Bossnapping in France and Gherao in Bengal

The captivating of the managers or executives of different foreign companies for hours has been coined as “bossnappings”. It is still not learned if the students of France play any role to support the working mass in the recent spate of conflict.

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The conflict between the haves and have-nots in the soil of France is nothing new. France has a tradition in this respect and in case the students begin agitation in order to protest against something they consider detrimental to their interest the workers support them and assist them actively.

The captivating of the managers or executives of different foreign companies for hours has been coined as “bossnappings”. It is still not learned if the students of France play any role to support the working mass in the recent spate of conflict. Two million workers of France work in almost twenty two thousand foreign companies. Europe has been afflicted by the recent global recession and the owners have started to take steps against the workers. As a result of this workers are afraid and they have started to flex their muscles only to save themselves from the misery of joblessness. They do not find themselves responsible for the management and mismanagement of capital by the CEOs of different companies or for the loss of purchasing power of the people. They are, therefore, not ready to spare the owners who have started retrenching the workers.

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President Sarkozy may be unhappy at the sight of the audacity manifested by the workers. Whenever he is venting his dissatisfaction and whenever he is attempting to console the foreign companies, the wrath of the workers are witnessed in greater magnitude. The French society is divided in taking sides. Nearly fifty percent of the people are in favor of the workers.  Owners and the rightist and left-to-center political parties are opposing the ‘unmannerly’ workers. President Sarkozy has tremendous hesitation to send the riot police to rescue the ‘bosses’. There is every possibility of deterioration of the situation and the situation may even become out of total control. The media favoring the owners is regularly threatening with the language that the investment of the foreign countries will be stopped and that that will not serve the interest of France in any way. On the other hand, labor unions in greater number and the left-wing politicians are rallying behind the workers who have accepted “bossnapping” as an instrument of protest.

President Nicolas Sarkozy may not realize the mood of the angry workers who dare captivate the managerial agents of U.S. ‘Caterpillars’ even for twenty four hours. But this form of protest movement by the workers is nothing new.

One may remember what have happened in West Bengal of India during the seventies of the last century. The angry workers have gheraoed their managers/CEOs in order to exert pressure on the owners. The term “gherao” has since then introduced in the English lexicon. A responsible minister of the United Front government has invented this. All the trade unions in Bengal have accepted ‘gherao’ as a weapon. The spate of workers’ movement has forced many owners to listen to the demands of the workers and some of the demands have been fulfilled. But the exit of the industries from the soil of Bengal has started since then. Bengal’s established left leaders have realized the mistake later and Bengal has become industrially backward since then. But the workers have not left this weapon even now.

This sad spectacle points to the global unrest. The owners may survive happily even if they close the factories or transfer the operation to any other poorer country. What the workers will do? How will they survive if retrenchment is regarded as an inevitable solution by the owners?

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