FRANCE: Rail workers begin an open-ended strike

Record ID: 339211

  • Title: FRANCE: Rail workers begin an open-ended strike
  • Date: 14th November 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS CROWDED PLATFORM. VARIOUS METRO ARRIVING AT THE PLATFORM WITH COMMUTERS GETTING IN
  • Embargoed: 29th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA2WRV2791W9UTKSX3YE5ORQLLK
  • Story Text: France faced travel chaos on Wednesday (November 14) as transport unions broadened a nationwide strike against a pensions reform that President Nicolas Sarkozy says is needed to shore up state accounts.
    Workers at rail operator SNCF went on strike on Tuesday (November 13) evening and were joined on Wednesday by Paris transport workers and staff at power and gas utilities EdF and GdF -- the second time they have all downed tools in a month.
    The open-ended stoppage poses the biggest challenge to Sarkozy since he came to power six months ago pledging a deep-seated reform of the economy.
    Only a handful of trains were scheduled to run on Wednesday and Paris's metro and bus systems were operating vastly reduced services, although some lines were less affected than initially predicted.
    Parisian commuter Serge said: "It's not a big deal. We are going to deal with it. We are philosophical"
    Another Parisian commuter said: ""I'm coming from Marcel St Brice. I put the bicycle in the train. I had planned to come from there with my bicycle but the train was empty, so I could take the bicycle with me in the train. That is the solution for the days to come."
    Energy unions said they planned targeted power cuts of individual buildings rather than widescale blackouts.
    At stake in the dispute is the government's determination to end so-called "special regimes" that let some 500,000 state sector workers retire after making two-and-a-half years less pension contributions than anyone else.
    All previous attempts to reform the special regimes have failed in the face of massive street protests, but Sarkozy is confident he will win this show of force, buoyed by public opinion which is firmly against the strikers.
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