In the latest incident of “bossnapping” in France, Renault workers at a car part production branch of the company in the country’s northwest have held up seven managers to stop them from selling the factory.
AFP reported the incident on Wednesday, saying the drama at the Fonderie de Bretagne foundry near the town of Lorient saw the workers preventing the managers from leaving for as long as 12 hours.
Union representative Mael Le Goff regretted that the directorship would nevertheless not sit down for a dialog with the workers. "They still didn't want to have a dialog so it was pointless trying to talk to people who don't want to engage," he said.
"We are still waiting for progress with this issue," Le Goff said. "It's been going on for a year, it's exhausting."
The factory remains closed, while Renault allegedly tries to find it a buyer so it does not completely shut down.
The carmaker, meanwhile, blasted the desperate move by the workers, who are still forming last-ditch picket lines outside the foundry.
Exasperated staff have been taking on the directorship across France on many occasions in the past.
In 2015, angry Air France employees chased down several executives at the airline's headquarters near Paris. They stripped one of them in front of TV cameras and tore away at another’s clothes.
A year earlier, workers at a Goodyear tire factory in northern France had held two directors captive for close to 300 hours to try to prevent the closure of the plant.