Rail strikes likely as pensions protest grows

France looks set for rail chaos next week, as unions issue a call for an indefinite strike on the Paris local transport and the national rail network. The stoppage will start on Tuesday when unions stage a one-day general strike against the government’s plans to raise retirement age.

Reuters

All unions are backing next week’s one-day stoppage and minority rail unions on Tuesday issued notice that they would declare a rolling strike, which they will decide whether to continue day by day after the general strike ends.

The most powerful union, the CGT, is expected to decide whether to back that call on Wednesday. Its members on Paris regional transport have already done so, as has its seafarers’ and ports section, which can paralyse ferry services between Corsica and mainland France.

A debate on the reform in the upper house of parliament opened Tuesday afternoon with Communist senators brandishing a banner calling for the reform, which raises the lowest retirement age to 62, be scrapped.

Labour Minister Eric Woerth pledged not to back down.

Unions and opposition parties are confident that the 12 October strike will be widely followed after Saturday’s demonstrations, which they consider to have been a great success.

The new strike calls raise the prospect of a repeat of the 1995 strikes, over earlier pensions and social security reforms, which saw the largest work stoppages since the 1968 general strike.