PARIS (Reuters) - French workers detained managers overnight at a plant in southern France owned by Scapa Group after a labour dispute escalated, a company official said on Wednesday.
In the latest case of French bosses being effectively held hostage by their workers, talks over the potential closure of the facility near the town of Bellegarde came to a head when employees blocked managers from leaving the site on Tuesday.
A company official said local police had been alerted and were expected to free the managers on Wednesday.
"We are actively looking to resume the talks with the work councils," Ian Bushell, European finance director at Scapa, told Reuters by telephone from Manchester. He said the company did not plan to make any concessions.
Members of the CGT trade union called a strike on Tuesday as negotiations stalled and refused to allow management to leave the site, Bushell said.
Scapa Group, which makes adhesive films and tapes, in January announced global job cuts and said it was in talks over the possible closure of the facility, which employs 68 people.
The company reported a 34 percent fall in sales in December due to plummeting demand and said at the beginning of this year that 2009 would be challenging.
A poll found earlier this week that almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses.
Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have also held managers inside the factories overnight to demand better layoff terms -- a form of labour action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.
(Reporting by Sophie Taylor)
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Last updated: 08 April 2009, 13:11
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