Short spell in prison for French Goodyear union members

Last week, five members of the CGT union, employed at Goodyear’s Amiens Nord factory in France, were briefly taken into custody for incidents dating as far back as 2008. Head of CGT representation at the plant, Mickael Wamen, plus Sébastien Lupo, Christian Hareux, Reynald Jurek and Franck Jurek were imprisoned on 26 March and released 38 hours later. Their time in custody was linked to a complaint filed by one of France’s trade union confederations, the CFE-CGC, six years ago. The complaint was dismissed at the time but later reopened. The five men are accused of acts of violence, vandalism and making death threats.

Following the men’s release, Mickael Wamen told French media that “they came here, they searched our homes. We were treated like common criminals even though our job was to defend workers…and put in custody for completely far-fetched reasons.” Wamen said he was “shocked” and “very tired” after his confinement.