By DPA
Paris : Schools and post offices were closed, planes were late, newsstands were empty of newspapers and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities throughout France Tuesday as civil servants carried out a 24-hour strike to demand higher wages and fewer job cuts.
In addition, train service throughout the country and public transport in the greater Paris area were disrupted for a seventh consecutive day as unions continued their strike to protest a government pension reform proposal.
About one-third of the country’s 5.2 million civil service workers took part in the job walkout, the Civil Service Ministry said, with public education especially affected.
Unions said about 65 percent of all primary school teachers and 58 percent of secondary school teachers stayed away from their jobs Tuesday, while the Education Ministry put the number at about 40 percent.
In addition, a strike by some unions representing air traffic controllers led to flight delays at both Paris airports and the cancellation of some flights, especially those originating in Spain, the French Civil Aviation Authority said.
Because of a strike by photo-engravers and delivery workers, no national newspapers were available newsstands or delivered to subscribers on Tuesday.
According to recent surveys, a majority of the French public either openly supports or sympathizes with the striking civil servants, who are demanding that the government act to improve their dwindling purchasing power and withdraw its plans to drastically reduce the number of civil service workers.
In the biggest challenge yet to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambitious reform programme, hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets in many French cities to support the striking civil servants.
The largest protest march took place in Paris where, unions said, some 70,000 people demonstrated. According to the CGT trade union, about 700,000 people took part in national demonstrations. Police figures were considerably lower.
The civil service strike coincided with the seventh day of a job action by employees for the national rail network SNCP and the RATP urban transit system serving Paris and its suburbs.
One of two scheduled high-speed TGV trains was in operation on Tuesday, the SNCP said, with regional train service also disrupted.
About one in three or four metro trains were in service on Tuesday in Paris, with some 40 per cent of buses operating in the city, the RATP said.
Transportation is expected to improve slightly on Wednesday, when negotiations are scheduled to be held between union representatives, government officials and SNCF management to find a compromise to the plan by the government to do away with some pension privileges for an estimated 500,000 workers.
Budget Minister Eric Woerth told France Inter radio Tuesday that the transportation strike has already cost the country 300 to 400 million euros (436 to 582 million dollars).
After being strangely quiet throughout the labour conflict, and preferring to let his ministers present the government’s position, Sarkozy addressed the strikes directly on Tuesday.
In an address to the country’s mayors, he said that France had waited too long to initiate much-needed reforms and that he and his government would “not give in or back down.”