FRANCE: More chaos on third day of French rail strike

Commuters in Paris are hit by a third day of strikes by French rail workers as trade unions voted to extend a two-day transport strike despite moves by the government to launch negotiations over contested pension reform. A public transport strike that has caused massive disruption in Paris and throughout France continued for a third day on Friday (November 16), despite clear signs that the parties to the conflict were moving towards a resolution. French trade unions voted on Thursday (November 15) to extend a two-day transport strike which has caused widespread disruption, despite moves by the government to launch negotiations over contested pension reform. France's SNCF railway company said less than half its staff were on strike on Thursday, against more than 60 percent on Wednesday, but workers from several rail unions voted to keep up the strike until at least Friday. Rail unions said they had sent a letter to the government, seeking a meeting on Friday to lay the groundwork for further talks, but they said they were still not ready to hold direct negotiations on the substance of the dispute. Although slightly more trains, buses and metro trains were operating on Friday , many workers struggled to reach their office for a third day running and traffic jams clogged roads leading into Paris from well before dawn. One Parisian commuter said: "I'm tired, tired. My god I really would like this to stop. I'm really tired the first day I've lost one day's work, today I'm coming to my work but I'm really tired. I woke up at 0415 this morning, I'm only here, not even at my work." The strike in France is the biggest test yet for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected on a pledge to do away with the special pension regimes, which allow some state sector employees to retire after 37.5 years of work against 40 years for everyone else. He has indicated he is willing to make secondary concessions, but has vowed not to give way on this central point, confident that public opinion is firmly behind him. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said it was not possible to hold talks with unions while the stoppages continued. CGT workers at the Paris transport authority RATP also voted to stay away from work. A separate strike also hit train passengers in neighbouring Germany as train drivers there walked off the job in a long-running wage dispute with rail operator Deutsche Bahn. aw/jrc

ITN Source | November 16, 2007

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