- Title: FRANCE: French commuters face travel chaos as transport strike bites
- Date: 18th October 2007
- Summary: (BN06) PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 18, 2007) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) EXTERIOR GARE DU NORD RAILWAY STATION VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS BOARDING TRAIN PLATFORM SIGN ANNOUNCING STRIKE PEOPLE LOOKING AT TRAIN BOARDS EMPTY TICKET BOOTHS EMPTY TRAIN TRACKS TRAIN PARKED MORE OF EMPTY TICKET COUNTERS TRAIN STATION COMPLETELY EMPTY PEOPLE WAITING AT STATION SIGN ANNOUNCING STRIKE PROBLEMS MO
- Embargoed: 2nd November 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Economic News,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA7O59E5SFFCR4URHWO9WHP9MBN
- Story Text: French commuters faced travel chaos on Thursday (October 18) as transport workers went on strike over plans to scrap their pension privileges, handing President Nicolas Sarkozy a first major challenge of his reforms.
Unions called the 24-hour strike from late on Wednesday in an attempt to force concessions from the government, which plans to scrap privileges that allow a minority of public sector workers to retire earlier than their peers.
The SNCF state rail network said only a fraction of trains would run, while bus and tram services faced disruption in 27 major cities over the pensions row, and a law forcing transport staff to provide a minimum service during strikes from January.
A man identified only as Pierre was one the commuters stranded at Gard du Nord station. He said: "We were expecting Nicolas Sarkozy to fix the situation but that is not the case." Pierre called for Sarkozy to act as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had done in confronting strikers "for this to end for good."
Gas and power utility staff, who would also be subject to the new pension rules, were also due to walk off the job, although cuts in supplies were not expected.
Airlines could also be affected if air traffic controllers were unable to get to work, the authorities said, though most cross-Channel Eurostar trains were due to run as usual.
The government wants to put employees paying into the so-called "special regime" pension schemes on an equal footing with civil servants and private sector workers, increasing their contribution period from
5 years to 40 years.
The special funds were introduced after World War Two, mainly for workers in physically demanding jobs, but they are running deficits that will cost the taxpayer an estimated 5 billion euros (7 billion U.S. dollars) this year.
Sarkozy vowed to phase out the special regimes during his election campaign this year and has offered talks on how best to do that while refusing to back down on the principle.
The senior members of the Socialist opposition and even unions agree state pensions must be reformed but argue that workers should not bear the brunt of any changes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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