Layoffs and liquidation plans never go over well, but in France they're apparently all but intolerable. Case in point, the closing of a French Nortel Networks Inc. plant where the employees have threatened to blow up the facility if they don't receive favorable severance packages.
According to
Reuters, workers placed gas cylinders in front of the plant in the Yvelines area near Paris, where 480 jobs are set to be lost. The cylinders were empty, local newspaper Le Parisien said.
It's the second such threat out of French workers this week in a country with very pro-labor employment policies. Last Sunday, workers at bankrupt French car parts maker New Fabris pulled a similar stunt as they try to get better severance terms from Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen.
For its part Nortel is limping through bankruptcy proceedings. Nokia Siemens Networks BV has a $650 million
stalking-horse bid for the company's assets. But private equity firm MatlinPatterson Global Advisors, which already holds $400 million in Nortel bond debt, is reportedly
gathering a consortium to bid on the company. -
George White
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