Layoffs prompt dangerous and desperate antics in France
French workers are already well known for their fierce and potentially dangerous antics when companies announce layoffs. A string of kidnappings earlier this year saw mobs of angry workers barricade plant managers in their offices for days. Now former Nortel Network employees in France, who were laid off after the company sought bankruptcy protection, have threatened to blow up a plant. Workers set up gas canisters with a painted sign that read “Boom” outside Nortel’s operations in Chateaufort. The workers are seeking 100,000 euros along with their regular severance. Police later said the canisters were empty. It’s the second bomb threat this week by French workers—union officials at a bankrupt auto supplier threatened to detonate gas canisters unless the company’s customers, Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen, paid for their severance.