‘Boss-napping’ victim sets up as negotiator

A FORMER victim of the French industrial dispute tactic of holding senior management as hostages has set up as a specialist negotiator for affected companies.

Gilles Verrier has also become an expert on how to avoid “boss-napping”, a practice seemingly running rampant in France amid the economic meltdown.

Employees blockade managers in their offices, sometimes for days at a stretch, to try to wring concessions out of firms going through restructuring and to draw attention to their plight.