MANAGEMENT

Saint Leu, le 9th May 2011

Mr. Jukka LAAKSONEN,
WENRA Chair Director General
STUK
Laippatie 4 / P.O. BOX 14
00881 Helsinki, Finland

Dear Sir ,

                The 26 April this year the daily Les Echos, informed that the MEDEF (French Enterprise Movement) has developed a Manifesto for a new management , "the outcome of six months of thinking under the leadership of Philippe Vivien, AREVA’s HRD, and Jean-Luc Placet. " . During the same time the Supreme Court of France (Cour de cassation) has been hearing the Fronte-AREVA case and what I had to face in this conflict, as an employee, is not displayed in the Manifesto drawn up "under the leadership of the Areva’s HRD " . Stated policy and practice don’t fit together and the head face of the coin contradicts the tail face.

                Three principles ground the above mentioned Manifesto : empowering employees , promoting their commitment and granting the recognition that they deserve.

                From my side, as part of my job I refused to violate safety rules; it’s an obligation and it was my responsibility to report the irregularities, as a committed design engineer in charge of tasks rated to the most stringent requirements for nuclear reactors (ASME III class 1, AIEA …); the authorities have confirmed the irregularities so that they had to alert their foreign counterparts. I did my job according to the laws and regulations and therefore I have never aspired to any acknowledgment.

                But I have been targeted by organized vilifications and dissuasive sanctions , all of them solely against me, the drafter of the irregularities. My refusal to turn a blind eye to violations of safety rules got me cascading punishments even after I was fired ; for instance, people with AREVA or the IRSN (a French nuclear safety organisation) have requested a total of 75 000 Euro (about 50 000 USD); my property has been seized ; I have been harassed even at home ... I stop here an overwhelming and damning list of continuing hardships.

                Thus a committed employee full aware of his responsibilities may discreetly be forced to decide complacently, under threat of sanctions should he resist ; and so, demanding safety rules are breached and go undetected, unless a conspicuous accident occurs; costs and market competition may be distorted , just with the right amount of impertinence.

                Jean-Luc Placet is the author of a book on the impertinence as a managerial quality . He is the chairman of the MEDEF Committee for Human Respect and a contributor to the Manifesto for a new management. In fact this Manifesto illustrates how a Human Resources manager in the nuclear industry may hawk pretty management rules, without discontinuing the outrageous practices of the Fronte-AREVA case. It’s a masterpiece of impertinence .

                The rule of law has proven to be not applicable to the nuclear industry and I’m powerless against its operators or regulators. I wonder whether you, as the WENRA Chairman, can tolerate the above kind of management, risking human and economic disasters.

Very truly yours
Tommaso Fronte

AWARD OF HUMAN RESOURCES

IMPERTINENT

MANAGER