Workers Begin Seizing Factories Across Europe

Sky News reports workers are occupying a UK wind tubine factory, Vestas Wind Systems, for a sixth consecutive day in protest at plans to shut it down. Protesters and their union are calling for the factory to be nationalized, and claim they will not give up until the company agrees to keep the plant open.

Last week employees of New Fabris -- a bankrupt French car-parts supplier -- in central-eastern Chatellerault, threatened to blow up their factory unless Renault and Peugeot pay them compensation. Nearly 400 employees of New Fabris occupied the plant demanding the automakers pay nearly R350 000 to each worker. The Telegraph reported the French workers were paid the same week:

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 staff at JLG are 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.

French Workers Paid; Blow-up Threat Worked

On Monday July 13, employees of New Fabris -- a bankrupt French car-parts supplier -- in central-eastern Chatellerault, threatened to blow up their factory unless Renault and Peugeot pay them compensation. A union official said that the 366 employees of New Fabris were occupying the plant and demanding that the automakers, which accounted for 90 percent of their business, pay €30 000 - nearly R350 000 - to each worker.

"The gas bottles are in the factory. Everything has been planned for it to blow up unless there is an accord by July 31," Guy Eyermann, CGT union official and secretary of the company works council, told AFP. The Chatellerault factory is believed to have car parts worth some two million euros, as well as a new Renault machine estimated at another two million.

"We are not going to let Peugeot and Renault [ both of which received public funds] wait until August or September to recover the spare parts and machines still in the factory," a union leader warned. "If we get nothing, they get nothing at all."

The Telegraph reported Friday the French workers were paid:

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.

Time will tell what will become of these workers, but for the time being this event could trigger widespread violence (or the threat of violence) throughout Europe.

"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," says The Telegraph, "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."