French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged transport workers today to end a seven-day national strike which has paralysed the country to give negotiations a chance.
Commuters cross the tracks as others wait on a crowded platform after getting out of their train at the Saint Lazare station in Paris
In his first comment since the start of the stoppage in a dispute which has found pension reform as a rally point, Mr Sarkozy said the reform of the so-called special regimes, which let some state workers retire early, was years overdue and would harmonise all state pensions.
Public sector workers object to Mr Sarkozy's plan not to replace some retiring civil servants, a move he hopes will cut costs, and say their purchasing power is being eroded.
National rail and Paris public transport unions have been on strike since November 14th, and energy workers have also staged sporadic stoppages to protest against the government proposals.
President Sarkozy said most transport workers had returned to work and accused a small minority of trade unionists of trying to radicalise the protest and damaging the French economy.
State rail operator SNCF has said the number of people involved in the rail strike has fallen since last week, but services have continued to be disrupted. As many commuters changed from trains to cars, traffic jams stretched over more than 300 kilometres across France this morning.
Today, teachers, postal workers and other civil servants joined the pickets in the most serious threat to the reform agenda Mr Sarkozy was elected on last May.
International flights were cancelled and delayed as air traffic control staff at some airports went on strike. Students blocked access to buildings at dozens of campuses across France in protest at reforms granting more autonomy to universities.
Some 58 per cent of secondary teachers participated in a strike over job cuts, a union official said. Newspaper distributors also began a one-day strike over planned restructuring, and striking energy workers cut about 8.7 per cent of production capacity at EDF nuclear plants at 9am, an energy union said.
"Everyone should understand that for me, in such a conflict, there will neither be winners or losers ... but I also say that one should know how to end a strike when the time for negotiations starts," Mr Sarkozy said.
"I am thinking about those millions of French people who after a day's work do not have a bus, a metro or a train to get home and who are tired of being held hostage. I am thinking of those companies that risk having to lay off workers," he said.
Negotiations with rail and public transport workers are due to open on tomorrow.
France has been hit by a raft of disputes in recent weeks over an array of reforms but Mr Sarkozy said he would press ahead with numerous other initiatives outlined in his election manifesto.