Irate French workers kidnapping bosses

In the past month there have been four separate incidents of workers taking their bosses hostage for up to 24 hours. Also, a billionaire boss was blocked in his taxi by employees for an hour on March 31. It even has its own word: Bossnapping – which sounds a lot more like what workers always assume the boss is doing.

Public opinion is pretty much split on this one. A poll released Tuesday had 50 percent against & 45 percent in favor. The other 5 percent were probably out buying cheese. As a result the government is dithering. (Actually this is SOP for the French government.)

French President Nicholas Sarkozy is trying to figure out whether he should enforce the law on this one. (Why do I think only the French and maybe the Italians would have to debate this?) In addition to the fact that M. Sarkozy is already deeply unpopular among the workers

The risk of sending in the riot police when the next hostage-taking occurs is that, far from discouraging such acts, it could cause them to proliferate. Turning a blind eye carries risks as well. All four plants where bossnappings have occurred are foreign-owned, and the head of the CGPME employers’ group, which represents small and medium businesses, said foreign investors could be put off France.

Really I just think he’s in a bit of a tizzy because Michelle O. has totally eclipsed his pinup model wife for coolest first lady on the planet.

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Ryanair makes gold from garbage, uses Naples trash disaster in ads

Above a photograph of piles of rubbish sacks — an image which has come to symbolise Naples in recent months where the waste disposal system has ground to a halt — the advert reads: “Pay the taxes! Not for waste (disposal) but to escape.” Playing on public outrage at the waste emergency and the fact that locals continue to pay a refuse tax even when their streets are shoulder-high in rotting garbage, the airline offers 250,000 free flights where the customer only pays airport taxes.

Surprisingly the Naples tourist authorities aren’t too happy about this.

“The only rubbish to be escaped from is Ryanair’s advertising,” said Marco di Lello, head of tourism at the regional government of Campania of which Naples is the capital.

The hook, the bait, the fish. I hope Ryanair’s PR people are sending Marco a thank you note.

They seem to have a lot of fun with advertising at Ryanair.

Earlier this year the discount flier ran an ad with a picture of French Prez Sarkozy and trophy wife Carla Bruni. A bubble above a photograph of the couple read: “With Ryanair, my whole family can come to my wedding.”

Actually the 60K Euro fine that a court ordered Ryanair to pay Bruni probably more than paid for any wedding festivities. (At current exchange rates 1 euro = roughly 1 trillion zillion dollars.)