By SEBASTIAN MOFFETT

PARIS -- The top two executives of French utility GDF Suez
SA said they would forgo their 2008 stock options, bending to rising
public anger and political pressure here over business leaders' pay
packages amid the economic crisis.

Workers at GDF Suez's French liquefied natural gas terminals went on
strike on Thursday morning to protest their bosses' stock options and
to demand wage increases.

Associated Press

French utility
GDF Suez executives Jean-François Cirelli, left, and Gérard Mestrallet,
right, agreed to forgo 2008 stock options.

Within
hours, GDF Suez said Chief Executive Gérard Mestrallet and
Vice-Chairman Jean-François Cirelli would renounce the options in a
spirit of "responsibility," and in order to share profits with all
group employees.

The move marks an escalation of public fury in France over business
leaders' pay packages as the economy sours and unemployment rises.
Until now, protests had targeted companies that have benefited from
some form of state aid, most notably banks.

French bank Société Générale SA -- which has received €1.7 billion
($2.31 billion) in government aid -- on Monday backtracked on a plan to
award stock options to its top four executives. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy had called the stock-option program "a scandal."

The French state owns 35.7% of GDF Suez, but the company hasn't
received any extra state aid and is profitable. Still, the utility has
been under pressure not to award stock options to its top executives.

"Personally, I find that a little restraint would be appropriate for
the situation we find ourselves in" Mr. Sarkozy's chief of staff,
Claude Guéant, said in a television interview Thursday.

Stepping up the pressure, Mr. Guéant said the government would issue
a decree next week limiting bonuses and stock options for top managers
at companies receiving state funding.

The mounting controversy over pay packages is coalescing with
unhappiness over how Mr. Sarkozy is handling the financial crisis. The
French president has focused his €26 billion stimulus package on
long-term investment rather than household incomes.

Last week, several million people turned out for a national strike
to demand that the government do more to help those who are struggling
amid the

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