, telling the whole story of the factory and its workers. Huge equipment were pulled out of New Fabris and were stripped apart and torched by the workers as display of their anger and desperation. The gates are closed to keep Renault and Peugeot-Citroen from salvaging the remaining pieces of expensive machinery left inside the factory.
The workers have already met with Peugeot-Citroen officials last week, asking for 15,000 euros each, while a meeting with Renault officials is set for Thursday. However, according to PSA Peugeot-Citroen spokesperson Pierre-Olivier Salmon, their company isn’t about to give in, saying “It’s not our job to replace the company’s shareholders or the state. Why should PSA pay for this?” They have, however, offered around 1.2 million euros to buy off the remaining New Fabris equipment. Renault plans to raise the same offer come Thursday, but not much more than that. According to Renault spokesperson Gita Roux, “It is not for us as clients to pay redundancy packages” to New Fabris.
Back in New Fabris, the workers passed time playing table tennis and ‘petanque’. They even passed time just chatting with each other and discussing their sorry situations. Not a single cop is in sight but city officials say the police are keeping an eye on things. Former machine operator Marc Pinardon, who has worked in the factory for over nine years, said he was given a separation pay worth 3,500 euros, equivalent to about two months of income. Pinardon says this small amount is likely not going to get him through much longer without another job in sight.
This is just a small reflection of things going on in Detroit and the rest of the world. The automotive industry is really feeling the slump of the global economy. According to Bruno Perre, a 50-year-old technician of New Fabris for 29 years, while scouting the factory grounds, “They throw us away like Kleenex.”
New Fabris director Pierre Reau walked out of the factory without a word last Thursday past the disgruntled workers, telling the Associated Press that the workers’ actions are out of their control. According to Anne Frachowiak, the top aide of the Chatellerault local governor, the canisters may be empty but they aren’t taking chances. They already have the local firemen on steady alert.
If this drags any further without any settlement between both parties, you may bear witness to some bloody confrontation between the French workers and their former employees. Let’s just hope Renault and Peugeot-Citroen come to their senses and start to seriously consider the workers’ demands.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090715/NATION/907150414/1361/French-auto-workers-threaten-to-blow-up-factory
