French trains remain strike-bend.

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 9

French trains remain strike-bend.

NZPA-Reuter Paris France’s most serious rail strike in 18 years entered its twelfth day yesterday, forcing the Prime Minister, Jacques Chirac, to scrap plans for a New Year holiday in Tunisia. Union leaders, trying to stay in step with a militant workforce, said they would try to broaden the stoppage, which has halted two out of three main line trains. Leaders of the C.F.D.T. union called on the Government to step in but a senior Minister made it clear that the Government planned to stay out of the dispute, in spite of Mr Chirac’s decision to call off his holiday. “The Government is not planning to get into the front line for the moment,” said Pierre

Mehaignerie, the Minister for Housing, Transport and Planning. Jean Dupuy, head of the State railway authority company, S.N.C.F., offered to meet the unions tomorrow if there was a partial return to work. Mr Dupuy said on Friday that the strike must end before fresh talks on pay and conditions could start. The unions said they would insist on unconditional talks on their main demands, which include the withdrawal of a new salary scale giving greater weight to merit payments. S.N.C.F. said 95 mainline trains would leave Paris today. In many areas extra coaches have been laid on to carry stranded passengers. Six extra overnight trains were scheduled to take army recruits back

to their barracks in eastern France after Christmas leave. Most French ports were disrupted by a seamen’s strike in protest against a Government plan to restructure the merchant fleet and allow shipowners to cut labour costs by registering vessels in the uninhabited Kerguelen islands, near the Antarctic. Unions representing employees in the Metro subway system, which was hit by a three-day stoppage last week, said they would call another tomorrow and Wednesday if Paris’ transport authority failed to meet their demands ih talks today. The Government has said it wants to restrict public sector pay rises to 3 per cent in 1987 to keep down inflation.