PARIS, Nov 15 (Agencies): Transport workers shut down most rail traffic in France for a second day Thursday, frustrating passengers forced to postpone trips and Parisians who had to walk, bike or skate to workThe government awaited a response to its offer to negotiate a way out of thestrikes - the first major challenge to President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to modernize France with vast reforms.
Sarkozy wants the strike to end "as quickly as possible," his spokesman said Wednesday night, and offered company by company talks in the presence of a government representative to find a solution.
Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand, in a letter to seven union chiefs, said negotiations should commence "rapidly" and be completed in a month.
However, authorities made clear that the core principle guiding a plan to reform special retirement benefits for transport and utilities workers, in place for more than 60 years, could not be touched.
"The president of the Republic has always considered that there is more to be gained for all parties in negotiation than in conflict," presidential spokesman David Martinon said. The strikes "must end as quickly as possible in the interest of passengers."
But the head of the Workers Force union, Jean-Claude Mailly, said that was not good enough. "Everything must be on the table," he said Wednesday night.
French transport on strike for 2nd day
FE Team | Published: November 16, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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