Disgruntled workers at a Goodyear factory in northern France detained two of their bosses Monday by barricading a meeting room door with a large tire, their union said.
The incident is the latest in a series of flare-ups since the Ohio-based tire giant said last year that it planned to close the 1,250-worker plant in Amiens by the end of 2014.
So-called “boss-napping” became rampant in France in 2009 at the height of the economic meltdown, although the practice has since tapered off.
Workers would not let the manager and a human resources chief leave a room after a meeting turned sour, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union told The Associated Press.
The plant, 60 miles north of the French capital, Paris, is one of many to suffer from Europe’s shrinking auto industry.
Armel Drane, who said he was an ex-worker at the plant and had friends who were present inside the room, tweeted a picture of the tires blocking the door.
A Goodyear representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP the two managers were being held against their will.
The company was not available to provide an official comment.
In March 2013 angry workers protested outside the plant in what was described at the time as a last-ditch attempt to save their jobs. They clashed with riot police and burned tires.
