French Renault managers held captive by workers in bid to halt plant sale

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Workers in France kept seven managers hostage for 12 hours in an attempt to block the sale of a Renault auto components factory in the most recent "bossnapping" to hit French industry.

Managers at the Fonderie de Bretagne foundry, near the town of Lorient in Brittany, which is up for sale, were held by trade union activists on the morning on Tuesday 27 April and prevented from leaving until 22:30 that night.

Read more: EDF under pressure as workers' strike again

Mael Le Goff, a representative for the hard-left union CGT said that the decision had been to release the managers because "they still didn’t want to have a dialogue so it was pointless trying to talk to people who don’t want to engage."

Renault has "strongly condemned" the action by the workers. The auto company said that it was trying to find a buyer for the plant, which employs 350 workers, to "maintain activity at the site and safeguard jobs".

Workforce relations in France can often be tense, with clashes between unions and executives in the headlines a regular occurrence. 

In 2014, Goodyear tyre factory workers held two executives captive for almost 300 hours in an attempt to stop the closure of the plant.

An incident in 2015 saw furious employees of Air France chased several executives at the airline's headquarters near Paris, leaving one with his clothes in tatters and the other being stripped down to the waist in front of television cameras. Three people were handed suspended prison sentences for the attack.

During Nicolas Sarkozy's tenure as president between 2007 and 2012, a spate of "bossnapping" led the right-wing politician to hand extra powers to the police in a bid to end the practice.

Read more: Former French President Sarkozy found guilty of corruption

While the bosses at the Renault factory are now free, the site remains closed, with striking workers demanding the automaker reconsider its plans to sell the foundry. "We are still waiting for progress with this issue," said Le Goff, adding: "It has been going on for a year. It's exhausting."

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