French rail workers’ strike raises Euro fears

Paris, May 31 

Striking railway workers disrupted transport throughout France just 11 days before Euro 2016, as President Francois Hollande refused to back down over a labour dispute that has sparked months of protests.

The transport strike adds to problems still being caused by last week's blockade of fuel depots which left motorists queuing at many petrol stations.

The rolling train strike called by the powerful CGT union affected around half of national and regional train services.

That will be followed by a strike on the Paris Metro network from Thursday and Air France pilots have voted in principle for a lengthy strike at some point in June, when Euro 2016 is in full swing.

The protests and strikes have cast a shadow over the European football championships, which are expected to attract millions of foreign visitors to France when the tournament kicks off on June 10.

Neighbouring Belgium also faced growing disruption Tuesday from a public sector workers' strike.

But despite three months of stoppages and sometimes violent demonstrations against labour reforms, Hollande again refused to bend to the unions' demands to scrap the legislation.

The measures, which would make it easier to hire and fire employees, “will not be withdrawn”, a defiant Hollande told Sud Ouest newspaper.

“The text assures the best performance for businesses and offers new rights to employees,” he said.

“I consider it necessary to see it through to its conclusion.” Hollande said that despite the predicted transport chaos, the biggest threat to Euro “remains terrorism”. 

Meanwhile, the France's government moved on Tuesday to calm protests against labour law reform, announcing a pay rise for school teachers and pledging to speed up reorganisation talks at the SNCF railways.

The Socialist government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls is urging the hardline CGT union that is leading a rail strike to propose ways out of the confrontation over a labour reform bill that will make hiring and firing easier. President Francois Hollande says he will not back down on key provisions of the proposed reform. 

Some 90,000 police and security teams are being mobilised to keep fans safe during a month-long soccer fiesta. France remains under emergency rules after attacks in which Islamist militants killed 130 people in Paris last November. — Agencies