Goodyear files lawsuit after ‘boss napping,’ plant occupation

PARIS—Goodyear’s French division says it has filed a lawsuit over the “boss-napping” of two of its executives and workers’ occupation of a plant in northern France.

Goodyear Dunlop Tires France—a subsidiary of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of Akron, Ohio—said in a statement the lawsuit was filed Jan. 8 with the prosecutor in Amiens, France, because it can’t accept “actions that endanger people and goods.”

Two Goodyear managers held captive by workers in Amiens were freed this week after police intervened, ending a two-day standoff over the factory’s bleak future.

Workers demanding new negotiations over severance packages have occupied the site since late December.

For over five years, Goodyear has tried to sell or shutter the Amiens plant, which has become an emblem of France’s labour tensions.