US CEO has harsh words for french workers

[brainhulk]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100474481

In his letter to Montebourg, Taylor left no doubt as to why he did not want to buy the factory.

"I have visited that factory a couple of times. The French workforce gets paid high wages, but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three hours," he wrote.

Titan is going to buy a Chinese tire company or an Indian one, pay less than one Euro per hour wage and ship all the tires France needs," he wrote. "You can keep the so-called workers. Titan has no interest in the Amiens North factory.

how much do french factory workers get paid? are french made product of higher quality than say china or india?

 

[Hugo Drax]

The only thing I know they make is the Bic 4 color pen.

 

[shortylickens]

Thats what somebody needed to say to American workers 20, 30 years ago and never did.

Now the french are feeling the sting of globalization.

 

[lxskllr]

The only thing I know they make is the Bic 4 color pen.

They make those knives with the bee on them, and they farm salt in Brittany.

 

[SunnyD]

:sneaky:

/goes back to pretending to work

 

[Texashiker]

Its the american way, work as a wage slave, or sign up on welfare.

What france needs to do is slap a massive tariff on imported tires. Lets see, 10,000 euros for a tire made in china, or 100 euros for a french made tire.

 

[spaceman]

zig zags rule

 

[SunnyD]

Its the american way, work as a wage slave, or sign up on welfare.

What france needs to do is slap a massive tariff on imported tires. Lets see, 10,000 euros for a tire made in china, or 100 euros for a french made tire.

And they will too. France is ridiculous when it comes to protectionism.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

And they will too. France is ridiculous when it comes to protectionism.

This is true. Especially with their language and culture.

And yes, people in Europe do not like to work at all. Although I'd rather be in France where places are actually open at a regular time. Here in Rome, places close randomly whenever they feel like.

 

[KlokWyze]

:sneaky:

/goes back to pretending to work

I know right. :biggrin:

 

[ImpulsE69]

I don't think the French are in the wrong in this scenario. That's American greed showing its ugly face. It's in the companies right to not buy it, but it's also in France's right to make it so they never sell another tire of that companies in France.

 

[Farang]

I don't think the French are in the wrong in this scenario. That's American greed showing its ugly face. It's in the companies right to not buy it, but it's also in France's right to make it so they never sell another tire of that companies in France.

think it's just a culture clash. Bhutan is probably not a great place to build a manufacturing facility either but they seem to be doing just fine

 

[IronWing]

Taylor seems to feel entitled to cheap labor.

 

[Juddog]

Its the american way, work as a wage slave, or sign up on welfare.

What france needs to do is slap a massive tariff on imported tires. Lets see, 10,000 euros for a tire made in china, or 100 euros for a french made tire.

I don't see why protectionism is so bad; given the cost of living is different in each country, protectionism makes sense to me (and I don't understand why America doesn't do it more, since our jobs are being shipped overseas for ultra cheap goods).

 

[KlokWyze]

Taylor seems to feel entitled to cheap labor.

Yup. And all that cheap labor comes at a cost that the workers in India, China, etc. pay. They are all going through the same things now that Americans, Brits, etc. went through in the early 20th century.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Because in America, corporations run you.

 

[actuarial]

While he may be right in terms of what makes sense from a business perspective of who to source from, I think what this is highlighting is a discussion that is starting to happen in first world countries about what the ideal is in terms of work, and how we value different things.

I think, increasingly, we're happy with the amount of 'stuff' we have and would prefer to improve our standard of living by working less (both in terms of effort and hours).

 

[EagleKeeper]

Taylor seems to feel entitled to cheap labor.

More like if you want a dollar pay; give me a dollar worth of work.

If the French seem to be working only 3 hrs of an 8 hr day; then they should get paid 3/8 of what they presently are paid.

Since they refuse to increase the output or decrease the wages, the company will go elsewhere.

What is wrong with that?

 

[Texashiker]

I don't see why protectionism is so bad; given the cost of living is different in each country, protectionism makes sense to me (and I don't understand why America doesn't do it more, since our jobs are being shipped overseas for ultra cheap goods).

Its either protect our jobs, or pay higher taxes to support a welfare state.

But a lot of people who want open markets and free trade do no understand that.

 

[Farang]

While he may be right in terms of what makes sense from a business perspective of who to source from, I think what this is highlighting is a discussion that is starting to happen in first world countries about what the ideal is in terms of work, and how we value different things.

I think, increasingly, we're happy with the amount of 'stuff' we have and would prefer to improve our standard of living by working less (both in terms of effort and hours).

I hope it continues the discussion about corporations and how they control governments through a lowest bidder mentality.. Do what we say or we take money elsewhere. Some people feel tariffs are the only tool to fight back

 

[MaxPayne63]

Some people feel tariffs are the only tool to fight back

I hope their children are on the front lines when the trade/currency wars turn in to shooting wars.

 

[IronWing]

More like if you want a dollar pay; give me a dollar worth of work.

If the French seem to be working only 3 hrs of an 8 hr day; then they should get paid 3/8 of what they presently are paid.

Since they refuse to increase the output or decrease the wages, the company will go elsewhere.

What is wrong with that?

Not buying into slothful workers was only one issue. The other issue is Taylor's statements about seeking low wage workers elsewhere. Labor arbitrage works for the elite but no one else.

 

[dr150]

Americans also talk 3 hrs and work 3 hrs. We are just better at hiding it. :ninja:

In France, since it isn't frowned upon, they socialize openly with zee cigarette/espresso mon ami....without worrying about political work place BS of getting reprimanded for it.

Good luck getting American workers to work more than 2 hours when the boss is on a business trip. It's like having a substitute teacher for the day.

Working in Europe is great. Much better work/life/vacation balance bar none!

 

[IAteYourMother]

More like if you want a dollar pay; give me a dollar worth of work.

If the French seem to be working only 3 hrs of an 8 hr day; then they should get paid 3/8 of what they presently are paid.

Since they refuse to increase the output or decrease the wages, the company will go elsewhere.

What is wrong with that?

Well, actually, they might already be being paid what's appropriate for 3 hrs of work. And if they worked 8 hrs, then they should be paid 8/3 of what they are currently being paid.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I would love to see what this CEO does all day....

I get to see some interesting stuff in my line of work. I remember this one company that had a guy as a CEO of 50+ companies.

How the hell can one be a CEO of 50 companies? What do you do? Go from board meeting to board meeting?

I will also tell you that this is was no the only major corp with this sort of situation.....