PARIS (AFP) — France's crippling train strike began to peter out Thursday, as more rail employees voted to return to work and managers predicted a resumption of normal services over the weekend.
After nine days of hardship for travellers and commuters, the biggest challenge yet to President Nicolas Sarkozy's programme appeared to have run its course -- with his contested reform of so-called "special" pensions systems still in place.
The breakthrough came after the opening of conciliation talks on Wednesday between unions and the management of the state-owned SNCF rail company and the RATP Paris metro operator.
The government has given a month for the talks to produce a deal acceptable to the unions, but has said it will not yield on the core of its reform plans.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon saluted the unions' "responsible attitude" in calling for a return to work and praised the "patience" of the public.
"The French have been painfully penalised by these strikes. Many have been through unacceptable misery. Some have made incredible efforts to get to work," Fillon said.
SNCF said there will be a progressive return to normality over the weekend, with TGV high-speed rail services between Paris and the regions at full capacity on Friday.
In Paris RATP said 70 percent of metro trains will run Friday and 75 percent of buses.
Out of 45 regional workers' assemblies held Thursday morning, 42 voted to return to work, according to SNCF. The proportion of strikers dwindled to 14.5 percent at SNCF and 11.7 percent at RATP, according to company figures.
The biggest rail union -- the General Labour Confederation (CGT) -- refused to issue instructions to members, but one of its leaders, Didier Le Reste, said of Wednesday's negotiations that "the first points have been scored.... There has been a certain amount of progress."
Triggered by plans to reform railway workers' "special" pensions system, the strike has cost France some 400 million euros (590 million dollars) a day, according to government figures. The head of the employers' federation MEDEF, Laurence Parisot, said it was a "disaster".
Sarkozy has vowed to stand by the essence of his reform, which would increase contribution periods for beneficiaries of "special" pensions. Currently they can retire two and half years before everyone else.
But unions have been told there is leeway on other issues, such as pay rises and top-up pension schemes, and the management of SNCF has put on the table a 90-million-euro a year financial package of inducements.
Most unions appear to have accepted the principle of a realignment of the "special" pensions systems. Only the hardline Sud union, which has links to the Trotskyist movement, continued to reject any change to the status quo.
However a statement from the RATP branch of Sud said the union leadership was continuing the strike "without any great conviction, and only out of respect for those members who are still pursuing the action." It said it could join the round-table talks once the strike is definitively over.
On Wednesday tensions were heightened after saboteurs set fire to cabling on TGV lines in what appeared to be a coordinated series of attacks. Sarkozy called for the perpetrators to be punished "with extreme severity".
A poll showed that the president is winning the battle of public opinion, with 68 percent believing the strike is "not justified" and 69 percent hoping that the government "does not give way to the unions' claims".
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