Strikes by French transport and energy workers caused widespread disruption for the second time in a month yesterday in a protest over pensions that is the biggest test yet of President Nicolas Sarkozy's reform drive.
Train services were disrupted and power output and gas supplies reduced. Some stoppages are expected today but there were signs they might not drag on too long after unions and government agreed a compromise over negotiating methods.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the government was writing to the unions outlining the deal, with the aim of "stopping a strike that is not useful, will not produce results for anybody and which is annoying millions of French people".
Mr Sarkozy has broad public support for the reform, which aims to bring generous pension provisions for about 500,000 public sector workers in line with those of other workers ahead of a general pension reform next year.
The streets of Paris heaved with mopeds, bikes, cars and pedestrians as commuters tried to get to and from work without the usually efficient metro and bus system.
"I have nurses, carers and other workers who do a very hard job and they don't have special pensions," said Gerard Alaux, a nursing home owner who was walking six kilometres to work because his metro line was not working.
"We can't avoid pension reform in this day and age."
Only a handful of trains ran yesterday and Paris's transport system operated reduced services. But some lines were less affected than predicted and worker participation was down compared to the previous strike October 18.
The transport strike will continue today but the SNCF rail operator forecast an increase in traffic and the CFDT union said its Paris transport workers would return to work.
The Paris-London rail link Eurostar will run as normal.
Strikes by energy workers cut about 12 per cent of output at EDF nuclear plants and blocked ships and input at the Fos-sur-Mer gas terminal yesterday.
Most power workers are expected return to work today but the Fos-sur-Mer protest will continue until tomorrow.
Several thousand union members marched in central Paris but their protest seemed more subdued than in October. In a separate protest some 30 universities were blocked by students angry over education reform.
Mr Sarkozy has said he will not back down on the main points of his plan to end the "special regimes" introduced last century to let workers with jobs deemed especially arduous to retire after 37.5 years of contributions, compared to 40 years for others.
Most unions have also stood firm, promising open-ended strikes and raising the prospect that the disruption could drag into next week when civil servants are due to stage a 24-hour stoppage to protest at state sector job cuts.
But both sides indicated yesterday they did not want a lasting conflict, with Mr Sarkozy accepting a negotiating plan put forward on Tuesday by Bernard Thibault, the head of the most powerful CGT union.
"The President thinks there is a chance for the spirit of responsibility to find a way out of the conflict," said Mr Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon.