STRING OF 23 EMPLOYEE SUICIDES AT FRANCE TELECOM

FRENCH GOVERNMENT CALLS IN CEO OF FRANCE TELECOM
AFTER 23RD EMPLOYEE SUICIDE IN 18 MONTHS

PARIS (AP) - France Telecom SA was mobilizing all 20,000 of its managers Monday in an effort to respond to a string of 23 employee suicides that unions blame partly on layoffs and restructuring at the telecommunications giant. The latest suicide, and the one to spark top-level concern, was that of a 32-year-old woman who threw herself out a fourth-floor window of her office building in northwest Paris on Friday. The suicides come as French workers across several sectors are suffering fallout from the global financial crisis, and seeing widespread layoffs and other cutbacks. Unions say some of the suicides are linked to working conditions: Due to its restructuring measures, France Telecom has eliminated around 22,000 jobs out of 100,000 in France, between 2006 and 2008. Management has asked employees to watch out for signs of depression and suicidal tendencies among colleagues.

France Telecom has nonetheless announced a raft of measures in response to the suicides, including suspending around 500 employee transfers that are a part of an ongoing reorganization. The French government, which still owns around 13 per cent of France Telecom, has been aware of the problem of workplace suicides for some time. Last year, after a series of suicides at carmaker Renault, the then-labour minister pledged to create a special government suicide monitoring agency.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

... our life in this world is valuable. Why? With this life we can acquire a higher aspiration. We can have the chance of acquiring the goal from this plane. This human life is so valuable that with it we can take the path of the highest divine conception. This human body is highly valued and rarely achieved. ... If we can use this human life in a valuable way, we can acquire the key by which to become free from the whole chain of life in this troublesome world. We can get rid of the bondage of all sorts of physical and mental troubles. The key is here, in this human form of life.

Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja:
"The Golden Volcano of Divine Love - Chapter 14: A Drop of Divine Love"