[Zhukov]

French workers threaten to blow up factory


Workers at collapsed French car parts maker New Fabris have threatened to blow up their factory if they do not receive payouts from auto groups Renault and Peugeot to compensate for their lost jobs by July 31.

New Fabris was declared in liquidation in April, so the workers stand to get no redundancy money, although they are entitled to draw state unemployment benefit.

They want Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen to pay 30,000 euros ($53,500) for each of the 336 staff at the factory, or some 10 million euros in total, in return for its remaining stocks of equipment and machinery.

"The bottles of gas have already been placed at various parts of the factory and are connected with each other," CGT trades union official Guy Eyermann told France Info radio.

"If Renault and PSA refuse to give us that money it could blow up before the end of the month," he added.

A delegation of the workers has a meeting on Thursday (local time) with Renault, which had no immediate comment.

Police also declined to comment on the threat by the workers, who are occupying the New Fabris factory at Chatellerault, near Poitiers, in central France.

Some French workers have adopted militant tactics in the economic crisis, including "bossnappings" where managers have been held hostage in their offices.

- Reuters


--------------------------


Very interesting, I think. Perhaps it's a sign to come of how things will play out in other countries. The US getting more millitant? Probably not any time soon.