Company Suicides Trouble French

France's labor minister is meeting with the head of the country's leading telecommunications company as concern rises over the number of suicides at the company. Since the start of 2008, 23 employees of France Telecom have taken their own lives. Union officials are blaming tough working conditions since the company went private in 1998. France Telecom leaders say the suicide rate is not unusually high for a company of 100,000 workers. The most recent suicide occurred Friday when a France Telecom worker leapt to her death out of an office building in Paris.