Opposing team : Rebuttal

It seems that the proposing team quite agrees on the terms of the definition we gave. But they also want us to makes us think that it neat and clean : “Five o’clock, time to go home, thought Bill Gates. He took his coat, shut down his computer and went to the door and opened it. And here they were, dozens of his factory workers, twice as big as him. They smiled at him and one said : You’re not leaving until you give us a pay rise.” Do you think such that a situation cannot get out of control ? And even if so, I wouldn’t feel good at his place.

But the proposers seem to think that it is a “fair way” for the workers to be heard. Can we reverse the argument? There are indeed many bosses that find our country’s social law are too difficult to be followed: “Five o’clock, time to go home thought Bill Gates secretary…” I think you see my point. If this means was that efficient, we would use it more and more often, in order to save time and money, and on both sides.

We don’t question the distress of the employees, losing their jobs and feeling abandoned. And our thoughts also go to them. If you are found guilty, you risk spending time in jail for kidnapping. But if you are not, be sure that your name will be on every black list there is in every firm you will apply. You are not only taking risks for no results, but also preventing yourself from finding a new job.

Do we need to come back to the cultural aspects? I think that you are all above these so-called cultural aspects. First, this is quite pretentious to say that because it’s the French exception, it is the right thing to do. Secondly, you all know that history and culture can justify everything.

As a conclusion, I will try to make you think of the situation encountered by both the boss and his employees. If they act like this, it means that the firm is in danger :

1. The boss did not do his job, and should be dismissed. That’s the role of the share-holders or the owner of the firm. And they are the people you should put pressure on, not your boss, and without violence.

2. Your boss did all he could. But the factory is not competitive any longer because of the Chinese (maybe you should bossnap 1 billion people), because of the economic crisis or any reason you cannot foresee.

In the second case, what would be the goal of bossnapping ?

In the first, we want to propose something. If the workers are convinced that their firm can go on without their boss, we think that the state can help them become their own boss. These experiments have been made during the last century, some succeeded, some failed. But we think this is worth trying, instead of paralyzing the situation.