One of my grandfathers was a coal miner until a mine collapsed right in front of him, killing a man standing three feet away. He emigrated to America and raised his children and grandchildren never to cross a picket line. And I never have.
French strikers in today's France are another breed, though. Here's a story from today's paper. It's normal union-management relations in France to hold executives hostage, block highways, train stations, and factories, and go on transport strikes at the beginning of big holidays. It's also typical reporting in France that the union leader is interviewed, but not the policemen or the kidnapped executives. The fact that the factory is losing 5 million euros a year is mentioned in passing.
The four directors of Constellium held captive since Friday morning by employees of the business in Ham, in the Somme, managed to escape last night. To the great annoyance of the employees who were protesting a plan social which provides for the elimination of 127 jobs out of the 200 at the factory, which processes aluminum (window frames, bars, structures). A fifth person, in charge of human resources at the site, was initially held but allowed by the employees to leave earlier.
Questioned this morning by France-Info, Benoît Mérelle, CFTC [union] representative, is still not over it. "Last night around two in the morning, our executives escaped with the help of the policemen by the railroad. The police set up a lure by coming to the barriers to ask us what we were going to do.... During that time, their friends helped the management escape," complained the union rep. The four executives slipped through an opening cut into the fence around the site by the police, he told reporters.
"We are not voyous."
The employees, taken by surprise, nevertheless hope for the executives to return to discuss [matters]. "We are not voyous, we won't sack the site, it's our industrial tool," emphasizes the CFTC representative.
Friday, taking advantage of a visit by the president of the worldwide business, Paul Warton, ccompanied by the French director, Hervé Pelcerf, the factory's employees decided to take them hostage. Around midnight, after a fruitless mediation, the employees decided to continue their action.
"The employees are disgusted by the attitude of management," said Benoît Mérelle. "There is no dialogue. We haven't gotten any kind of concrete measure." The unions are asking for promises that the factory will not be closed and support a reindustrialization project which an investment fund has shown interest in, but which was rejected by Constellium, he says. The employees are afraid that the plan social is nothing but a "disguised closing" before the factory could be completely shuttered next year. The management states, on the contrary, that this restructuring is necessary for the survival of the company, while the factory has lost 14 million euros in the past three years.