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French workers will step up their protests against pension reforms next week, a
top trade union leader says.
Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT workers' confederation, made the statement as
union leaders prepared to discuss plans to hold a seventh day of national
protests across France.
Meanwhile rolling strikes are continuing against government plans to raise the
pension age from 60 to 62.
Blockades of refineries and fuel depots have led to fuel shortages.
President Sarkozy has called for an end to the disruption. "This disorder which
is aimed at paralysing the country could have consequences for jobs by damaging
the normal running of economic activity," he said on Wednesday.
Stepping up action
Mr Thibault told RMC radio on Thursday: "The government remains intransigent.
We need to continue with massive action as soon as next week... We will ask the
unions for strong action that will allow people to stop work and go on to the
streets."
In the southern port-city of Marseille, there is no public transport, trains
have been delayed or cancelled and the ports blockaded, and the nine-day
rubbish collectors' strike means several thousand tonnes of refuse is piling up
on the city's streets.
Continue reading the main story
At the scene
Matthew Price BBC News, Marseille
Marseille is becoming the waste-bin of France. At least that's what some of the
people mutter.
If the wind is blowing fiercely enough off the Mediterranean - as it does at
this time of year - you can just about avoid the stench of rotting fruit and
veg.
But if it isn't, a walk along the main shopping thoroughfare can leave you with
a lung full of bad air.
The rubbish hasn't been cleared off the streets for over a week now. Great
piles stand against shop windows.
People talk of the rats running out from the piles of rubbish. One shopkeeper,
standing outside his electrical shop, says he's concerned about disease taking
hold.
The top central government official in the area, Michel Sappin, said: "There is
a real danger to the safety and health of Marseille."
The unions' tactics are clear, says the BBC's Matthew Price in the southern
port city - to cause discomfort, if not chaos, and to create uncertainty across
the country.
They believe that keeps the pressure on the government to change its retirement
plans but, adds our correspondent, it also risks alienating the public, who so
far according to surveys still support the strikers.
The Senate is due later this week to vote on the pension reforms - aimed at
raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65
to 67.
The lower house has already approved the bill.
Electricity imports
Ahead of the vote, correspondents say unions are stepping up the pressure on a
10th day of refinery strikes, go-slows on motorways and work stoppages at
regional airports.
Continue reading the main story
Pension protest numbers
(source: unions)
The BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris says there is a precedent for such a move.
In 2006, student protests forced the government to retreat on the controversial
youth labour scheme, even after then President Jacques Chirac had signed it
into law.
Some unions want to continue the protests whatever happens in parliament but
that will depend on public support and the resolve of their members, many of
whom have gone without pay for days even weeks, our correspondent adds.
About a quarter of France's service stations had no fuel on Wednesday, and
strikes also stopped work at two of France's three liquefied natural gas (LNG)
terminals.
On Wednesday, the country began importing electricity as the wave of protest
action took hold of energy supplies.
At least 12 of France's 58 reactors were shut for maintenance but the unions
say production has been cut at four others.
As well as the general strikes and protests, there have been six days of
co-ordinated action in the past six weeks that have brought as many as three
million people to the streets.