Strikes cause transport chaos in France and Germany
BERLIN (AFP) — France and Germany were gripped by transport chaos on Thursday as rail unions shut down their national networks over pay claims and opposition to pension reforms.
Millions of French commuters were left stranded or forced to drive to work and the disruption looked set to continue after unions at the state rail company and the Paris metro operator voted to extend the strike until Friday.
Just 150 of the usual 700 high-speed trains were running and those commuter trains that did operate were packed with commuters and tempers flared. Roads into major French cities were choked with traffic.
However, unions said fewer transport workers took part in the strikes than on Wednesday.
Neighbouring Germany had to contend with the biggest strike in the history of its rail system as passenger train drivers joined freight drivers already on strike since Wednesday, heavily disrupting Europe's biggest economy.
Only two-thirds of long-distance trains were running, most of them high-speed trains, and fewer than half of all commuter services were operating.
Some 40 percent of freight services were affected across the country, with the capital Berlin and Hamburg, one of Europe's biggest ports, bearing the brunt of the work stoppages.
National rail operator Deutsche Bahn said the strike was costing it 50 million euros (73 million dollars) a day.
While the impact of the strikes was similar in Germany and France, the background to them was different.
The strikes in France are a test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reform pension allowances for railworkers and other sectors.
As the transport strike took hold, students stepped up a two-week action against government moves to reform universities. Lawyers and court officials have also launched protests against court closures and even Bank of France employees said they would join a civil servants' strike next week.
In contrast, the strikes in Germany were called by a single union representing train drivers who are demanding a 31-percent pay rise and a separate contract from other rail workers who have already agreed a wage deal.
National rail operator Deutsche Bahn took out full-page newspaper advertisements accusing the GDL union of setting a dangerous precedent for an economy that is buoyant after several difficult years.
"You want any minority in this country that does not even represent three percent of the staff to be able to blackmail a company and an entire country with its own separate wage agreement," the company said.
The German strike is scheduled to last until 0100 GMT on Saturday and there seemed little hope of an agreement to prevent further action after that.
In a move likely to heighten tensions between the two sides, Deutsche Bahn said it would sue the union for five million euros (7.3 million dollars) over a warning strike it staged in July. The railway operator said it was called while an earlier contract of pay and conditions was still in force.
GDL warned Deutsche Bahn to improve the 10-percent pay rise it has offered by Monday or face strikes until Christmas, but the rail operator said it would not be forced into "unconditional capitulation".
In France, hopes of a breakthrough rose when Sarkozy agreed to a union proposal to hold three-way talks between the government, transport companies and unions.
"We are working to ensure that this strike does not last because it is extremely painful for travellers," said Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon.
The unions, voting to continue their action to Friday, said they wanted more details of the new government proposals.
But concerns that France was hurtling toward a protracted strike and a possible repeat of a 1995 showdown eased when Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand offered to hold a new round of talks over a period of a month.
Three weeks of strikes and demonstrations in 1995 forced the government of then president Jacques Chirac to withdraw a planned reform of the "special" pensions that allow some public employees to retire at 50.
