3M Boss Held Hostage By French Strikers

Although reading the words "French" and "Strikers" usually wouldn't garner much attention, this story help a special place in my heart.  Note the food they served him while holding him hostage.  I think I could enjoy that type of punishment!

From our friends at AP and Huffington Post

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3M Boss Held Hostage by French Strikers

AP March 25, 2009

Striking French workers for US manufacturer 3M were holding their boss hostage today at a plant south of Paris as anger over layoffs and cutbacks mounted around the country.

A few dozen strikers took turns standing guard outside factory offices where the director of 3M's French operations, Luc Rousselet, has been holed up since yesterday. The workers did not threaten any violence and the atmosphere was calm at the factory on the outskirts of Pithiviers.

A few police officers stood outside the facility, while workers inside exchanged jokes and worries about their future amid heaps of empty plastic coffee cups and boxes of cookies.

Talks among 3M workers and management were suspended overnight, but were to resume later Wednesday mediated by a local labor official. Workers want better severance packages for those being laid off and better conditions for those keeping their jobs.

Meanwhile, workers from a French plant owned by German tire maker Continental AG marched through Paris and burned tires Wednesday near the president's Elysee palace to protest against their factory's planned closure.

Faced with what it calls the collapse of the European auto market, Continental recently announced plans to close the plant in 2010.

"We shouldn't let this company close down, otherwise it means that all these robber bosses can do whatever they want to," said Antonio Da Costa, a union representative.

In France, it is not unheard-of for striking workers to hold company executives as a way of winning concessions from management. The hostages are almost never injured. A similar situation ended peacefully earlier this month at Sony's French facilities.

"We don't have any other ammunition" other than hostage-taking, said Laurent Joly, who has worked at the Pithiviers plant for 11 years and is angry that he is being transferred to another French site.

"I really have the impression that we no longer exist for these people," Genevieve Camus, who has worked for the plant for 35 years, said of the company's US management.

The French division of 3M -- a diversified US manufacturer known for Post-It notes and Scotch tape -- recently announced layoffs and job transfers among its 2,700 workers at 13 French sites. Among those targeted are 110 of the Pithiviers factory's 235 workers.

The Maplewood, Minnesota-based 3M is also planning job cuts at facilities in the United States and other developed nations.

The 3M workers have been on strike since Friday. Hamon said Rousselet was blocked from leaving the factory Tuesday after arriving from 3M France headquarters near Paris.

Store owners in Pithiviers were planning to shut early Wednesday to support the factory workers.

When Rousselet, the locked-up director, came out of the office to go to the bathroom, workers booed him while reporters asked him how he was holding up.

"Everything's fine," he said.

Workers planned to bring Rousselet mussels and french fries for dinner if he was still there tonight.

(BS note:  he was there that night they did!)

You just don't get it, do you? You don't

In the original "Austin Powers", Dr. Evil had a plan for eliminating Austin Powers. He ordered him placed in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death. When questioned by Scott on why he just didn't use a gun to blow his brains out, Dr. Evil replied, "You just don't get it, do you? You don't."

To Dr. Evil, the obviously solution is not necessarily the best one, nor the path that is chosen. This is the same way I feel about college basketball and the NCAA tournament.

For example: after the bracket was announced on Sunday, most of the announcers on ESPN were picking UNC to make the Final 4 and win the entire tournament. To an outside observer, this would appear to be good news. However, nothing was further from the truth. I was depressed and scared. I was ready to put on black in mourning for my teams eventual loss. We had been given the kiss of death. I had given up and the tourney hadn't started.

For some reason, I am under the unshakable belief that my actions, both deliberate and accidental have a direct barring on my team's results. I think it started when I was a kid. Watching UNC hoops at my home was a sacred event. Woe to anyone who dared called during a game. Superstitions abounded in our household about our actions and the impact on the results. During one game, my dad noticed that UNC started playing better whenever my mom left the room. She was from Oregon (the one non-NC born resident in the house). Whenever UNC started playing badly, she would leave the room; a comeback would follow. At first it was a joke, but after a while, it became scripture within the house ("thou shalt not have Oregonian's watching UNC play hoops"). These superstitions continued into adulthood, and they were manifested in many ways. The one general pattern was the power of negative thinking. You never got too excited, optimistic or boastful about you chances. Doing so would invite an almost certain reprisal. It wasn't just me, but this was the way it was for all UNC fans, including our legendary coach, Dean Smith.

Dean was the master of negative thinking. He could make a very convincing argument as to why UNC doesn't have a chance against a 16th seated opponent, and he would give you a litany of reasons of why we would lose. The thing is, he really meant it. He knew how the other team could beat him, no matter how improbable it might be, and he would use this as a way to cast his team as the underdog. It didn't matter if they were favored by 20 points, we would be lucky to escape with a win. I think the reason most ACC fans didn't like Dean Smith was not because of how good he was as a coach, but because of this "poor me" routine he would do before every game, and then wallop the other school by 50. It was annoying to others and endearing to UNC.

Except when he lost.

That is when we reflected on the outcome and realize we should have taken heed to his warnings. We were overconfident and underestimated our opponent, and that is why we lost. It was our fault. All of our fault. Yours, mine, everyone's.

Back in 2005, I planned a trip to Japan to visit a good friend. I planned it the first week of April, which just happened be when the final four was taking place (March Madness ending in April - it is just wrong!). I wasn't aware of this overlap when I booked the ticket, but once I did, I had three choices:

1. Cancel my trip to watch the game
2. Go to Japan but watch the game there
3. Go to Japan and ignore the game

The typical die hard fan would do #1 or #2. But after years of experiencing the power of negative thinking, I knew that doing so would bring almost certain loss to the team. If I change my plans to root for my team, that team will lose, I thought. So, I chose option #3: I went to Japan, and tried to ignore the game. I say tried. We caught some of it on the radio when we were driving. That almost cost us the game. UNC won the National Championship vs. Illinois, but it was a miracle they did. I recorded the game and watched it when I came back. As I was watching us collapse, wondering how we could possibly win, the tension in my head started building, I covered my eyes and a sick feeling was building in my gut. It was at this point I was reminded, "You know UNC won? It was in all the papers." Yes, this was all true and I had no logical reason for being this stressed, but all I could say is, "You just don't get it, do you? This is UNC - we can still lose."

Today, President Obama, made his official picks for the NCAA Tournament. He has UNC winning it all. Other fans might be happy. I am not. This is like the opposite of a Presidential Pardon. My team is doomed.

Here's hoping we have better luck next year.