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发帖数: 29846 | 1 U.S. CEO Blasts French Work Habits
By GABRIELE PARUSSINI
PARIS—The chief executive of a U.S. company that had considered buying a
tire factory in northern France delivered a blistering critique of French
work habits, writing to France's industry minister that he would be "stupid"
to operate in a country where workers get high wages for little actual work
.
Maurice Taylor, the CEO of Titan International Inc., TWI -2.60% criticized
France's labor culture, saying that French unions and the government do
nothing but talk. His letter, published on Wednesday in French newspaper Les
Echos, highlights the danger that President François Hollande's labor
reform plans, including measures that would allow companies to cut working
hours and wages when production slows, may be too slow-paced for foreign
investors.
Titan had expressed interest in acquiring an unprofitable plant put up for
sale by tire-maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., GT -1.56% but the company
pulled out of negotiations last year after workers, headed by the communist-
backed CGT union, refused to work longer hours to save jobs.
In a Feb. 8 letter responding to an approach by Industry Minister Arnaud
Montebourg, Mr. Taylor bluntly replied: "Sir, your letter states that you
want Titan to start a discussion…How stupid do you think we are?"
A Titan spokeswoman said Mr. Taylor wasn't immediately available to comment.
Titan had expressed interest in acquiring an unprofitable plant put up for
sale by tire-maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber, but the company pulled out of
negotiations last year.
Mr. Montebourg dismissed the criticism on Wednesday, replying: "Your
comments, which are as extremist as they are insulting, display a perfect
ignorance of our country, France."
He pointed out that France is home to 20,000 foreign companies that employ
about 2 million French people and account for a third of its industrial
exports.
Mr. Taylor's critique—while harsher than many businesses would endorse—
reflects broader concerns about France's industrial competitiveness. Tough
labor laws make it expensive to fire permanent workers. Closing factories
can lead to massive political backlash.
The government has moved to change things, and pushed employers to reach
agreement with unions on more flexible labor conditions. It is set to send a
bill to parliament next month that would let companies cut working hours
and wages when times are tough, lift some legal uncertainties related to
layoffs and limit the time within which employees can appeal redundancy
decisions.
Mr. Taylor wrote that France risks losing all of its industrial business and
told a damning tale of the company's efforts to buy the tire plant in the
northern town of Amiens.
"The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They
get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three," Mr.
Taylor wrote. "I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They
told me that's the French way!"
The troubles at Goodyear's tire plant started in 2007 when the Akron, Ohio,
company decided to restructure its two production sites in the town.
Goodyear asked the staff to change production shifts so that the plant could
churn out tires for agriculture machines and cars around the clock. After
workers rejected the proposal, the management unveiled a plan to cut 402
jobs. Workers sued the company arguing the layoffs were unlawful.
In 2009 as the auto market was diving globally, Goodyear withdrew the job
cut plan and shortly afterward began negotiations with Quincy, Ill.-based
Titan to take over Goodyear's agriculture machine tire plants in Europe,
including Amiens Nord, said Goodyear spokesman Catherine Dumoutier. The
management came up with a new restructuring project, which involved 817 job
cuts, but failed to secure court approval.
Mr. Taylor visited the Amiens plant a couple of times but got a chilly
reception from CGT workers, who demanded that their jobs be secured for
seven years. "We were hostile because we didn't believe in his project,"
said Michael Wamen, CGT's representative for the plant.
Titan pulled out of negotiations in September, citing the "heavy social
climate" in France, said a spokeswoman for Mr. Montebourg. The minister
spent months trying to persuade the CGT to accept Titan's proposal, and at
the end of the year told Mr. Taylor that conditions had improved, and that
he could come back to the negotiating table, the spokeswoman added.
Meanwhile, Goodyear decided to shut the plant. As it winds down operations,
it has cut car tire output by 90% to around 2,000 tires a day from the 21,
000 the plant could produce at full capacity.
Still, French labor law obliges the company to keep all the workers employed
, which means many of them don't work more than a couple of hours a day,
while still getting full salary, a situation that appeared to enrage Mr.
Taylor.
"Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tires. What does
the crazy union have?" he asked.
In his letter, Mr. Taylor predicts that five years from now French tire
maker Michelin—the second-largest in the world after Japan's Bridgestone
Corp. 5108.TO -0.39% —"won't be able to produce tires in France." A
Michelin spokeswoman declined to comment.
Mr. Montebourg hit back in his response to the U.S. businessman. "Can I
remind you that Titan…is 20 times smaller than Michelin…and 35 times less
profitable?" Mr. Montebourg retorted in his letter. "That shows how much
Titan could have learned and gained from establishing itself in France."
—Inti Landauro and Sam Schechner contributed to this article. |
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