A transport stoppage that has caused daily travel misery for millions of people in France entered its 23rd day on Friday, surpassing the duration of a 1995 strike whose success unions are hoping to repeat, reports FRANCE 24.
With no end in sight, train and metro transport was again severely disrupted in Paris and on regional lines, as railway workers stayed off the job to protest the government's plan to merge 42 existing pension schemes into a single, points-based system.
The overhaul would see workers in certain sectors – including the railways – lose early retirement benefits, while millions more face benefit cuts.
Talks between unions and the government last week failed to find common ground, and a new day of mass protest has been called for January 9th – two days after negotiations are set to resume.
With some 42 percent of train drivers on strike, the SNCF rail company said just over half of its high-speed TGV trains would be running Friday, 20 percent of suburban trains in the larger Paris region, four out of ten regional trains and a quarter of inter-city connections.
In Paris, only two of 16 metro lines – the only driverless ones – were running as usual, four were closed, and ten provided a much reduced service.
The government says the pension overhaul is needed to create a fairer system.
But workers object to the inclusion of a so-called pivot age of 64 until which people would have to work to earn a full pension – two years beyond the official retirement age.