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Only about 8 percent of French workers belong to labor unions, one of the lowest levels of the world’s developed economies. In the U.S. about 11 percent are union members.

But no country rivals France when it comes to the tenacity, the ingenuity, and often the downright nastiness of its labor protests. In the latest episode, a mob of Air France workers on Monday tore the clothes off two executives leaving a management meeting, in a protest over planned layoffs.

Air France Management Shirts Ripped Off

Crazy as such tactics might seem, the protesters often get what they want:

Merde

French farmers on July 2 turned pigs loose in front of government buildings and dumped piles of manure on roads and in front of supermarkets and banks,French taxis outside Charles de Gaulle Airport protesting against Uber’s ride-hailing service. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg

Time for some traffic problems in Calais

Striking ferry workers on June 23 blocked access to the English Channel tunnel by setting fire to tires and rubble they had piled at the tunnel entrance near Calais. The protest involved the planned sale of a ferry service owned by tunnel operator Eurotunnel that would have led to about 500 job losses. After sporadic protests disrupted passenger and freight traffic through the tunnel over the summer, unions won an agreement in September to save more than 400 of the jobs.

Trucks queue up as part of Operation Stack in Dover, England. Ferry workers blockaded the port of Calais in France to protest job cuts. Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images

Bossnapping

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