French Auto Workers Threaten to Blow up Factory

Outside view of the New Fabris car parts manufacturer in Chatellerault, central France, Wednesday...

Outside view of the New Fabris car parts manufacturer in Chatellerault, central France, Wednesday July 15, 2009.A local official dismissed a threat by laid-off French workers to blow up their auto parts factory, saying the gas canisters, center left, they placed outside the plant are apparently empty. The factory's more than 350 workers were fired last month. They are demanding Euros 30,000 ($41,000) each by the end of the month in compensation from the main clients, PSA and Renault, union officials say. Some 150 of them are occupying the factory, where some equipment has already been burned. Writing on wall reads: 'Garro we want the bonus 30,000 euros net'. Garro refers to Italian Florindo Garro, who heads ZEN owners of factory Fabris..(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

(AP)

Laid-off auto-parts workers huddled Thursday around gas canisters tied to an electrical cable, threatening to blow up a factory in the latest example of extreme French resistance to cost-cutting in the economic downturn.

Other French workerss have kidnapped their bosses, blocked ports and barricaded factories to try to save jobs in France's worst recession since the 1940s.

Some 200 workers at the New Fabris factory outside the southwest city of Chatellerault, are each demanding euro30,000 ($42,267) from Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroen, accusing the carmakers of killing their livelihoods.

If they don't get it by July 31, they say they will blow up the factory, about 190 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Paris. They are taking turns guarding 20 canisters of acetylene and butane, once used for gas-operated tractors and now spaced out on both sides of the plant and attached by a cable. Guy Eyermann of the CGT union said half of them are full, though that was impossible to verify.

"We are at the end of the line," Eyermann said. "A lot of people worked here for 25, 35 years. Many have given their lives to the company." He called on "all factories in Europe that are closing to protest and do what the workers are doing here."

New Fabris closed down June 16 and all its 366 workers are being gradually laid off. They blamed Peugeot-Citroen and Renault for canceling contracts that represented the bulk of the company's sales, and began their protest June 20.

On the gates out front, laid-off workers put up black cardboard cutouts in the shape of coffins noting workers' name, year of birth, and "2009" — the year they were let go. A workers' empty blue uniform hung from the gate. Enormous machines hauled from inside the factory stood in the courtyard, gutted and charred after employees torched them.

The shuttered factory still holds parts and costly machinery, and the workers are trying to keep Renault and Peugeot-Citroen from collecting any material.