22 August 2009

Is this "environmental terrorism" ?

Angry lorry drivers at Serta, a struggling transportation company, are threatening to pour more than 8,000 litres of toxic fuel additive into the Seine if their demands for redundancy pay-offs are not met. Acknowledging the "dramatic" effect this could have on the river's fish population, they insist they will not be dissuaded unless their bosses give in...

Around 50 workers at the distribution site at La Vaupalière near Rouen are demanding severance packages of 15,000 euros after Serta, which went into administration a year ago, announced job cuts. The transportation company, which has suffered badly in the financial crisis, has already cut around 80 jobs since the start of the year...

These actions, decried as media stunts by their critics, followed a springtime spate of so-called "boss-nappings" across France in which business executives were taken hostage by their bellicose employees. Such episodes are familiar features in the country's sociopolitical landscape and received more attention abroad than they did at home...
Why would they think something like this could ever succeed?
It may be that the Serta drivers are seeking to recreate the success of an infamous workers' campaign nine years ago in which workers at the Cellatex textile plant poured thousands of litres of sulphuric acid into the river Meuse. They were rewarded by management with a year-long redundancy package of 80% of their salary.
Oh.

2 comments:

  1. They are terrorists and should be treated as such.

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  2. I find it absolutely insane that these people aren't arrested. If I poisoned New York's drinking water because I was not efficient enough to keep my job I would be dragged off to prison (and rightly so) not given a free year's paycheck. I am really confounded why these people aren't already in jail.

    ReplyDelete

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