By Monica Alleven
Workers in France twice threatened to blow up factories, including a Nortel Networks wireless R&D center, over severance pay disputes.
The Nortel facility in Chateaufort near Paris was closed on Wednesday after workers threatened to detonate gas canisters around the building. The canisters were removed on Thursday, according to reports.
In a statement yesterday, Nortel said discussions with union representatives and others were ongoing. “We are advancing in our efforts to find a positive solution for all parties concerned,” the company said. The facility would reopen “as soon as it is practical to do so.”
Apparently, threats in France have escalated as the economy has worsened. The Associated Press reports that other French workers have kidnapped their bosses, blocked ports and barricaded factories to try to save jobs in France's worst recession since the 1940s. On Sunday, workers threatened to destroy an auto parts factory.
Last month, Nokia Siemens Networks made a $650 million "stalking horse" bid to acquire Nortel's CDMA and LTE businesses.
The majority of the engineers at the operations in France focus on GSM and GSM-R product lines, a spokesman said, and Nortel is considering the sale of the GSM/GSM-R business in conjunction with secondary proceedings in France.