Molex: Managers of French unit held hostage

Molex Inc., a U.S. maker of electrical components for cars, said employees at a French unit are holding two executives after accusing the company of "diverting" production to other sites.

Marcus Kerriou, the co-manager of Molex Automotive SARL, and Coline Colboc, head of human resources, are being detained at the company's plant in Villemur-sur-Garde, central France, Molex said in an e-mailed statement today.

The company denies that it is diverting output and says it is being forced to use stocks from other from other units to meet from orders from customers including carmakers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen, as the French plant is only operating at 30 percent of capacity.

The move reflects growing worker unrest in France, where unemployment is mounting as in the rest of Europe as the country faces its worst recession since World War II. Employees of French units of Caterpillar Inc., 3M Co. and Sony Corp. have held managers hostage for several hours in recent weeks to get higher severance packages and fewer job cuts.