Goodyear Managers Held by French Workers Then Released

On Tuesday, for a second day, hundreds of employees at the plant in Amiens held two senior executives captive before the men were released in the afternoon when the police intervened. Union leaders had threatened to keep them sequestered until the company agreed to pay out “huge amounts of money” to nearly 1,200 workers about to lose their jobs, following a two-year fight to keep the factory from closing.

Goodyear refused to negotiate or make concessions.

The “boss-napping,” as the tactic has come to be known, revived a sort of guerrilla theater that was used at several multinational companies’ French operations, including Caterpillar and Sony, at the height of the financial crisis as workers despaired about layoffs and cutbacks.

While this standoff was short-lived, the workers’ tactic may not help with overall concerns about France as a place to do global business. As a debate resurfaces over whether France is in danger of becoming the next sick man of Europe, the Goodyear factory has become one of the most potent symbols of the challenges that companies face here.

France’s rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace had long been a source of aggravation for employers.

“This happened because workers were desperate,” said Jean-Paul Fitoussi, a professor of economics at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. “But it is still an act that will underline the perception that it’s difficult to do business in France.”

France’s rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace had long been a source of aggravation for employers. Despite that, France remains one of the Continent’s top destinations for foreign direct investment. But conscious of the stigma, the country’s Socialist president, François Hollande, took steps last year to enhance the business environment after a report commissioned by his government urged him to administer a “competitiveness shock” needed to avoid long-term industrial decline.

Mr. Hollande pushed through a series of changes to French labor laws, including making it easier for companies to fire workers or reduce their pay and work hours in an economic downturn. He also introduced 20 billion euros, or $27 billion, worth of tax breaks for businesses.

Still, the imminent closing of the Goodyear factory — the latest in a series of mass layoffs at large companies across France — underscored the economic consequences for workers in a country that is grappling with a high unemployment rate and is on the verge of slipping into a second recession in two years. While other big economies in Europe are showing at least glimmers of growth, France’s is heading in the opposite direction.

Unions at the Goodyear plant had been demanding higher-than-usual severance packages of 80,000 euros, or about $110,000, plus 2,500 euros for each year worked, as a condition before the bosses were freed. “It will take years for these workers to find new jobs, and the older ones will have almost no chance,” said Mr. Fitoussi.

While Goodyear’s French tire factory was not as profitable as operations elsewhere, French courts tend to assess a company’s plans to close based on overall group performance.

France’s high court has ruled that if a company is flagging, “if you’re making money on an international level for that particular activity, then that should be taken into consideration in order to see if downsizing is justified,” said Laurent Guardelli, a Paris-based partner at the law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse who specializes in French employment law.

Goodyear condemned the holding of managers, saying it would refuse to negotiate with the unions as long as the men were being held against their will.