Rail, power strife eases in France
NZPA-Reuter Paris With protests multiplying after nearly four weeks of worker unrest, prospects looked brighter for strike-weary France today as rail services edged towards normal and there was talk of a settlement for electrical workers. The S.N.C.F. State railways said trains would run at 70 per cent of the normal schedule today after 49 of 94 depots voted to go back to work. Three-quarters of the Paris buses and underground trains will run, although unions said their strike action would continue today. A pay settlement for
workers at the Stateowned electrical and gas utility was accepted by two unions yesterday, but two other unions that have strong representation said they would decide on the offer’ today. The communist-led C.G.T. union refused the settlement The electrical workers’ strike has led to random power cuts throughout France. It also provoked angry protests, many of them organised by the R.P.P.U.D.F. political party of the Prime Minister, Jacques Chirac, which has called another anti-strike rally for Paris today.
In Marseilles, where rail workers are still out
some 4000 railmen and sympathisers demon-: strated noisily in favour of < the strikes yesterday morning, and about 10,000 people took to the streets for a counter-demon-stration in the afternoon. The dispute has posed a strong challenge to Mr Chirac’s economic policies and weakened the franc against other European currencies. European Finance Ministers will meet in Brussels today and may decide to realign the 1 : European Monetary System, but France's Finance Minister, Edouard Balladur, said yesterday he did not believe that a devaluation of the franc would be justified.
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Press, 12 January 1987, Page 8
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266Rail, power strife eases in France Press, 12 January 1987, Page 8
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