NationMaster - Encyclopedia: LIP (clockwork company)

LIP is a French clockwork brand. Following May 68, the Lip factory, which was based in Besançon, was self-managed starting in 1973, following the management's decision to liquidate it. Eventually, all the fired employees were reintegrated in March 1974, but the firm was liquidated again in the spring of 1976. This led to a new social conflict, qualified by Libération as "THE social conflict of the 1970s." ^[1] The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration GÃ©nÃ©rale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... Gear with escapment mechanism For other uses, see Clockwork (disambiguation). ... A brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. ... May 1968 poster: Be young and keep quiet In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Utinam (Latin: If God wills) Citadel Vauban of BesanÃ§on Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Franche-ComtÃ© Department Doubs (25) Intercommunality Grand BesanÃ§on Mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land areaÂ¹ 65. ... Worker Self-Management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the employees themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour etc. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Look up Management in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Liquidation, or winding up, refers to a business whose assets are converted to money in order to pay off debt. ... An individual can face termination of employment, or job loss, for one of many reasons. ... Social conflict is a conflict or confrontation of social powers. ... LibÃ©ration (affectionately known as LibÃ©) is a French newspaper founded in Paris in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Victor alias Benny LÃ©vy and Serge July in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. ...

France was then presided by Georges Pompidou, who had named the Gaullist Pierre Messmer as Prime minister. But 1973 also marked, according to Claude Neuschwander, the left-wing employer of LIP from 1974 to 1976 (member of the Unified Socialist Party, PSU) the "death of the enterprise capitalism and the advent of finance capitalism" ^[1]^[2] — or, in the words of L'Humanité, the transition from a paternalist capitalism, with Fred Lip as one of its last representants, to the modern finance capitalism ^[3]. During the 1974 presidential election, the Gaullist candidate, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, was abandoned by his rivals, in particular by Jacques Chirac who supported the right-wing liberal Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The latter won the elections, leading to a recomposition of the French right-wings. After LIP, France passed from 250,000 unemployed people to three millions ^[4]. Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (5 July 1911 â€“ 2 April 1974) was President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. ... Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Charles de Gaulle. ... On May 29, 1974 Jacques Chirac (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the HÃ´tel Matignon. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... Financial capital, or economic capital, is any liquid medium or mechanism that represents wealth, or other styles of capital. ... LHumanitÃ© (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was the only French newspaper owned by a political party. ... Second Round First Round See also President of France France Politics of France Categories: | | ... Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French politician Jacques Chaban-Delmas (March 7, 1915â€“November 10, 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. ... Jacques RenÃ© Chirac (born November 29, 1932) has served as the Gaullist President of France since he was first elected in 1995. ... The liberal theory of economics is the theory of economics described by classical liberal authors such as Adam Smith or the French Physiocrats. ... ValÃ©ry Marie RenÃ© Giscard dEstaing [IPA: vÉ‘leÊ€i mÉ‘Ê€i Ê€É™ne Ê’iskÉ‘Ê€ dÉ›stÉ›Ìƒ] (born 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, Germany) is a French center-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981. ...

CFDT trade-unionist Charles Piaget led the strike allowing workers to claim back the means of production. The Unified Socialist Party (PSU), which included former Radical Pierre Mendès-France, was then in favour of autogestion or self-management. The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration FranÃ§aise DÃ©mocratique du Travail (CFDT or French Democratic Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... Means of production (abbreviated MoP; German: Produktionsmittel), also called means of labour are the materials, tools and other instruments used by workers to make products. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pierre MendÃ¨s France Pierre MendÃ¨s France (Paris, 11 January 1907 - 18 October 1982), French politician, was born in Paris, into a family of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin. ...

History

The Jewish community of Besançon offered in 1807 a mechanical watch (montre à gousset) to Napoleon. Sixty years later, Emmanuel Lipman and his sons founded a clockwork workshop under the name of Comptoir Lipmann, which became in 1893 the Société Anonyme d'Horlogerie Lipmann Frères (S.A. Clockwork Lipmann Brothers). For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... S.A. is the abbreviation of SociÃ©tÃ© Anonyme in French, Sociedad AnÃ³nima in Spanish, Sociedade AnÃ³nima in Portuguese, or Naamloze Venootschap (N.V.) in Dutch, generally designating corporations in various countries. ...

The firm launched the stopwatch Lip in 1896, thereafter making of Lip the brand of the company. They built around 2,500 pieces a year. The company launched the first electronic watch in 1952, named "Electronic" (it was not electric because of the presence of a diode). The first models were worn by Charles de Gaulle and Eisenhower, while a T18 had been offerred in 1948 to Winston Churchill. A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time elapsed from a particular time when activated to when the piece is deactivated. ... Types of diodes closeup, showing germanium crystal In electronics, a diode is a component that restricts the direction of movement of charge carriers. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 â€“ 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ...

However in the 1960s, this highly skilled company began to have some financial troubles. Fred Lipmann opened up the capital in 1967, leading Ebauches S.A., a subsidiary of ASUAG, a large Swiss consortium which later became Swatch, to take 33% of it. In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital â€” although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of capital) is the principal city or town associated with a countrys government. ... A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organisations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal. ... Swatch is a brand of stylish quartz watches (some available in Automatic) produced by The Swatch Group Ltd. ...

In the meanwhile, workers start organizing to build a counter-power to improve labour conditions. This proved difficult. Charles Piaget, the son of a clockwork artisan who entered the factory in 1946 as a skilled worker, became a representant of the CFTC Social Christian trade union. He recalled that during national strikes, only 30 or 40 workers at LIP joined the movement, on a total of 1,200. Those that did join the strike were registered by the employers, forced to explain themselves, etc. Semi-skilled workers on the assembly line were prohibited from speaking, and disposed of only 25 centimeters to move during their shift ^[5] In 1964, the CFTC became the CFDT, a secular trade-union. Piaget participated to some reunions of the ACO (Action Catholique Ouvrière, Workers' Catholic Action), and then joined the UGS (Union de la gauche socialiste, Union of the Socialist Left) during the Algerian War (1954-62). The UGS later merged with other organizations to form the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), which included Pierre Mendès-France, a popular left-wing figure who had been President of the Council during the Fourth Republic. In May 68, the workers voted to join the general strike. The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration FranÃ§aise des Travailleurs ChrÃ©tiens (CFTC or French Confederation of Christian Workers) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... 1913 Ford Model T assembly line. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... ACO, AcO, or Aco may be: Automobile Club de lOuest, organizers of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race ACO (musician), J-Pop singer Allied Command Operations, the NATO strategic command Ant colony optimization algorithm Acetoxy group (AcO), a chemical functional group Air Cadet Organisation, collective name... The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence Algerians. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... Pierre MendÃ¨s France Pierre MendÃ¨s France (Paris, 11 January 1907 - 18 October 1982), French politician, was born in Paris, into a family of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... May 1968 poster: Be young and keep quiet In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France. ... A general strike is a strike action by an entire labour force in a city, region or country. ...

Fred Lip tried to smooth down the growing movement of discontent. He spoke to the trade-unionists of the transformations of taylorism, and proposed to increase the number of representants in the comité d'entreprise (enterprise committee, the workers' representation in the factory), in order to have younger representants. Despite this being illegal, the trade-unionists agreed, and elections were organized. However, although Fred Lip believed this would allow him for more control on the workers, all the young representants took membership in less than a year to the CFTC ^[5]. Thereafter, Fred Lip deposed to the inspection du travail (labour inspection) a project to suppress a whole sector of the company, to which most trade-unionists belonged to ^[5]. Including Charles Piaget, but he offerred to the latter a promotion by naming him head of the workshop ^[5]. During a year, the workers blocked attempts at suppressing the sector, opposing themselves to attempts to move the machines out of the factory, etc. ^[5] ^[6] Taylorism or Scientific management is the name of the approach to management and Industrial/Organizational Psychology initiated by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his 1911 monograph The Principles of Scientific Management. ...

But Ebauches became the first shareholder in 1970, taking control of 43% of the capital. Ebauches fired 1,300 workers ^[7]. And the next year, the board of directors forced Fred Lip to resign, replacing him by Jacques Saint-Esprit. A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... Downsizing is a euphemism referring to layoffs initiated by a company in order to cut labor costs by reducing the size of the company. ... In relation to a company, a director is an officer of the company charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. ...

LIP built the first French quartz watches in 1973, but had to face increasing competency from the United States and Japan. The firm was forced to start liquidation formalities on April 17, 1973, leading Jacques Saint-Esprit to resign on the same day. A quartz clock. ... Liquidation, or winding up, refers to a business whose assets are converted to money in order to pay off debt. ...

In the following weeks, strikes at the Lip factory enjoyed a national audience, thus beginning one of the emblematic social conflict of post-May 68, which would last several years. Social conflict is a conflict or confrontation of social powers. ... May 1968 poster: Be young and keep quiet In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France. ...

1973 : beginning of the strike and demonstrations

In May 1973, an Action Committee (CA, Comité d'action), influenced by the movement of May 68, constituted itself. During an extraordinary work's council on June 12, workers stumbled upon the administrators' plan of restructuring and of downsizing, which were hidden from them (one note said "450 à dégager", "450 to kick-out") ^[7]. The company was then employing 1,300 workers ^[8]. At first, Charles Piaget, a responsible of the CFDT trade-union and known activist of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU ^[5]) opposed a strike action, preferring to it a slowdown. Workers began to stop working ten minutes each hour ^[8]. Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of partially dismantling and reorganizing a company for the purpose of making it more efficient and therefore more profitable. ... Downsizing is a euphemism referring to layoffs initiated by a company in order to cut labor costs by reducing the size of the company. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... See also general strike, or for other uses see: strike (disambiguation). ... A slowdown is an industrial action in which employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties. ...

However, the workers' anger before the secret restructuring plan provoked the immediate occupation of the factory. On June 12, the workers took as hostages two administrators and one inspecteur du travail (civil servant charged of labour law). The workers wanted to exchange them against "more precise informations," declared Piaget in the 2007 film documentary ^[8]. However, the three of them were quickly released by the CRS riot police around midnight, in a violent assault ^[7]. According to Piaget, this assault shocked the workers, who had been careful not to damage in any way the factory during previous strikes ^[8]. This article is in need of attention. ... A CRS officier in normal gear, standing by a Bastille Day parade The Compagnies RÃ©publicaines de SÃ©curitÃ© (Republican Security Companies, CRS) are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. ...

Having lost their human hostages, the workers decided to take material hostages in order to block the restructuration plans. Henceforth, they seized 65,000 watches and dissimulated them ^[7]. Before this seizure, they discussed between themselves about the moral legitimacy of such a seizure, wondering if it was a thief or a sin — Catholicism was strong in this region. But the Dominican priest and worker Jean Raguenes, close to Maoism, absoluted in advance the workers ^[8]. They also took the factory plans in order to avoid any risk of the competence seizing these industrial secrets ^[8]. On the following day, the workers decided during a general assembly to occupy day and night the factory. Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1] - is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or... Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare (Praise, Bless, Preach) Saint Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization to address the needs of his time, one that would bring the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Absolution in a liturgical church refers to the pronouncement of Gods forgiveness of sins. ... General assembly could be: The United Nations General Assembly General Assembly (presbyterian church), a supreme governing body, such as the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland See also List of Christian denominations#Presbyterian and Reformed Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian...

The strike was notably lead by Charles Piaget, a responsible of the CFDT trade-union. 50% of the workers were then affiliated to a trade-union, either the CFDT or the CGT ^[7]. The CFDT benefitted of the majority in the factory. Most of its leader were issued from the Action Catholique Ouvrière (AOC, Workers' Catholic Action) and of popular education movements. They included the workers Charles Piaget, Roland Vittot, Raymond Burgy, the worker-priest Jean Raguenes and a firm responsible, Michel Jeanningros. Two female workers, Jeannine Pierre-Emile and Fatima Demougeot, were also CFDT leaders in the firm. Noëlle Dartevelle and Claude Mercet were the CGT representants ^[3]. Popular education is an educational technique designed to raise the consciousness of its participants and allow them to become more aware of how an individuals personal experiences are connected to larger societal problems. ... The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration GÃ©nÃ©rale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ...

Contrary to the strike during May 68, this time the workers decided to open up the factory to people from the exterior, journalists, etc. This gave them more popularity ^[5]. At first, Jacques Chérêque, the national leader of the CFDT metallurgist section, was wary of the Action Committee. On request of the local workers, he sent a representant, Fredo Coutet, a metallurgist, to discuss with the local section of the CFTC. After a week, Coutet was convinced by the experience, but Chérêque remained wary ^[5]. At that time, the workers were still sceptics before any self-management experience, and requested an employer. Lead by François Chérêque, the CFDT thus tried to find an employer who would agree on buying the firm ^[4]. Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and of materials engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements and their mixtures, which are called alloys. ... Worker Self-Management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the employees themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour etc. ...

An experience in workers' self-management (1973-74)

A large demonstration gathering 12,000 persons in the average-size town of Besançon took place on June 15, 1973 ^[2]. Three day later, a general assembly decided to continue production of watches, under the workers' control, to insure "survival wages." The LIP struggle was thereafter popularized with the slogan: C'est possible: on fabrique, on vend, on se paie! (It is possible: we manufacture them, we sell them, we pay ourselves!). General assembly could be: The United Nations General Assembly General Assembly (presbyterian church), a supreme governing body, such as the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland See also List of Christian denominations#Presbyterian and Reformed Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian... Worker Self-Management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the employees themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour etc. ... A wage is a compensation which workers receive in exchange for their labor. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The CGT-CFDT trade-union alliance (intersyndicale) asked the Cahiers de Mai review to assist them in making a newspaper dedicated to the strike. Named Lip-Unité (Lip-Unity), this newspaper would help popularize the movement. In order to relaunch the production, they sold the watches that they had seized to gain sufficient capital to re-start the factory, this time without any employer. In six weeks, they made the equivalent of half the revenue of a normal year ^[8]. Michel Rocard, then national secretary of the PSU, participated to the sell of the watches ^[4]. The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration GÃ©nÃ©rale du Travail (CGT or General Confederation of Work) is one of the five major French confederations of trade unions. ... In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital â€” although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of capital) is the principal city or town associated with a countrys government. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Michel Rocard, French politician Michel Rocard (born August 23, 1930) is a French Socialist politician, former French Prime minister, and currently a member of the European Parliament. ...

"The question of women was a revolution inside the revolution," later declared Piaget ^[8]. The clockwork factory had a majority of female workers, especially among semi-skilled workers (OS, ouvrier spécialisé) working on the assembly line ^[5]^[9]. 1913 Ford Model T assembly line. ...

After the start of the self-management experience, the national section of the CGT tried to take control of the movement, imposing meetings during the day against the workers' will. Finally, a large part of the members of the CGT joined the CFDT, and the CGT decided to let it go. Despite these tensions with the leadership of the CGT, Charles Piaget later declared that the "communists remained essential." ^[5].

Pierre Messmer's Minister of Industrial Development, Jean Charbonnel, a historical figure of left-wing Gaullism, named Henri Giraud as mediator of the conflict. The government then proposed a new plan, which included the firing of 159 employees (or 180, on a total of 1,200 ^[1]). The workers refused it on August 3, 1973 ^[8] ^[2]. Negociations between the trade-unions, the Action Committee and the mediator Giraud started again on 11 August 1973. Four days later, the guarde mobile (a military unit) occupied the factory and expelled the workers. The military remained there until February 1974. On May 29, 1974 Jacques Chirac (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the HÃ´tel Matignon. ... Charles de Gaulle, in his generals uniform Gaullism (from French Gaullisme) is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Charles de Gaulle. ...

Following this violent occupation, many firms of Besançon and of the region decided to go on strike, and workers came to the LIP factory to struggle against the military forces. Trade-unionists tried to intercede in order to prevent any confrontation, but this didn't stop the government from ordering arrestations, which led to court convictions in the following days.

A national demonstration, taking place in Besançon, was decided on September 29, 1973. 100,000 persons demonstrated under beating rain, leading to the name of the marche des 100,000 (100,000 March). Chérêque of the CFDT disapproved of this demonstration, fearing provocations by the police. An old peasant then want to see Michel Rocard, and told him that he had heard, during a family meeting, a member of the special police forces boast about burning more cars than the demonstrators during May 68, and also of having thrown molotov cocktails ^[4]. This decided Rocard to send a letter to the organizators of the demonstration, warning them to be on the look-out. The demonstration was finally non-violent ^[4]. Michel Rocard, French politician Michel Rocard (born August 23, 1930) is a French Socialist politician, former French Prime minister, and currently a member of the European Parliament. ... Molotov cocktail is the generic name for a variety of crude incendiary weapons. ... Nonviolence (or non-violence) is a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that leads its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social or political goals. ...

End of the first conflict

Prime minister Pierre Messmer wishfully declared on 15 October 1973: "Lip, c'est fini!" (Lip, it's over!) ^[8]. Behind the scenes, some progressist managers of the CNPF employers' union (Antoine Riboud, CEO of BSN, Renaud Gillet, CEO of Rhône-Poulenc and José Bidegain, deputy president of the CNPF) tried to find a solution to the conflict. Finally, Claude Neuschwander, then number 2 of the Publicis group and member of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU) accepted to become the factory's manager. LIP became a subsidiary of BSN, and Neuschwander managed to have Antoine Riboud bypass the regular control of weekly accounts ^[4]. On May 29, 1974 Jacques Chirac (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the HÃ´tel Matignon. ... Management (from Old French ménagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ... The National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico —or Liga Baloncesto Superior Nacional De Puerto Rico (BSN) in Spanish— was established in 1933 and has produced a handful of Puerto Ricos larger towns. ... RhÃ´ne-Poulenc was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928 with the merger of SociÃ©tÃ© Chemique des Usines du RhÃ´ne and Ã‰tablissements Poulenc FrÃ¨res. ... Logo Publicis Groupe (Euronext: PUB, NYSE: PUB) is a multinational advertising and communications company based in France. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... In business, a subsidiary is a company controlled by another company or corporation. ...

In the meanwhile, beside the PSU, all the far-left movements supported the LIP self-management experience. LIP workers participated to the 1973-74 struggle in the Larzac against the extension of a military base (photos). However, tensions increased between the CFDT and the CGT trade-unions. The Causse du Larzac is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France. ...

The LIP delegation signed the Dôle agreement on 29 January 1974 with the direction. The Compagnie européenne d'horlogerie (European Clockwork Cie.), directed by Claude Neuschwander, took control of LIP. Neuschwander had 850 former workers engaged again in March, leading to the end of the strike. In December 1974, the conflict appeared to be finish: workers' self-management was not any more at the order of the day, and all of the employees had been re-engaged. Dole can refer to: Dole, a commune in the Jura dÃ©partement in France La DÃ´le, a mountain in Switzerland Dole Food Company The Dole, a British English term for state-subsidized living wages, equivalent to American English welfare. ...

But in May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, representant of economic liberalism against the Gaullist tradition, had been elected president, with the support of Jacques Chirac. They opposed this victory of trade-unions, in a time when downsizing plans were prepared all over France ^[8]. The previous Minister of Industrial Development, Jean Charbonnel, testified that Giscard had declared: "The LIP must be punished. Let them be unemployed and remain as that. Else they will be a virus for all of society." ^[8] ^[10] According to Charbonnel, the employers and Chirac's government had deliberately "assassinated LIP." ^[8] ValÃ©ry Marie RenÃ© Giscard dEstaing [IPA: vÉ‘leÊ€i mÉ‘Ê€i Ê€É™ne Ê’iskÉ‘Ê€ dÉ›stÉ›Ìƒ] (born 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, Germany) is a French center-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981. ... The liberal theory of economics is the theory of economics described by classical liberal authors such as Adam Smith or the French Physiocrats. ... Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Charles de Gaulle. ... Second Round First Round See also President of France France Politics of France Categories: | | ... Jacques RenÃ© Chirac (born November 29, 1932) has served as the Gaullist President of France since he was first elected in 1995. ...

This was done by confronting the left-wing employer, Neuschwander, and the firm with unforeseen difficulties ^[2]. Hence, Renault, a state enterprise, withdrew its commands, while the Ministry of the Industry refused a promised fund ^[8]. Furthermore, in contradiction with the Dôle agreement of January 1974, the trade court (tribunal de commerce) requested of LIP to honour a 6 millions Francs debt due by the former firm to providers. Renault S.A. is a French vehicle manufacturer producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. ... A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is an enterprise, often a corporation, owned by a government. ...

1976 : the second movement

The manager Claude Neuscwander was forced to resign, by the share-holders, on 8 February 1976, and the Compagnie européenne d'horlogerie started the liquidation process in April. The social movement hereafter started again. On May 5, 1976, the LIP workers occupied again the factory, launching anew the production of watches. Libération newspaper, founded three years before by Jean-Paul Sartre, titled "Lip, c'est reparti!" (approximatively: "Lip, again!"). Since no firm agreed on taking over LIP, the firm was definitively liquidated on 12 September 1977. Following long internal debates, the workers created on 28 November 1977 cooperatives, named "Les Industries de Palente" (Palente's Industries — Palente was the neighborhood of Besançon where the factory was located, while the acronym remained LIP). LibÃ©ration (affectionately known as LibÃ©) is a French newspaper founded in Paris in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Victor alias Benny LÃ©vy and Serge July in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. ... Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (June 21, 1905 â€“ April 15, 1980), normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (pronounced: ), was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. ... For cooperative as used in biochemistry, see cooperative binding. ...

Charles Piaget testified in 1977, in the Quotidien de Paris, about the autogestion experience:

The second struggle did not end until 1980, when six cooperatives, employing 250 workers on a total of 850, were created. Most of the others workers who had joined the struggle (around 400) were either hired by the municipality, or signed agreements granting them premature retirements. The cooperatives lasted between 3 and 12 years. Three of them, which have since become SA or SARL, still exist today, employing each a hundred workers ^[5]. For instance, some former LIP workers returned to work in Palente in the frame of the SCOP cooperative (Société coopérative de production) Lip Précision Industrie, which employs about twenty persons. The cooperative has focused itself on precision mechanics. According to Charles Piaget, the difficulties of the second conflict, compared to the large victory obtained in 1974, could be explained by the election of Giscard in May 1974, whose government decided not to help companies in a difficult situation, and by the 1973 oil crisis ^[5]. For cooperative as used in biochemistry, see cooperative binding. ... Sa or sa may stand for: Look up sa in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A SociÃ©tÃ© Ã responsabilitÃ© limitÃ©e (translates to Society with limited liability) is a type of company in France and Switzerland, often abbreviated SÃ rl or SARL. It is similar to a Limited Liability Company in the U.S. and a Private limited company in the U.K. and Ireland. ... SCOP can refer to Structural Classification of Proteins A scop was an Old English poet, the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of the Old Norse skald. ... At the height of the crisis in the United States, drivers of vehicles with odd numbered license plates were allowed to purchase gasoline only on odd-numbered days of the month, while drivers with even-numbers were limited to even-numbered days. ...

LIP in the 1980s and the 1990s

The LIP cooperative was bought back by Kiplé in 1984, during François Mitterrand's presidency. However, the new firm was liquidated six years later. Jean-Claude Sensemat then bought the brand in 1990, and relaunched the production with modern marketing methods. The sells increased, with a million watches a year. The LIP reedited Charles de Gaulle's watch, which Jean-Claude Sensemat offered to US president Bill Clinton. IPA: (October 26, 1916 â€“ January 8, 1996) was President of France from 1981 to 1995, elected as representative of the Socialist Party (PS). ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up marketing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ...

Sensemat signed in 2002 a LIP world licence contract with Jean-Luc Bernerd, who created for the occasion La Manufacture Générale Horlogère in Lectoure Gers.

Charles Piaget is today a member of AC! (Agir ensemble contre le chômage), an union of unemployed people ^[5], while the Dominican Jean Raguenès lives in Brazil, where he supports the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) ^[1]. MST logo Brazilâ€™s Landless Workers Movement, or in Portuguese Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), is the largest social movement in Latin America with an estimated 1. ...

Famous models

Jean Mermoz (December 9, 1901 â€“ December 7, 1936) was an aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 â€“ 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ... For the group of heart conditions referred to as TGV, see transposition of the great vessels. ...

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Lip Lip Lip hourra!, Libération, 20 March 2007 (French)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Les Lip, l'imagination au pouvoir" : le samedi soir et le grand soir, Le Monde, March 20, 2007 (French)
^ ^a ^b Lip, héros des Temps Modernes in L'Humanité, 18 April 2007 (French)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Ils voulaient un patron, pas une coopérative ouvrière", interview with Michel Rocard in Le Monde, 20 March 2007 (French)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Leçons d'autogestion (Autogestion Lessons), interview with Charles Piaget on Mouvements (French)
^ PSU, « Un an de lutte chez Lip », supplément à Critique Socialiste (Revue théorique du PSU), n°5, 1971.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Lip heure par heure, in L'Humanité, 22 October 2005 (French)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ LIP, l'imagination au pouvoir, article by Serge Halimi in Le Monde diplomatique, 20 March 2007 (French)
^ PSU, « Lip au féminin », Critique Socialiste, n°5, 1971
^ French: « Il faut les punir [les Lip]. Qu’ils soient chômeurs et qu’ils le restent. Ils vont véroler tout le corps social. »
^ French: « Un peu plus de 500 travailleurs sont en lutte effective, se rassemblent tous les jours et cela dix-neuf mois après leur licenciement. C’est une preuve vivante de la démocratie. Il est impossible d’avoir une telle force collective sans une pratique soutenue de la démocratie, de partage des responsabilités, de participation de toute sorte. Il est à signaler qu’à Lip les travailleurs font fonctionner une trentaine de commissions, qui vont du restaurant servant 300 repas chaque jour à 4 francs, en passant par un salon de coiffure pour les chômeurs, une commission juridique pour ces mêmes chômeurs, des activités artisanales diverses dont est le jeu Chomageopoly, vendu déjà à plus de 6 000 exemplaires, et enfin des activités de fabrication industrielle. »

LibÃ©ration (affectionately known as LibÃ©) is a French newspaper founded in Paris in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Victor alias Benny LÃ©vy and Serge July in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. ... Le Monde is also the name of a song by the Thievery Corporation. ... LHumanitÃ© (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was the only French newspaper owned by a political party. ... Michel Rocard, French politician Michel Rocard (born August 23, 1930) is a French Socialist politician, former French Prime minister, and currently a member of the European Parliament. ... Le Monde is also the name of a song by the Thievery Corporation. ... The Unified Socialist Party (French: Parti Socialiste UnifiÃ©, PSU) was a socialist political party in France, founded on April 3, 1960. ... LHumanitÃ© (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was the only French newspaper owned by a political party. ... Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed Le Diplo by its French readers) is a monthly publication offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. ...

Sources used

Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed Le Diplo by its French readers) is a monthly publication offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. ... LHumanitÃ© (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was the only French newspaper owned by a political party. ... Le Monde is also the name of a song by the Thievery Corporation. ... Michel Rocard, French politician Michel Rocard (born August 23, 1930) is a French Socialist politician, former French Prime minister, and currently a member of the European Parliament. ... Les Ã‰chos is a daily French economics newspaper. ... LibÃ©ration (affectionately known as LibÃ©) is a French newspaper founded in Paris in 1973 by Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Victor alias Benny LÃ©vy and Serge July in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. ... Politis is a weekly left-wing French newspaper. ...

Bibliography and films

Michel Rocard, French politician Michel Rocard (born August 23, 1930) is a French Socialist politician, former French Prime minister, and currently a member of the European Parliament. ...

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