Goodyear hostages released

Two Goodyear executives who were held hostage by communist trade unionists in France have been released.

The Irish Times reports that some 200 members of the Confédération Générale de Travail (CGT) detained Michel Dheilly, head of production at the tyre factory in Amiens, and Bernard Glesser, head of human resources, on Monday morning, in a dispute over indemnities when the factory closes at the end of this month, with the loss of 1,173 jobs.

Negotiations had broken down after Goodyear, based in Ohio, refused to negotiate as long as the two men were “sequestered”. Evebtually the trade unionists gave in to pleas from local police and government and released the two men.

The CGT has blocked the Goodyear warehouse since November, and continued to burn stacks of tyres yesterday. Employees were seen leaving the site carrying files.