So when President Jacques Chirac asked his cabinet Tuesday to ensure that Hewlett-Packard "fully respects" its obligations under French labor law, it was no empty threat. CEO Mark Hurd, who wants to cut 14,500 jobs world-wide, including 1,240 positions in France, had better make sure his lawyers have read the fine print of the French legal code. Mr. Chirac even appealed to the European Commission for help but Brussels mercifully rejected the idea of interfering with business decisions.The overall message of the article is the difficulty in closing or reducing the size of operations in France; and the political positioning of Mssr. Chirac to show he's fighting for jobs while restraining businesses from making business decisions. The article recounts that a Nestle operation, closed by the Swiss company, including offering retirement and/or positions in other plant to its employees has been ordered to "reopen."
Reopen a plant known to be extraneous to operations? to be a drag on the company? An appealing prospect.
3 comments:
Would you expect any less from Jack Sheerack?
Keeping the factory open keeps people employed, they spend money, ergo economy improves, everyone happy.
It is called supply side economics. Sheesh.
Also helps that it was a chocolate factory.
Um. Barley. I'm pretty sure the smart guys at Nestle thought of that before they decided to close. Sheesh.
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