Servisair Workers Forced To Release Managers

Workers facing the sack from air cargo company Servisair released the two managers they held overnight at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport Friday after a court official intervened, trade union representatives said.

Around 60 workers had prevented Servisair Cargo directors Abderrahmane El-Aouffir and Andy Cowie from leaving the firm's offices after they had refused to meet their demands for better layoff terms.

But workers released both men after a bailiff intervened on their behalf. Union representatives then headed to local law courts to try to negotiate improved redundancy terms with a court-appointed administrator and a government official.

The detention of the two managers was the latest case of so-called "boss-napping" to hit recession-bound France this year, prompting the government to urge restraint.

Servisair, a division of French industrial services group Derichebourg, which has 337 employees, went into administration in March.

The workers want EUR30,000 euro (USD$42,600) pay-offs, but unionists said El-Aouffir had offered them just EUR1,400 or transfers to new positions within the group as refuse collectors.

El-Aouffir told French television the situation had been tense. "I understand (the anger) but I don't think this is the solution for finding a way out of the conflict," he said.