------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 6, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
AT FRENCH APPLIANCE COMPANY: MILITANT ACTION WINS SEVERANCE PAY By G. Dunkel The big sign hanging on the Moulinex plant in Cormelles-le- Royal, France, summed it up: "Money or boom." Moulinex, a midsize maker of small appliances in France, went bankrupt in early September. The German firm SEB bought the company, located in a small town in France's northern "rust belt." SEB decided to move most of its production out of France. Workers demanded a severance bonus. Some 50 to 100 workers, according to a union spokesperson, put "acid, acetylene, gas and petrol at strategic points so that they can blow the place if we don't get the money we are asking for." After occupying their plants for three months, holding the government's negotiator hostage, burning down an unused warehouse and threatening to "blow the place," the 4,400 workers at Moulinex finally won their demand. Those with over 25 years seniority--more than two-thirds of the workforce--will get a bonus of about $17,000, as well as the normal layoff and unemployment benefits. Five of the six union confederations involved in the struggle signed off on the agreement on Nov. 21. The sixth confederation, the CFDT, is expected to sign soon. The workers have dismantled their protest occupation and the new owners are preparing to move the machinery. WHAT MAKES THE BOSSES LISTEN? Some officials of the CFDT had urged the workers not to destroy the factory, saying that would destroy any chance of finding a buyer who might restore their jobs. But the workers didn't agree. Antonio Thomas, a 28-year veteran of the Cormelles factory, told the Wall Street Journal that threats of violence "are the only thing that makes management and politicians listen. It's our only weapon to put pressure on them." Another worker, who gave her name as Patricia, told Libération, "September 11, that's dramatic; the fall of the Airbus in New York, that's dramatic; but us losing our jobs, that's dramatic, too." The past few years in France, workers have resorted to bold tactics in their struggles with management. Facing cutbacks, bank workers at Credit Foncier and aluminum workers at Pechiney kidnapped management executives. Brewery workers in Alsace-Loraine in eastern France flooded the streets with beer. Textile workers dumped sulfuric acid and threatened to detonate chemicals stored in their factory. France does not have a Bill of Rights. It has "anti- terrorist" laws that are in many respects more severe than similar laws in the United States. But the state in France couldn't charge the Moulinex workers and their unions with terrorist acts because the French working class regards what they did as valid tactics in the class struggle. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
