France’s eight union federations have called for workers to down tools in the 10th day of mass strikes called since the beginning of the pension battle in January.

Here’s what to expect;

Flights – the civil aviation authority has asked airlines to cancel 20 percent of flights going in and out of four airports, due to air traffic controllers striking. The affected airports are; Paris Orly, Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse, and it’s likely to be short-haul flights that are cancelled. Other airports may see knock-on effects including delays while flights going over French airspace may need to be re-routed. Aviation authorities said that expect to see similar level of cancellation on Wednesday as well.

Trains – national and international train services will be “severely disrupted”, warned SNCF. In total 3 in 5 of the normal high-speed TGV services will be running and half of the local TER services. Passengers are advised to cancel or postpone their trip if possible. 

On the Eurostar two trains – one from Paris to London, the other London to Paris – have been cancelled. Other services will run as normal.

City public transport – in Paris, public transport operator RATP says that Metro services will be disrupted and the suburban RER trains ‘severely disrupted’ throughout the day, with a normal or quasi normal service on bus and tram lines.

Metro lines 1, 3bis, 7bis and 9 will run as normal

Line 2 will run as normal but only between 5.30am and 10pm

Lines 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 will all be running limited services and all apart from lines 3 and 7 will be closing early in the evening.

RER lines A and E will run three trains out of five, while line B will run half of its services. RER C will run one train out of three, and RER D will run one train out of five. Transilien lines will run two trains out of three on the H, J, P and U lines, half of services on the K and N lines and three out of five trains on the R line.

Services on the bus, tram and OrlyVal lines are described as normal.

[#MouvementSocial] À la suite d’un préavis appelant à une journée de grève interprofessionnelle le mardi 28 mars, la #RATP prévoit un trafic perturbé sur le réseau Métro et très perturbé sur le RER. Le trafic sera normal sur les réseaux Bus et Tramway. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Akg6bhzuFS

— RATP Group (@RATPgroup) March 26, 2023

In Marseille all Metro and bus lines will be running, but some with fewer services than normal, while in Nice transport bosses say services will be unaffected. In Bordeaux, there will be ‘light disruption’ to city services.

In Rennes, the Metro will run as normal while buses will see some disruption, while Lyon will see only slight disruption.

Traffic and driving – As of Tuesday morning, the transport reporter for Le Figaro reported that there were 250 kilometres of traffic jams in the Paris area, which is “within normal limits”. 

Tourist sites – several of Paris’ larger tourist sites will see limited opening times, including Versailles. On Monday, staff members blocked access to the Louvre, and the museum will also be closed on Tuesday. The Eiffel Tower also published on their website that access to the site will be disrupted on Tuesday.

Fuel shortages – more and more areas of France are reporting shortages of petrol (gasoline) and diesel at filling stations due to ongoing blockades at oil refineries. On a national level, around 15 percent of filling stations are reporting shortages, but in the worst affected areas around one in three stations are running dry.

MAP Where in France have blockades caused fuel shortages

Schools – teaching unions are also calling for strikes, so schools or classes across France may close – it is expected that between 20 and 30 percent of teachers will strike. In other areas, strike action by non-teaching staff may mean the cancellation of after-school clubs, or schools being unable to offer hot lunches.

Waste collection – in Paris there is still uncollected waste piled high on the streets in some areas. While some striking refuse collectors have been forced back to work, others in areas previously unaffected walked out over the weekend while blockades of certain waste depots continue. It is estimated that it will take at least another week to clear up all the uncollected waste. As of Sunday, there were approximately 8,000 tonnes of waste remaining on Paris streets.

Wildcards – more recent strike days have also seen a rising number of surprise or unannounced actions, including blockades at airports and rolling roadblocks on the roads. As the temperature of the dispute rises, don’t be surprised to see more of this type of action.

As of Tuesday morning, some roads were blocked, including a road side junction near Caen blocking access to its ring road, as well as parts of the ring roads around Lorient and Rennes. The area around the Aubervilliers waste collection centre in Seine-Saint-Denis was also blocked on Tuesday morning.

Le périphérique de Caen est bloqué, ce mardi matin, à proximité du centre routier de Mondeville. Environ 150 personnes sont mobilisées #Grèvedu28mars pic.twitter.com/UjKISNjDCi

— Ouest-France 14 (@OuestFrance14) March 28, 2023

Demos – demos have been called in towns and cities across France, most matches setting off in the early afternoon. After trouble flared in several cities during marches last week, expect these to be tightly policed. 

On Tuesday morning, France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin announced that 13,000 members of law enforcement would be mobilised throughout the day, with 5,500 mobilised in Paris alone.

In Paris, the march will begin at 2pm in Place de la République and head towards Nation It will pass by the boulevard Voltaire. During previous processions between these two sites, a secondary route passed through the place de la Bastille (or vice versa when the main route passed through Bastille). There will be road closures along the route and Metro stations close to the start and end points are also likely to be temporarily closed by police. 

A police source told AFP that they expect 650,000-900,000 people to protest nationwide, including up to 100,000 in Paris.

More strikes – unions traditionally make announcements of further strikes or demos in the evening – keep up to date with all the latest with our strike calendar.