Almost half of French approve of locking up bosses

[Robbien]

Source: Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - Almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.

Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have held managers inside the factories overnight, in three separate incidents, to demand better layoff terms -- a new form of labor action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.

A poll by the CSA institute for Le Parisien newspaper found 50 percent of French people surveyed disapproved of such acts, but 45 percent thought they were acceptable.

. . .

On March 31, billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault was trapped in a taxi in Paris for an hour by staff from his PPR luxury and retail group who were angry about layoffs. Riot police intervened to free him.

Le Parisien found that 56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved. Among white-collar workers, 59 percent were against the practice while 40 percent thought it was acceptable.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5362ME20090407

[hlthe2b]

1. I wonder how they'd feel if asked about the guillotine

:evilgrin:

I know I have momentary thoughts on the issue. It would seem the French might as well...

[Warpy]

2. While I remain opposed to the death penalty

I have my knitting all ready should a tumbril pass by.

[Soylent Brice]

3. another example of why i love the french.

[RedCloud]

4. Some Roman emperors killed those who destroyed jobs.

So have we gotten more civilized?

[santamargarita]

19. Let's go with the Roman Emperors...

:kick:

[liberalmuse]

5. Wow, I'd be nervous.

We know what happened last time the French were pissed off by their bosses.

[Auggie]

7. All kidding aside, that's the point! French politicians also fear their constituents

which is why they have successful social programs. We let politicians spit in our face.

[reggie the dog]

9. workers threw bricks at the president a week or 2 ago here in France

Sarkozy did not get a warm welcome as workers threw bricks and stones at him when the president came up with the police who were told to teargas the workers. French workers being of the unruly variety got pissed off and threw bricks at the president.

[EFerrari]

12. We let them laugh in our faces on cable every day.

[DBoon]

13. in a democracy, politicians fear the wrath of their constituents

in a dictatorship, people fear the wrath of offended politicians

[kenfrequed]

14. Definitely.

I think that the French have a better, more responsive, more vibrant understanding of democracy and liberty than we do.

[paulsby]

23. well, except for

freedom of speech, a judicial system that is adversary not run by a judge, etc. etc.

it's laughable.

[kenfrequed]

24. I imagine you are joking.

I mean, you would have to be. Considering the number of protests and city wide strikes and demonstrations and open media sources I think it is hard to suggest that the french lack freedom of speech.

[paulsby]

27. no, i am explaining the law.

compare the speech laws and what is criminalized in france vs. here.

the french may, on the whole, choose to more vociferously exercise their speech in regards to redress of certain grievances, but their legal system more significantly restricts what they can say.

france has a rather strict, for example, racial hatred speech code, and criminalizes all sorts of speech that we don't.

we have a MUCH broader latitude in regards to what we can legally say in this country.

you are bringing up a completely different point than i was making.

[kenfrequed]

31. ah

And you are making an entirely different point than reality dictates in this case. Somehow I see France having free speech and right to assemble and march and possess broad freedoms in the press and exercising them on a regular basis. I don't think this is only a narrow vociferous right to speak on specific redress of grievances.

And for that matter if we are so damned free to speak out why is it when Americans do so in a political manner our police gas us, truncheon us, and imprison us. I live in Minnesota and recall the protests at the RNC very well.

And while you state there are laws regarding limitations of speech in France the only real example you can bring up is a law against 'hate speech.' I know I have always wanted to bilge racist bullshit and feel very hurt that I cannot.

But what about the purient American laws that control public nudity or the display of nude people? Surely that is a limitation on freedom of speech and expression. Or how about civil laws that allow a corporation to sue me into the stone-age for damage to their name and reputation if I speak out about how their products or practices hurt Americans. Obviously free speech isn't really 'for-free speech' in America.

Oh, and considering that France was subjegated by the Nazi's in World War II, I think a little nervousness about hate-speech is somehow understandable.

Why don't you cite some French legal code rather than making tired generalizations trumped up by whatever absurd right wing radio broadcast you are getting your Francophobic BS from.

[reggie the dog]

37. girls do not have to wear

tops at the beach here. The human body is not taboo and is open to artistic expression as well. We often protest, sometimes the cops come in and bust up the protests mostly after 10 or 12 hours or so. Often times off duty police march in the protests, not as undercover, but because they are protesting against the government. At the last demonstration there were unions of workers in the public and private sector in the parade in the town I live in, there are 30 thousand people here, and several thousand more in villages a few miles away in the grape fields to the east west and south (alps are to the north). 4 thousand people were at the demonstration. Public workers there were

Train, national forest workers, post office, telephone, electricity, gas, JUDGES IN THEIR ROBES!, police officers protesting to preserve the quality of our schools for their kids too, teachers pre school to high school, off duty soldiers, government bureaucracy workers, university professors, government scientists, (for all of these groups, like all the private sector groups and wildcats too the white and blue collar were represented)

private sector

sheep shearers farmers union from the alps
local grape growers
local wine producers
local farmers
some of the few factory workers still left anywhere near here
the garbage collectors
the water company and I may have missed some there were a shitload of private sector people

OTHER GROUPS

High school and jr. high schools students organized by student unions
Local university students organized by the student unions at the universities
MULTIPLE UNIONS OF RETIRED PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!! HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE OVER 60 WERE WITH US!!!!

WILDCATS

Local hippies, artists, skaters, musicians and other freaky people playing music, riding around on their bikes or skateboards (I was on my mountain bike)

quite a day, the strike was huge and there were 4 thousand people in a town of 3O thousand, and 4 million in the streets in a country of 60 million, ONE OUT OF EVERY 15 PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY PROTESTED

you know why
WE ARE TIRED
tired of golden parachutes
slashes in public funding and the slow selling off of public resources
we are tired of scandals involving corporate fraud
TIRED OF SWITZERLAND, MONACO, LUXEMBOURG and ANDORRA AND ALL THE STUPID UK ISLES letting French people hide money from our tax collectors in their
we are giving a big FUCK YOU to the government

university professors and students have been on strike for nearly three months now, Guadalupe went on strike for 2 months, Martinique for a month.

You know what, we win and win again. The government is slowly giving concessions.

When they kidnap bosses they win, they get double their severance pay when they are laid off (less bonuses?)

I get off my ass and protest, I vote extreme left(Bové the organic farmer who uprooted the monsanto corn test plot here then got busted, then did it again), I talk about the movement with my high school and university students. I wonder what the person saying I am not free to speak here in France has been doing with all their rights in the USA.

[kenfrequed]

45. Thank you.

I appreciate what you say and agree. I am glad you brought in your experiences there. I think the reason that a few people in the US talk badly about the French is simple Jealousy. Most of us would rather work a few less hours and manage to do it on one job. Most of us would like to have healthcare. Most of us would like to live in a nation where our media pays attention to our voices instead of telling us what to think.

Instead we get unrelenting corporate dominance. For the love of all thats good please do not let that happen in your nation.

Oh yeah, and thank you for that Lafeyette guy. He really did help us out a lot.

[reggie the dog]

49. Lafayette, mutual desire to brawl against the English!

[KakistocracyHater]

52. I would LOVE to have English speaking

French come to America & reignite our passion for liberty, I saw "Sicko" & was just amazed at the differences. I used to get 'Channel 4' but my cable corps. took it away, I found the French news a refreshing change, when a storm goes thru 1 of their cities the French news tells how many old trees were downed-it's better than hearing of the property $number$.

[reggie the dog]

34. EU law supersedes French law

in regards to free speech

Also if someone in the USA were to publicly call for the killing of gays, jews, blacks in the USA they can be arrested for incitation of murder. In France (EU judges have not taken on free speech in relation to racism from what I understand) we esteem that overt racism will inevitably lead to an increase in acts of violence against the group which is denigrated and that such action is illegal. Is this a limit on free speech or a limit on spreading hatred, increased violence, and overall injustice?

[reggie the dog]

33. French freedom of speech comes from the European Union

all people living in the European Union have their EU rights. For instance you cannot advocate using, growing illegal drugs according to French law but that law was overridden by the EU court which said that EU citizens right to free speech included the right to say using illegal drugs is cool or saying how to grow illegal plants. As for their laws against racism which make racist speech illegal we have to wait for an EU court ruling. LePen seems to be going for it with his recent speech at the EU Parliament. What is laughable about the judicial system of France? It is different than in the states but there is not one sole good way of having a judicial system.

[aquart]

16. Well, some very pampered young people are not going to find work.

So we'll see what they do. Although I am in favor of the guillotine and/or official public hangings of corrupt officials and most CEOs, I have always eschewed mobs in favor of non-violent barricades.

[reggie the dog]

38. who is pampered?

our universities are not financial elitists like those in the USA. With tuition ranging from 5 to 400 euros per year it is hardly cost prohibitive for even the poorest of students.

[pleah]

6. Gotta love the citizens of France.

They really know how to get their point across.

[Blue_Tires]

30. +1

[reggie the dog]

8. at least a dozen different companies have had this happen and j

just today several university presidents locked up the university presidents.

[Robbien]

10. Is your media playing down these bossnappings?

If bossnappings happened here in the US, barely anyone would know. Or if the stories were reported, the protesters would be slimed by the media.

[Flagg]

22. Quite the contrary actually

The French media love that stuff.

[reggie the dog]

32. true

its the talk of the town so to speak.

[imdjh]

11. I like it, if for no other reason than they ar doing something besides complaining.

Spirit and taking action, good thing.

[Dangerously Amused]

15. Gotta love the French!

They KNOW how to get the attention of their "leaders," and they aren't afraid to do it.

[fascisthunter]

17. the French are less subservient to the wealthy elite

in comparison to Americans.

[Xithras]

36. The French are less likely to be killed doing so.

An action like this in the U.S. would trigger a full tactical assault by a SWAT team...if the business owner didn't just shoot the kidnappers dead himself (courts have pretty clearly rules that using deadly force to escape a kidnapper is a legitimate self-defense argument). It's a different world.

[reggie the dog]

39. damn right we are

that is one of the reasons I agreed to stay here. I met my French wife in the USA and she said I had to live for 1 year in France if she married me, just to see the culture. After a year in Paris I decided to stay here. There are lots and lots of reasons. I even have French nationality now, so I can say we and not they for French and American people;

[winyanstaz]

18. Viva la France!!!

The French people are magnificent. :) When they have had enough they stand up to tyrants and clean house and start over.

[WriteDown]

35. With the exception of

WWII :evilgrin:.

But seriously, what is a "boss?" There are a lot of definitions. Is it the CEO or some poor middle management schlub.

[reggie the dog]

40. Charles de Gaulle?

L'appel Du 18 Juin 1940? VIVE la France libre!

Dude kicked ass, gave women the right to vote by fiat just before he stepped down as the leader of France after the war and then did not run for office for a decade and later resigned when the peole took to the streets and protested his Algerian war policy. Class act he was. He said if the people lost faith in him there was no point in his trying to lead the country. CLASS

[WriteDown]

42. I'm talking more about when the Nazi's marched into

Paris and many raised their left hands in salute. Charles de Gaulle was a cool guy.

*spelling

[reggie the dog]

48. right on

the French army was taken out real fast, lots of people were in la résistance and took up the fight in guerllia tactics where the army failed. Thankfully people like my grandfather came from the USA and fought against the Nazis. Who would have known. Hell when I moved here my grandpa showed me pictures of Audette, Claudette, hell he had a few French and Belgian girlfriends here, he got in in 44 and left in 47. He saw some action but not a lot. Lots LOTS of French people still remember the help the USA gave us then despite what the neocons say. Many are also thankful that the USA had military bases in West Germany, thus a "wall" between the fascist east and the free west. The French loved that too and have not forgotten. They are happy that Obama is being friendly to France.

[unkachuck]

20. the French are cool....

....and way ahead of us corporate ass-suckers here in the US....they're not only cool, they're extremely cool....

"...56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved."

'...a new form of labor action dubbed "bossnapping"...'

....the French take their situation and country personally....we, on the other hand, loved to have our little free-market minds clouded with fuzzy, cosmic, non-explanation, expert explanations....

....for us, things just happen, events just form out of mid-air, a religious experience....while we sleep we're being ravaged by a growing nebulous global economic crisis complete with a hand full of invisible gold fingers, yet people are happy to acquiesce....

....in France, they know they're being ravaged by capitalists and capitalism and they respond accordingly....

[DebbieCDC]

26. Unkachuck, I haven't seen that calling card in 40 years!

Wow -- I remember watching that show with my dad who loved Westerns!

I am definitely showing my age now!

[unkachuck]

29. I loved Paladin too....

....Paladin was a hedonist, philosopher, moralist and hire-gun all rolled into one....you just can't get good analog TV programming like that anymore :)

....we're all getting old, hopefully not too old, to appreciate a reluctant mercenary like Paladin....

[reggie the dog]

41. you tell mister bossman

that he aint a gonna piss down my back and tell me its rainin

[Vidar]

21. The French had six revolutions to our one, & they've got it right.

[reggie the dog]

43. 6 ?

we are on our 5th republic, there was the failed Commune de Paris, but may 1968 was a cultural revolution;

[Vidar]

44. Yes, I was counting '68.

[reggie the dog]

47. cool, my mother and father in law participated in that one

[DebbieCDC]

25. Vive le France!

C'est magnifique! Drag those tumbrills through the streets!!!

I love France. If I ever win the lottery I'm taking my dogs and we'll gone be on he next boat over and finding a little chateau to live in (with occasional side trips to Monte Carlo of course!).

[reggie the dog]

46. You are missing nothing in Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo is part of Monaco, a tax haven, I take my buddies there once to see it when the come to vist, but it is little la la land where a 2 bedroom apartment sells for a million Euors. It is so shitty that the cops threatend to give me a ticket because I picked a ripe orange off of a tree on the street (there were oranges falling all over the ground). The architecture is cool and all, but it is just too plastic of a vibe. Menton is 5 miles away. It was part of Italy, a city state, and French in its past and the architecture is excellent. There are also many pretty villages up in the hills, the coast is the coast the Côte d'Azur as we call it from Menton to nearly Toulon. Lots of ultra rich, lots of right wingers, the most right wing of all regions. You go up off the coast and you get to grapes, then the Alps, with cheese makers, goats, sheeps, cows and wild mountains. Really is a beautiful region. Get yourself an old chateau just where the grapes meet the olive tree plantations at the foot of the Alps and the high mountains and the coast are an hour a way. Nice and Marseille are nice cities in the area too even if Marseille is a bit far to the East. You should really see the region on vacation, Spring is not as expensive as summer and the spring rains are usually done by May.

[reggie the dog]

50. Monte Carlo bis

it is so expensive to live in Monte Carlo that all the working class people, teachers and the like as well as many white collar workers there CANNOT EVEN LIVE IN THE PRICIPALITY THEY WORK IN AND COME BACK TO THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE AT NIGHT WHEN THEY COME HOME!

Stay in France, je vous en prie, Nice, Menton, hell Cannes if you want to see rich folk, come for the film festival, Saint Tropez is good for the jet set too, but all these places pay taxes in FRANCE not in MONACO MONTE CARLO!

Go to Italy it is beautiful too.

Dont wait to win the lotto, if you can scam up the cash the plan tickets are 600 dollars in the spring and you should count 80 dollars a night for a basic hotel, two weeks could be done in the three grand range.

[NashVegas]

28. Yay! Go Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys, Go!

[kenfrequed]

51. Sarchasm I hope

Odd that in America we only recall the most recent of the Franco-German wars and choose to determine our opinion of the French based on that. Prior to that war the French gave as good as they got and trampling over Germany was sort of a national pastime.

[NashVegas]

53. Moi? Sarcastic?

Mais non, mon petit chou chou