Civil Servants Join French Strikes

Hundreds of thousands participate in one-day work action
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 20, 2007 6:38 AM CST
Civil Servants Join French Strikes
The empty Perrache railway is seen through a glass widnow, in Lyon, central France, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. Civil servants, from teachers to postal workers, began a mass walkout across France on Tuesday, the seventh day of a transport strike that has caused havoc on French rails, but the government...   (Associated Press)

As the transit strike in France entered its seventh day today, hundreds of thousands of civil servants staged a one-day strike of their own to protest job cuts and demand pay increases. The walkout by teachers, nurses, air-traffic controllers and others further paralyzed the nation and increased pressure on President Sarkozy, AFP reports.

Talks are scheduled to take place tomorrow between the rail unions and government officials, the Guardian reports. Sarkozy, normally omnipresent in the media, has not made a public appearance for days. A top adviser to the president told the Guardian that he is seeking dialogue: "Sarkozy has not wanted to force it through à la Thatcher." (More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)

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