Find Reviews by Make:
Workers of French parts maker Raquet held three leading managers hostage at the Monthermé factory in the Ardennes. The workers called the kidnapping a protest against cutting 73 of a total of 187 jobs. After the leader of their prefecture agreed to talks, the managers were released shaken, but unharmed. Automobilwoche [sub] says that this kind of hostage taking has become commonplace in France since the onset of carmageddon. The kidnappings receive a Gallic shrug-off: “This barely elicits a reaction anymore amongst the populace.”
Kids, don’t try this at home.
22 Comments on “Workers Fired, Managers Held Hostage in France...”
Read all comments
As a left-leaning Frenchman, I’m ashamed. I understand that it’s not fun to be fired, but taking hostages? There’s something called negotiations, and in the case of labor, it should not include terrorist techniques.
Those managers are workers too, and have families as well.
Meh. This still doesn’t rate up there with the REP trying to overthrow DeGaulle.
Here in the US the Unionized Hourly Workers just pressure the .gov into giving them the company.
Sad when France is more responsive to the free market than the US.
Sad when France is more responsive to the free market than the US.
More true in this case than you’d suspect. The free market, in it’s ultimate form, eventually leads to this kind of thing: kidnapping, extortion, bribery, etc. Funny old world, isn’t it?
Now, that said, this is both sad and sadly typical of French Labour (or the French in general). Unlike Americans, activism runs a lot hotter in French society.
(or the French in general).
Hey, I wouldn’t do that! Don’t generalize me ;-)
psarhjinian :
“Unlike Americans, activism runs a lot hotter in French society”
Kidnapping is not activism, it is a criminal act,
Don’t whitewash it.
Workers of French parts maker Raquet held three leading managers hostage at the Montherme factory in the Ardennes.
Wow~! Again? It must be Tuesday already!
Seriously, the French have a tradition of riot and revolution as a legitimate form of protest going back to Joan of Arc.
Seriously.
Juniper :
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:44 am
psarhjinian :
“Unlike Americans, activism runs a lot hotter in French society”
Kidnapping is not activism, it is a criminal act,
Don’t whitewash it.
Really since when is commiting a crime a legitimate tactic? This isn’t the “free market” this is terrorism, plain and simple.
I certainly hope the USA doesn’t get anywhwere like France. A country where kidnapping by unions and car burning by “disenfranchised youths” are looked upon as typical activities.
Really since when is commiting a crime a legitimate tactic? This isn’t the “free market” this is terrorism, plain and simple.
Well, what did you think the free market devolves into when you don’t have regulation and law to keep it in check?
In this case, it’s not a legitimate tactic because we have this thing called law, which comes from this other thing called government. I just thought paris-dakar‘s comment was funny, given the context.
Side note: Terrorism is tricky topic because, really, it’s very easy to call erstwhile terrorists “freedom fighters” if you’re on the other side of the fence. Be very careful with the word, because it’s oh-so-easy to have it misused and turned against you and your causes.
Really since when is commiting a crime a legitimate tactic? This isn’t the “free market” this is terrorism, plain and simple.
According to the Marxist tendency, ‘freedom’ = ‘crime’
Unless the authorities are willing to implement the use of lethal force or other harsh repercussions (worse than mere jail time), this will continue. It may even advance to the killing of those kidnapped.
People have expectations, and they adapt their plans and actions to that expectation. Right now, they expect a “meh” response to terrorist activities, because that’s what they’ve been getting.
I wonder, what will it take for the people to find the will to get tough?
psarhjinian :
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
Side note: Terrorism is tricky topic because, really, it’s very easy to call erstwhile terrorists “freedom fighters” if you’re on the other side of the fence. Be very careful with the word, because it’s oh-so-easy to have it misused and turned against you and your causes.
Losing ones job is a whole lot different than being oppressed. Kidnapping is against the law. While my use of terrorism may have been too strong, it is still against any laws or morals to hold someone against their will. They may not be terrorists, but they certainly aren’t freedom fighters. They are criminals plain and simple.
A free market isn’t a criminal activity. Your statement about runaway free markets leading to criminal activites is a strawman argument. There are laws in place to stop or prevent those free market crimes. Just like there are laws in place against kidnapping. They are both wrong. Yet it’s ok to kidnap because that’s just what the french do. But you probably feel it’s ok to prosecute insider trading to fullest extent of the law.
Having one’s job taken from one is very like being oppressed. Go and see a Laurent Cantet film. Nobody was hurt and management came back to the negotiating table.
Wasn’t the 13 Colonies’ insurrection against England also illegal?
Oh… And that’s why I like RenaultSport Clio 200 Cups.
Unless the authorities are willing to implement the use of lethal force or other harsh repercussions (worse than mere jail time), this will continue. It may even advance to the killing of those kidnapped.
People have expectations, and they adapt their plans and actions to that expectation. Right now, they expect a “meh” response to terrorist activities, because that’s what they’ve been getting.
and
I certainly hope the USA doesn’t get anywhwere like France. A country where kidnapping by unions and car burning by “disenfranchised youths” are looked upon as typical activities.
There’s a strong tendency among the European Political Elite to dismiss or condone Left Wing political violence. Violence done in the name of something like environmentalism or a national liberation movement is consider legitimate by many.
You can even see it in some of the rhetoric used in this thread – ‘activism’ to describe armed kidnapping while losing a job is considered ‘oppression’.
It’s a tendency rooted in a Marxist worldview, regardless of whether or not the people embracing it self-describe as Marxist.
psarhjinian:
Part of a free market is ensuring the freedom of the people investing money in the market and the freedom of all of their workers, not just the “oppressed” blue collar staff. Laws are put in place to protect everybody’s rights. What you are describing is not an Adam Smith free market, but anarchy where might makes right. This is not a good example for your cause that more government control of markets is necessary to prevent similar events in USA. Or, are you suggesting that the French government is right wing hands-off government that has allowed to much freedom to its people?
Violence done in the name of something like environmentalism or a national liberation movement is consider legitimate by many.
I think it’s safe to say that violence for socially-acceptable causes (for a given region) is treated in a hands-off manner regardless of the political stripe. In western Europe you’ll see a certain hands-off attitude to labour and environmentalism; further east in Europe, in the middle-east and in the US you’ll see more acceptance of the kind of violence perpetuated by the political right.
The use of the term “activist” instead of “terrorist” is deliberate on my part. To some people, an certain type of anti-abortion ‘activist’ is a terrorist, but not so much to others. I’m making the choice not to call people ‘terrorists’ just because I don’t back their cause. I will, however, freely say that they broke the law.
At the risk of pulling a Godwin, violence in the name of a cause is hardly a left or a right-wing thing, and not always a good or bad thing.
I certainly hope the USA doesn’t get anywhwere like France. A country where kidnapping by unions and car burning by “disenfranchised youths” are looked upon as typical activities.
Actually, we have in the past done something very similiar. There was the sitins of the ’30s at GM and Ford, there was the strike at Union Steel which Pinkertons broke up, etc. The history of US Labor used to be a well taught subject in our schools and is now relegated by FNEWS as being commie-pinko anti-Americanism.
Back when monopolies ruled the “free market” society, workers were treated not much better than chattel. It was quite common around 1900 to work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, under desperate conditions, paid just enough so you could never leave, little or no health coverage, and children working the floor. In the United States of Amnesia we forget what a real Free Market society looks like and for whatever reason glamourize big business as being noble purveyors of democracy. Its more likened to feudalism if left to just the market’s devices.
I have no idea why anyone would take anyone hostage because of losing their job, anymore than I understand why someone shoots up their former workplace killing X number of people when they get canned in this country. Seems to happen all the time here.
Oh… And that’s why I like RenaultSport Clio 200 Cups.
+1 pista!
I have no idea why anyone would take anyone hostage because of losing their job,
Entitlement
How does this not end with people in jail?
psarhjinian :
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
Well, what did you think the free market devolves into when you don’t have regulation and law to keep it in check?
——————————————–
Don’t blame free market.
Free market = free to buy, free to sell, free to fire, free to quit (without breaking signed contract).
This is what happen when the rule of law is weakened, i.e. Chrysler bond holder fiasco.
BTW, this was how communism started in China. And I am not joking.
No, the Chinese Communist Party was not established and run by a bunch of born villains.
In the beginning, 1910ish, the base of the party were farmers who thought they were more entitled to the land than the landlords and workers who thought they were more entitled to the factories than the capitalists (aka Chrysler). And they won.