Here's an interesting post from our  northern neighbors at the New York Employment Law Blog.  French workers are trying to persuade their ex-employer to pay them severance by threatending to blow up the factory.  As the post accurately points out, lots of American companies are currently laying off workers without severance, and there usually is nothing that can be done for the terminated employees.  Even with our present economic problems, doesn't the example set by our French friends make you glad that you still live in the good old US of A?