Striking French transport workers blocked rail lines and held votes today to decide whether to extend a strike against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to cut their pension rights.
The open-ended strike, which entered its third day, has developed into a trial of strength over one of Mr Sarkozy's key economic reforms and grass-roots union resistance appears to have hardened as workers called for the stoppage to continue.
Individual union chapters held votes throughout the day to decide whether to continue the strike, with the trend pointing towards a continuation of the stoppage, said a spokesman for the biggest rail union the CGT.
"We are continuing because we haven't made any progress on what we wanted," said Guillaume Roiron, a member of the CGT union at Saint Lazare station in Paris after his local chapter voted to carry on with the strike.
"It's likely it will continue tomorrow but of course we don't know what will happen between now and then."
Rail group SNCF said 32.2 per cent of staff were striking today against 42.8 per cent yesterday and 61.5 per cent on Wednesday. However there appeared to be little improvement in services and the railways were expected to remain snarled during the weekend.
The SNCF said protesters had blocked trains at stations in Paris and a number of other centres including the northern city of Lille and the western city of Bordeaux.
"There have been occupations of rail lines, alarm signals activated, flares have been lit and obstacles have even been placed on some lines," it said, adding that it strongly condemned the "illegal actions" of some strikers.
Government and union leaders were deadlocked over resuming talks, with unions insisting on agreement over the format for talks and Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand declaring that unions would have to call for a return to work for talks to start.
Government and unions agreed earlier this week on the need to resume negotiations over the reforms, which centre around plans to hike the retirement age for some workers, raising hopes that the transport stoppage would be short-lived.
Unions oppose plans to scrap special pension privileges that allow some 500,000 public sector workers to retire on full pensions after paying contributions for only 37.5 years, instead of 40 years for other workers.
The government says the so-called "special pension regimes" are outdated, unfair and unaffordable. Unions say the benefits make up for often awkward and difficult working conditions.
Opinion polls show most French people support reform of the system, but with separate protests by students and civil servants brewing and widespread concerns over the cost of living, the protests could widen if the strikes drag on.