因裁員 法國頻發老闆劫持案件

Almost half of French people believe it is acceptable for workers facing layoffs to lock up their bosses, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.

Staff at French plants run by Sony, 3M and Caterpillar have held managers inside the factories overnight, in three separate incidents, to demand better layoff terms -- a new form of labor action dubbed "bossnapping" by the media.

A poll by the CSA institute for Le Parisien newspaper found 50 percent of French people surveyed disapproved of such acts, but 45 percent thought they were acceptable.

"They are not in the majority ... but 45 percent is an enormous percentage and it demonstrates the extent of exasperation among the public at this time of economic crisis," Le Parisien said.

On March 31, billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault was trapped in a taxi in Paris for an hour by staff from his PPR luxury and retail group who were angry about layoffs. Riot police intervened to free him.

Le Parisien found that 56 percent of blue-collar workers polled approved of bossnappings while 41 percent disapproved. Among white-collar workers, 59 percent were against the practice while 40 percent thought it was acceptable.

"These hostage takings, we know how it starts but no one knows how far it can go," said Xavier Bertrand, a former labor minister now secretary-general of the ruling UMP party.

"Our country must avoid entering a spiral of violence," he said in reaction to the opinion poll, adding that bossnappings "cannot be tolerated."

本週二公佈的一項民意調查顯示，近一半的法國人認爲面臨解僱的工人劫持老闆的做法是可以接受的。

近日法國發生了三起員工劫持老闆的案件，Sony、3M和Caterpillar公司在法國的分廠都發生了員工將管理人員劫持在廠內一個晚上，要求更爲豐厚的遣散費的事件。這一新型勞動行爲被媒體稱爲“老闆劫持（bossnapping）”。

這項由CSA調查機構爲《巴黎人報》開展的民調發現，50%的受訪民衆不贊成這種行爲，45%的人認爲可以接受。

《巴黎人報》稱：“雖然不是大多數，但45%是一個很高的比率，這表明了民衆在經濟危機時期憤怒情緒的廣泛程度。”

上月31日，億萬富豪、PPR奢侈品和零售集團總裁弗朗西斯-亨利•皮諾特在巴黎的出租車中被因被解僱而憤怒的員工包圍一小時，直到防暴警察趕來才獲釋。

調查發現，在受訪的藍領工人中，56%的人贊成“老闆劫持”，41%表示反對；在白領員工中，59%的人反對這種做法，40%的人認爲可以接受。

法國前勞工部部長、執政黨人民運動聯盟現任祕書長澤維爾•伯特蘭德說：“關於這些劫持案件，我們知道它們是怎麼開始的，但沒有人知道會發展到什麼地步。”

他迴應該民調說：“我們的國家必須避免陷入暴力漩渦”，並稱老闆劫持“不能寬容”。

Vocabulary:

riot police:防暴警察