French rail workers disrupt train services for 7th day this month

18 Apr, 2018 07:49 / Updated 6 years ago

Striking French rail workers disrupted train services for the seventh day this month on Wednesday. They spurned government calls to end the industrial action over reforms at the state-owned SNCF railway company, Reuters said. The rolling strikes, are due to continue until the end of June. The actions entered a new, more testing phase for unions a day after the parliament’s lower house approved the railway reform bill they are fighting. “Unions are free to do as they see fit… but a majority of French people want this reform,” Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud told France 2 television. “There comes a time when you need to bring an end to the strikes.” All four major unions are contesting a reform which is the biggest since the nationalization of the railways in 1937. The plan is seen as a test of President Emmanuel Macron’s determination to pursue a far broader raft of economic and social reforms during a term that runs to 2022.