French postal and telecom staff to join strike
French postal and telecoms unions said on Sunday they would join a planned public sector protest on Tuesday as a transport strike headed into a fifth day amid a warning the action could start to hit factory output.
The railway unions, who are protesting at planned pension reforms, are due to announce their next steps late on Sunday.
Despite a tentative offer of talks from SNCF and the government, the rail strike is expected to continue until Tuesday, when civil servants and teachers are due to march in cities across the country in their own protest over pay and conditions.
The CFTC union representing staff at La Poste and France Telecom said on Sunday it would join Tuesday’s day of action, as has one union at airline Air France.
An opinion poll for Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday found most French people believe President Nicolas Sarkozy was best placed to tackle the strike, but the majority was slim.
Another poll for Journal du Dimanche found political support for the president down to 55 percent, a drop of four points in the month and his lowest score since being elected in May.
Union leaders are in a dilemma too, because their members have so far signalled little willingness to negotiate.
The rail unions oppose plans to scrap special pension privileges that allow some 500,000 public sector workers to retire on full pensions after paying contributions for only 37-1/2 years, instead of 40 years for other workers.
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