France entered its eighth day of strikes on Thursday and the industrial action shows no signs of abating – not even for the holiday season
A major labour union said on Thursday there would be no break in transport strikes over the Christmas period unless the government backed down on pension reform.
“No Christmas break unless the government comes to its senses”, Laurent Brun, head of CGT’s railway branch, said on French radio Franceinfo.
“There is a great determination to go all the way. A few weeks of pain are better than a life of misery – that’s what we are defending,” Brun continued.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday that French people needed to work two years longer to get a full pension.
The plans drew a hostile response from trade unions who said they would step up strike action to force an about-turn.
