France hit by more strikes

Tens of thousands took to the streets in Paris

Several French trade unions have launched a new wave of strikes in protest at the government's plans to reform the pension system.

Tens of thousands of people braved heavy rain to march through the capital Paris and other French cities as teachers, hospital and other public sector workers stopped work.

The protest is part of an ongoing campaign of industrial action against the pension reform plan, which would make employees contribute for longer to claim a full pension.

Schools were worst affected, as around half the country's primary and nursery teachers and 40% of other teachers reportedly joined the stoppage.

Postal workers, bank staff and employees of the state-controlled communications giant France Telecom also joined the strike.

Transport was mostly unaffected, though expectations of disruption led to heavy congestion in Paris.

Last week, the second-largest French union - the CFDT - agreed to support the pensions reform plan after industrial action saw many flights cancelled and train services greatly reduced.

But several other unions said they would continue to protest against the reform plans.

Exam boycott

Teachers have been waging their own protests

Some teachers have threatened to boycott end-of-year exams, a move denounced by Education Minister Luc Ferry as an attempt to take students hostage.

The FSU teachers' union has also criticised the action, but accused the government of aggravating the situation by threatening punitive action.

Some boycotts have already begun. Reports from the southern city of Toulouse said that 100 teachers had blocked the entrance to a high school and were urging colleagues not to supervise exams.

French television said a strike at Perpignan University had forced the authorities there to postpone exams.

Momentum

The tension is building in France as the hard-left unions, who have most power in the public sector, appear to be preparing for a head-to-head confrontation with Mr Raffarin.

Bernard Thibault, who heads the radical CGT union, said this weekend that if the government did not change its pension proposals, then he could rule out no form of action.

Monday's strikes will keep the momentum going before a mass demonstration in Paris next Sunday.

Watching it all has been the opposition Socialist Party, which this weekend held in Dijon its first congress since its electoral defeats a year ago.

To cries of gross opportunism from the government, the Socialists now say they too want the pension reform plan dropped and that they will be marching side-by-side with the demonstrators.