French transit strike moves into sixth day

PARIS – A transit strike that has paralysed rail traffic in France since early last week has cost the country’s national railway US$146 million, the head of the SNCF railway was quoted as saying yesterday.

Anne-Marie Idrac told La Tribune newspaper passengers were fed up with the open-ended strikes, which began last Tuesday to protest the government’s plans to scrap special retirement benefits for certain public workers. “The strike already cost more than US$100 million, which is the amount that I intended to put on the table for negotiations,” Idrac was quoted as saying.She added the walkout, which continued into its sixth day yesterday despite signs that it was losing steam, had damaged her company’s reputation with its passengers.Yesterday, about 300 high-speed TGV trains of a usual 700 were expected to run, the SNCF said.On the Paris Metro, just one train in five was expected to be running, with some subway lines and commuter train lines shut entirely and just 40 per cent of buses in circulation.Car traffic was also snarled yesterday morning, with France’s highway information office reporting 240 kilometres of backups in the Paris region alone.That was nearly twice the average length of jams on a normal Monday morning.At a meeting Sunday, six leading unions agreed in principle to a proposal by the SNCF management for talks Wednesday on the pension reform.The train drivers themselves – who have been tougher than the union leadership – were considering the proposal yesterday.The key question is whether the government would join Wednesday’s talks.Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand praised the unions for agreeing to talks, but reiterated calls for strikers to return to work before negotiations can begin.”There are things that are moving, that are unlocking, but not fast enough for my taste,” he said after a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday.One union, CFDT, has already called for its members to return to work, and another, CFTC, suggested Sunday that it could soon do the same.The larger unions, however, were holding out.Strikers were hoping to carry their momentum until today, when hospital, school and other public sector workers plan their own walkouts over planned job cuts.For Sarkozy’s leftist opponents, the retirement reform is a symbol of what they see as a greater threat to the social and labour protections that have underpinned France’s economy for decades.On Sunday, a group calling itself Liberte Cherie, or Beloved Liberty, responded to the ongoing walkout with its own ‘Stop the Strike’ demonstration.The group, though marginal, drew some 8 000 people to its march in eastern Paris, according to police estimates.While that is nothing like the masses that turn out for union-organised events, the anti-strike group’s point is popular: Polls indicate that the French are siding with Sarkozy over the pension reform.French commuters have long been accustomed to strikes and have tried and trusted methods for coping with transport walkouts: car pooling, bicycling, inline skating, working from home or taking a day off.Those methods will be put to the test again this week.Nampa-AP”The strike already cost more than US$100 million, which is the amount that I intended to put on the table for negotiations,” Idrac was quoted as saying.She added the walkout, which continued into its sixth day yesterday despite signs that it was losing steam, had damaged her company’s reputation with its passengers.Yesterday, about 300 high-speed TGV trains of a usual 700 were expected to run, the SNCF said.On the Paris Metro, just one train in five was expected to be running, with some subway lines and commuter train lines shut entirely and just 40 per cent of buses in circulation.Car traffic was also snarled yesterday morning, with France’s highway information office reporting 240 kilometres of backups in the Paris region alone.That was nearly twice the average length of jams on a normal Monday morning.At a meeting Sunday, six leading unions agreed in principle to a proposal by the SNCF management for talks Wednesday on the pension reform.The train drivers themselves – who have been tougher than the union leadership – were considering the proposal yesterday.The key question is whether the government would join Wednesday’s talks.Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand praised the unions for agreeing to talks, but reiterated calls for strikers to return to work before negotiations can begin.”There are things that are moving, that are unlocking, but not fast enough for my taste,” he said after a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday.One union, CFDT, has already called for its members to return to work, and another, CFTC, suggested Sunday that it could soon do the same.The larger unions, however, were holding out.Strikers were hoping to carry their momentum until today, when hospital, school and other public sector workers plan their own walkouts over planned job cuts.For Sarkozy’s leftist opponents, the retirement reform is a symbol of what they see as a greater threat to the social and labour protections that have underpinned France’s economy for decades.On Sunday, a group calling itself Liberte Cherie, or Beloved Liberty, responded to the ongoing walkout with its own ‘Stop the Strike’ demonstration.The group, though marginal, drew some 8 000 people to its march in eastern Paris, according to police estimates.While that is nothing like the masses that turn out for union-organised events, the anti-strike group’s point is popular: Polls indicate that the French are siding with Sarkozy over the pension reform.French commuters have long been accustomed to strikes and have tried and trusted methods for coping with transport walkouts: car pooling, bicycling, inline skating, working from home or taking a day off.Those methods will be put to the test again this week.Nampa-AP