tubby
I agree 100%. I'll have another look at the text of the interview but I know one of the employers who will shift people to desk jobs was SNCF, the other was the French Nuclear Industry - I guess one of the advantages of working for an (effectively) nationalised company in a country heavy on social legislation. That said I don't think it's widespread workers right, even in France.
Where I work I can think of perhaps only a single individual I work who ended up behind a desk having lost his licence, but I believe even that wasn't a permanent position and he eventually left the company.