Occupy Novartis?
Angry with recent job cuts announced by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, protesters, this past Saturday, gathered in Basel and beside the villa of its former CEO and Chairman Daniel Vasella to express their displeasure with the company’s decision to layoff workers.
In Basel, about 1,000 people gathered and demanded that Novartis reverse its decision to layoff 1,100 people who work at the company. Meanwhile, about 20 protestors gathered in a field opposite Vasella’s walled lakeside Mansion. Two of the protestors handed Vasella a “fake pink slip” and according to witnesses he laughed and took the gesture in stride.
Vasella, who is not a stranger to protests, is one of Switzerland's highest-paid executives and in 2009 animal rights activists set fire to his Tirolean hunting lodge to protest Novartis’ use of animals to test pharmaceuticals and consumer products.
Currently, the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US has primarily targeted banks and financial institutions. However, two weeks ago, a group of protestors in Croton, CT, staged a demonstration at Pfizer headquarters to express their anger a recent layoffs announced by the company.
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!
Earlier this year, Dan Vasella, the longtime CEO of the Swiss drug maker Novartis,
The Pharmalot blog authored by the intrepid Ed Silverman
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