Workers Release Boss After Hostage Crisis

PARIS, March 26, 2009 — -- Employees at a factory owned by U.S. manufacturer 3M near Paris released the plant manager Wednesday night after holding him hostage for nearly two days in a labor dispute over layoffs.

A framework for an agreement on the layoff plan was agreed to and Luc Rousselet, 3M's director of French operations, was allowed to leave the factory.

The company recently announced layoffs at 3M facilities worldwide, including nearly half the 235 workers in this plant in the town of Pithiviers, just south of Paris.

"Negotiations are going to resume and it's a very good thing. … I'm satisfied and the conditions I was in were not that hard," Rousselet told reporters outside the plant after he was released. "I know it's a difficult plan for the people, so I understand the distress people may have."

Boos from around 20 workers could be heard as Rousselet left the office.

Earlier, French TV showed Rousselet locked up alone in an office, in front of his computer, talking on the phone and eating.

He told France 2 TV through the half-open door of the office that "it's going very well." A group of employees could be seen in front of the office, playing cards, reading newspapers and talking.

Rousselet said he slept for a few hours on a flattened cardboard box after the negotiations broke off at 3 a.m. Wednesday. Groups of 20 employees took turns watching him.