法国人真有那么懒吗？

    美国轮胎企业的一位籍籍无名的高管在一封书信中对法国工人的生产效率表示质疑，引发的强烈反应已经迅速地从笑料转化成了难题。相对于在全国展开讨论来分析高管观点的可取之处，盲目的民族主义压倒了理性思考，使它演变为一个国际性事件。

    尽管Titan公司（TWI）外号“灰熊”（the Grizz）的首席执行官毛里斯•泰勒在致法国官员的信中使用了明显带有煽动性的措辞，然而这些措辞也包含了一个令人不快且让人难以面对的真相，的确，法国制造业基地及其整体经济的竞争力已经退化到了危险的边缘。如果法国仍然希望回归强势经济，那么国家有必要迅速推出强硬的劳工改革措施。

    上周四，法国报纸义愤填膺地抨击了这位胆敢诋毁“伟大法兰西共和国”经济声誉的“丑陋美国人”。法国工业部长阿诺德•蒙特伯格称，泰勒的信“荒唐不堪”，而且它也显示了写信人对法国经济的“一无所知”。泰勒在信中用彩色油笔向法国官员标注了他为什么不愿重回谈判桌商谈收购一家法国北部问题轮胎工厂的原因。

    固特异（Goodyear）轮胎工厂是泰勒此信中的主角，该工厂工会代表迈克•沃曼表示，此人“不应在跨国公司任职，而应该被关进疯人院。”即将上任的法国总工会（CGT）负责人西里•雷帕昂表示：“光有部长回应是不够的，法国总统也必须出面为自己的国民要求尊重。”

    泰勒在他的信中写道，他不至于傻到按照蒙特伯格的要求重回谈判桌去收购固特异亚眠工厂，因为他认为这些接受总工会领导的工厂工人既固执、又不肯努力工作。他还说，如果法国不能彻底变革劳工市场，那么法国就有丢掉其工业基地的风险。他写道，法国最大的轮胎制造商、国家明星公司之一的米其林（Michelin）可能会在5年之内因不利的劳工环境而将所有生产线搬出法国。

    The explosive reaction in France to a letter penned by a little-known U.S. tire executive, which questioned the productivity of French workers, has quickly gone from comical to troubling. Instead of opening a discussion in the country as to the possible merits of the executive's views, blind nationalism overtook rational thought, creating an international incident.

    While the words used by Titan (TWI) chief executive Maurice "the Grizz" Taylor in his letter to a French official were clearly inflammatory, they contained an uncomfortable and inconvenient truth that France's manufacturing base, indeed, its economy as a whole, has become dangerously uncompetitive. The country needs to quickly make some tough labor reforms if it ever intends on getting back on solid economic ground.

    Newspapers in France had a field day on Thursday bashing the "ugly American" who dared insult the economic integrity of "the great French Republic." France's industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg, said that Taylor's letter, in which he colorfully spells out to French officials why he would not return to the negotiating table to acquire a troubled tire plant in northern France, as "ridiculous," and that it displayed a "perfect ignorance" of the French economy.

    Mickael Wamen, the trade union representative of the Goodyear (GT) tire plant at the center of Taylor's missive, said that he "belongs more in an insane asylum than at the head of a multinational corporation." Thierry Lepaon, the incoming head of the CGT union for France noted, "It's not the response of a minister that is necessary, but of the president of the Republic, who must demand respect for the citizens of his country."

    In his letter, Taylor noted that he was not "stupid" enough to reenter negotiations to acquire the Goodyear plant in Amiens, as requested by Montebourg, because he believed that the plant's workforce, led by the CGT union, was intransigent and didn't work hard enough. He went on to say that France risked losing its industrial base if it fails to shake up its labor market. He noted that Michelin, the largest tire maker in France and one of its national champion companies, would probably move all of its production out of the country within five years due to the hostile labor environment.