Why can't we be more like the French..

Forget the 100 years war, Old Joan of Arc and even Thiery Henri leaving Arsenal.. I take my hat off to the French for such an initiative...... Vive la France !!!

French workers paid not to blow up factory
French workers who said they would blow up their factory if they were not compensated for being laid off have each been paid £25,000.

The workers at a manufacturing plant near Bordeaux had rigged industrial equipment with gas canisters and kindling in preparation to carry out their threat.

But yesterday they agreed to leave peacefully after the clients who had withdrawn their business during the economic crisis agreed to a compensation package.

The staff at JLG, a company that makes platforms mounted on cranes for fixing equipment high off the ground, were the third in France to make similar threats this month after workers from the telecoms manufacturer Nortel and car parts maker New Fabris.

JLG workers at three plants in southwestern France had been on strike for three weeks over a management plan to lay off 53 of them. After hearing news of the threats made at Nortel and New Fabris, they decided to follow suit.

After lengthy talks that lasted well into Thursday night, management met their demand that laid off workers receive 30,000 euros in compensation, and the strikers removed the gas cylinders and put the cranes back inside the factory.

"It's a shame that we reached this point. If management had wanted, we could have avoided this tough conflict," said Christian Amadio, a JLG worker representative.

The Telegraph