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Strikes: Transport chaos continues across France

Public transport in France was crippled for a fourth day Sunday as the government prepared to respond to anger over pension reforms that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets as workers embarked on open-ended protest.

Strikes: Transport chaos continues across France
Image: JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and senior cabinet ministers are scheduled to hold a “working meeting” late Sunday to discuss a government project which the country's powerful labour unions claim will force many to work longer for a smaller retirement payout.

The strikes, which began Thursday over plans for a single, points-based pension scheme, recalled the winter of 1995, when three weeks of stoppages forced a social policy U-turn by the then-government.

‘Black Monday’ for commuters as public transport strikes set to continue across Paris

Macron's move to modernise France's retirement system is part of an election pledge to put the country on a solid financial footing — a mission that calls for painful changes in a country where many people have seen their spending power decline. 

Macron to hold crisis talks on pension reforms

The biggest labour unrest in years comes as France's economy is already dented by more than a year of weekly anti-government protests by “yellow vest” activists, and with Macron's popularity falling.

The mass strike closed schools Thursday, and hobbled commuters in Paris and its suburbs as well as other major cities through the weekend.

Many opted to take days off or to work from home, but thousands had no choice but to squeeze into perilously overfull suburban trains and metros whose numbers were slashed to a minimum.

Shows cancelled

Regional and international trains, including the Thalys and Eurostar, were also badly affected and many flights were cancelled on the first days of the strike.

Many tourists were left disappointed too, with the world-famous Louvre closing some rooms, and the Paris Opera and other theatres in the capital cancelling performances.

The chaos was set to continue on Monday, with the three main rail unions calling for the action to be stepped up ahead of another general strike and mass protests called for Tuesday.

“In the coming days, we recommend avoiding public transport,” said the website of the RATP public train, tram, bus and metro company on which some 10 million passengers in the larger Paris area rely daily to get to work.

Ten out of the RATP's 16 metro lines will be offline, four will offer limited service, and the only two driverless metros will run as usual but with a “risk of congestion” during peak hours. Inter-city rail operator SNCF cautioned of potentially “dangerous” overcrowding.

Philippe vowed to the Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche he was “determined” to pursue the reform — which will see 42 pension plans merged into one.

“If we do not make a far-reaching, serious and progressive reform today, someone else will do a really brutal one tomorrow,” said the head of government.

But the leader of the hardline CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told the paper: “We will keep up until the withdrawal” of the reform plan, which he said contained “nothing good”.

'Positive outcomes'

Under pressure, the government held talks with union representatives over the weekend, ahead of Sunday evening's emergency meeting.

Jean-Paul Delevoye, who Macron appointed to lead the pension reform project, is set to unveil the outcome of his months-long consultations on Monday, followed by Philippe announcing the final details of the proposed reform plan on Wednesday.

Delevoye has already angered unions by suggesting cancelling the more advantageous pensions enjoyed by some professions including public transport and utilities workers, sailors, notaries and even Paris Opera workers.

The proposals have brought thousands out on the streets in recent months, including train drivers, pilots, lawyers, doctors and police.

At least 800,000 took part in countrywide rallies Thursday, one of the biggest demonstrations of union strength in nearly a decade.

And on Saturday, some 23,500 people including “yellow vest” protesters marched against unemployment and waning spending power.

Philippe insisted the reform will “provide extremely positive outcomes for many people who are suffering injustices in the current system”, including women and farmers.

Businesses, however, feared for their bottom line with empty beds in many hotels and shopping hit by the transport stoppage on a key weekend in the run-up to Christmas.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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