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Paris Is Not Arizona. The most serious problem that U.S. companies encounter—fortunately, not too frequently—is the layoff. Though they are accepted as occupational hazards in the U.S., layoffs are almost unheard of in Scandinavia and Southern Europe—and are sure to raise a storm anywhere on the Continent. They violate one of Europe's oldest labor traditions: a job, once obtained, is supposed to last indefinitely. Normally, European-owned factories switch workers to other assignments or put them on half-day shifts, but almost never fire them outright. Machines Bull-General Electric a month ago drew black headlines and angry cries of "Paris is not Arizona!" when it laid off 500 workers. When the U.S.-owned Beloit-Italia paper machinery plant near Turin tried to lay off 300 employees recently, workers invaded the factory in protest and occupied it for eleven days. They were fed through the fences by women and children, and the parish priest even came on Sunday to say Mass before the factory gate. What company wants to battle odds like that?