Nationwide Strike Challenges French Government's Reform

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Nationwide Strike Challenges French Government's Reform

France's five-month-old government is facing the biggest grass-root challenge as tens of thousands of public sector workers joined on Tuesday a national strike, causing serious transportation chaos.

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France's five-month-old government is facing the biggest grass-root challenge as tens of thousands of public sector workers joined on Tuesday a national strike, causing serious transportation chaos.

While air traffic, subway and bus transportation were seriously disrupted by the walkout, more than 100,000 workers, fearful of the government's privatization of French public services, were expected to march on Tuesday in Paris.

As a result of air traffic controllers' strike, Paris airports functioned with a sharply-reduced capacity. Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, an airport for international flights, maintained only 22 percent of flights, and Orly, the airport mainly for domestic flights, 17 percent.

Air France canceled 90 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights and other airlines followed suit. The 32-hour strike beganat 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) Monday and was expected to continue until 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) Wednesday.

Subway in Paris only operated with a minimum level of service with four of the 14 subway lines affected. In the southern city ofMarseilles, only 5 percent of bus services were operating, and thesubway system was at half capacity.

The strike, called by France's two largest labor unions, is to protest Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's reform plans to privatize state-run companies, reform the pension system and cut spending.

On Monday, striking truck drivers mounted roadblocks across France over pay. The roadblocks were lifted by day's end as policestepped in to keep traffic running, a tough measure taken by the government.

In 1995, a wave of strikes paralyzed the French economy and forced former center-right Prime Minister Alain Juppe to step down.

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