Faced by the prospect of redundancies, three employees at the Cognac producer, Martell, have vowed to go on a hunger strike until the brandowner, Pernod Ricard, agrees to drop its plans to cut the workforce by a third.
“Of course Martell could make more money than it does at the moment, but it should not be allowed to do so at any price,” said Gerard Faure, one of the Martell workers who began the hunger strike on Monday. “Who can be indifferent to the plight of workers with no other skills and no prospect of finding work in an area with 13% unemployment? They must find savings in other ways.”
The Martell dispute is likely to take centre stage in France where unemployment has become a thorny issue, particularly as the government has repealed much of the labour protection legislation passed by the socialist government of Lionel Jospin. This is all the more delicate as Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s own political powerbase is very much centred on the Poitou-Charente region where Cognac is produced. Unemployment in France reached 9.1% in January and is tipped to top the 10% mark some time next year.
Martell says it has so far found alternative employment for at least 35 of the 114 workers who will be laid off as it restructures its business in the face of falling demand.
