Defy captors, French business chiefs urged

Business managers who are taken hostage at their companies by disgruntled workers must defy them and refuse to “start negotiations with a gun at the head”, the leader of a French business federation said today.

In recent weeks, workers in France have held managers at five companies – Sony France, 3M, Caterpillar, Faurecia and Scapa. The companies had all been hit by the global economic crisis, and some had announced lay-offs or were planning plant shutdowns.