Ten days ago militant workers at a Sony factory in France took two of the firm's executive's hostage in a dispute over lay-offs and the sacking of executives.

Serge Foucher, CEO of Sony France, and Roland Bentz, head of human resources, were only allowed to leave after being held at the factory in the south-west of the country for 18 hours.

Sacked employees grabbed the executives after they arrived at the Pontonx-sur-l'Adour plant to negotiate their severance packages.

Mr Foucher was heading for a meeting with the regional state representative, or prefect, and union leaders in the nearby town of Dax, officials said.

He had gone to the factory to meet its 311 workers one last time before its closure on April 17.

But the workers, who say their pay-off is less generous than that offered at other French Sony plants that have closed, decided to launch a strike, then barricaded the entry to the site with tree trunks and stopped him leaving.

He was held overnight in a meeting room, a union official said.

Worldwide Sony is struggling to survive with tens of thousands of employees being laid off, factories being shut as consumers desert the brand.

In Australia where Sony have a PR team four times larger than any other major consumer electronics Company the Company has refused to comment on not only the sacking of staff in Australia but security measures surrounding Sony executives in Australia.