Found in translation
April 10th 2009 22:08
Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni
The French president, it seems, has it all: a beautiful wife, a government car, a good selection of indigenous wines to go with his free lunches, and a way with words. His response to the latest bossknapping is a case in point.
Bossknapping? Ah, for those not up to date with this peculiarly French method of industrial relations, I refer you to this blog post.
In short, French workers have a cultural quirk, in times of workplace unhappiness, of kidnapping bosses. The theory is that removing one's boss from the distractions of the world allows him or her to focus more clearly on those things which you, the worker, consider the top priority.
Recent polls show that up to half of French people believe workers are justified in taking executives captive to help make their case for things such as better redundancy packages. The convention is so established that, after a boss at a Sony factory in France was bossknapped recently, a Sony spokesman said, "It’s true that this might seem surprising abroad, but it’s less surprising in France, where we’re more used to this kind of situation.”
Traditionally, the bosses are treated well while in captivity, and are released unharmed after agreeing to reopen negotiations on a sticky point of worker relations.
But now Monsieur Nicolas Sarcozy, their urbane leader, has decided French workers are doing the wrong thing.
"What is this business of sequestering people?" he was reported by Agence France Presse as saying. "We have the rule of law, and I will not let matters go on like that. We can understand that people are angry, but this anger will subside with answers and results, not by aggravating matters with actions that are contrary to the law," he said.
Sequestering people ... the translation, for we assume Sarcozy was speaking in French, is elegant. Perhaps it's the natural stylishness of the French. Perhaps the translator's lunch, and matching wine, were particularly agreeable. Perhaps more politicians should deliver messages through translation.
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