Laid-off Caterpillar workers in Lyon, France, last week detained four executives and demanded further talks on the announced layoffs. Union members locked the plant’s director, the head of human resources and two other managers in an office for a day and a night, in a practice that has recently become common in France when layoffs are announced, with similar lockups taking place at Sony and 3M.
Caterpillar had announced 733 layoffs at the factory. The workers released the Caterpillar officials after about 24 hours after an agreement was reached for further talks on the planned layoffs.
In other Caterpillar layoff news, the company decided to speed up layoff plans at a Decatur, Ill., plant where more than 1,000 workers were to be laid off April 13. Caterpillar started sending the workers home April 3, but agreed to pay them through the 13th.
