The parliament definitively passed a law slapping tough penalties on firms who shut down without looking for a buyer in three months' time. The law makes it compulsory for any company that employs more than 1,000 workers to look for a buyer for a site they want to close in three months' time. If they fail to do so they can be fined the equivalent of 20 times the minimum wage for each worker affected, or a sum of more than €28,000 per person laid off. Workers can also make an acquisition offer.
English: http://www.thelocal.fr/20140225/france-industry-florange
French: http://www.liberation.fr/economie/2014/02/24/l-assemblee-doit-voter-la-loi ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.