French workers have released four managers held hostage for 24 hours at a Caterpillar bulldozer plant, after the US firm offered to reopen talks on layoffs under mediation by the state.
Employees at the Caterpillar factory in the southeastern city of Grenoble barricaded their bosses inside an office on Tuesday after talks between management and 733 workers facing redundancy broke down.
Factory director Nicolas Polutnik was set free along with the head of personnel and two other managers.
A fifth executive, the human resources director, who suffers from heart problems, had been allowed to leave on Tuesday.
Hecklers shouted out ‘Resign!’ while some 400 workers booed and whistled as the executives were driven from the site, headed for the regional labour office where the talks with unions are to take place.
Their release came after President Nicolas Sarkozy moved to defuse the situation by offering in a radio interview to meet union leaders from the plant to hear their demands.
Wide-ranging negotiations resumed this afternoon on a possible cut in the number of redundancies, compensation for laid-off staff and the long-term future of the Grenoble operations.
Caterpillar workers were demanding a minimum of €30,000 in severance pay, much more than the €10,000 that Caterpillar was offering as minimum compensation.
