Militant workers held Salma Hayek's billionaire husband Francois-Henri Pinault captive in a car for an hour in the latest credit crunch 'boss-napping' attack in France. Pinault, who is the Chief Executive Officer of luxury brands firm PPR, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, among others, is thought to be France's
richest man.
Militant workers held Salma Hayek's billionaire husband Francois-Henri Pinault captive in a car for an hour in the latest credit crunch 'boss-napping' attack in France. Pinault, who is the Chief Executive Officer of luxury brands firm PPR, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, among others, is thought to be France's
richest man.
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targets: Salma Hayek married French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault in February.u00a0pic/afp |
The 46-year-old was trapped in his taxi by 50 angry employees protesting over 1,200 job cuts at two of his stores.
He was only freed after riot police used batons and shields to disperse the workers who had cornered him as he left a board meeting in Paris.
The attempted boss-napping is the fifth time in a month that workers have held managers hostage in anger at job cuts. But Pinault is the most powerful executive targeted so far.
Union leader Karl Ghazi said, "We had intended to hold him there until the board agreed to resume talks to save our jobs. But the police arrived in force and managed to free him from the vehicle and get him away."
During the protest, workers had set up a barrier of rubbish bins to block the car and hung a banner reading, "Pinault is a filthy conman".
A spokesman for PPR, which employs 80,000 workers in 75 countries, said after the drama on Tuesday evening, "Pinault's car was delayed by a small group of employees. Pinault is keen for workers to air their views, and even allowed a union delegation in to the latest European board meeting."
