French Strikes Begin to Wane, Though New Protests Planned

A three-week public sector strike began to falter Thursday as limited train service was set to resume in parts of France and key unions held out the prospect of returning to work despite new protests set for the weekend.

Transport chaos still gripped the country after most rail workers voted to continue their stoppage in spite of Prime Minister Alain Juppe’s concessions on pensions and a plan to streamline the indebted state rail company SNCF.

But signs that the strikes were losing momentum began to appear.

The SNCF said limited regional rail services would resume in northern France today as drivers from 19 of 345 SNCF work sites voted to return to work, and the union that represents a third of SNCF drivers called for stoppages to end.

The SNCF said some trains would run from 23 stations in the north. Normal service would also run to and from Belgium.

Strikes have crippled the rail system nationwide in a protest against Juppe’s welfare reform plans and an SNCF restructuring plan that unions fear would threaten jobs, service and benefits.

In Paris, one of 13 Metro lines resumed for the first time since the unrest began before halting 90 minutes later. Six percent of buses ran, just over the recent average.

In other sectors, there were signs of strikers’ weakening resolve. Just 3% of postal workers stayed away, compared to 6% at the end of last week, and 5% of civil servants were on strike, versus 20% last week.