France/UK

Three British managers released after new bossnapping

Article published on the 2009-04-09 Latest update 2009-04-09 09:50 TU

One of the managers of Scapa France leaving negotiations after being held for several hours by workers.
(Photo: AFP)

Three British managers of a factory in south-east France were released by workers along with a local manager on Wednesday, after promising two million euros extra layoff pay. The plant is owned by the British glue-maker Scapa and the company announced in February that it would close the plant after the market for adhesives in the car industry collapsed in 2008.

Workers said that management had agreed to almost double the severence package to 1.7 million euros. After negotiations late Tuesday came to what a union official called "the end of the road", the managers were barricaded in their office.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the practice of holding bosses hostage cannot continue and that workers have to obey the law.

The holding of the British managers is the most recent of a series of bossnappings in France. Executives in companies like Sony and Caterpillar have found themselves hostage to angry workers in France, but all have been released unharmed.

Sarkozy at one point agreed to meet with workers at a Caterpillar plant and save their factory in the southern town of Grenoble.