France: Bosses Flee Hostage Seizure; Workers Reject Layoff Bribe

HAM, FRANCE, September 21 — At 2:00 a.m. on September 17, the four Constellium executives held by angry metalworkers escaped from the plant. The workers are fighting mass layoffs and eventual closing of the facility (see CHALLENGE, 9/5).

 A high-ranking gendarme came to the factory gate and talked to the workers to divert their attention. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the plant, a team of gendarmes cut through the metal fencing and helped the bosses escape by squeezing through the hole in the fence and racing down the railroad tracks in the middle of the night.

The local union leader said the workers are “nauseated by management’s attitude.” He added that “There was no dialogue. We didn’t obtain any concrete improvement.”

On the evening of September 16, a representative of the central government attempted to obtain the liberation of the bosses in exchange for the promise of negotiations, to be held three days later at a hotel 20 miles away. The workers rejected the offer as a stalling maneuver.

“Now we know that we would never have seen them at that…meeting,” the union leader commented. Today, the workers voted against a company offer of a 15,000-euro bonus (US $21,000) for each laid-off worker.

The workers want a commitment to keep the factory open. The plant makes aluminum structures and windows. Constellium plans to lay off 127 of the 207 permanent workers. Forty temporary workers will also lose their jobs. The subcontractors that do work for the Ham plant are expected to lay off 170 of their workers.

The workers’ courageous and militant action to defend their jobs merits praise. But they need to set their sights higher. Instead of accepting the continued rule of their heartless bosses, they should organize for the long-term goal of communist revolution.J