FRANCE FACES NEW WAVE OF STRIKES
Baku, September 23 (AZERTAC). French unions are holding another day of strikes and street protests against President Nicolas Sarkozy`s plans to overhaul pensions and raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, according to BBC.
More than 230 demonstrations are planned, and rail, air and urban transport systems have been disrupted.
Organisers are hoping to better the turnout on 7 September, when more than one million workers took part.
Mr Sarkozy says the reforms are needed to tackle France`s budget deficit.
The pension reform bill has already been passed by France`s lower house of parliament. It will be debated from 5 October by the upper house, the Senate, where it is expected to pass comfortably.
Disruptions to transport services began on Wednesday night. By early Thursday, only one in two high-speed TGV trains were running, 77 regional train lines were affected, and Paris` urban RER train service was also affected.
The Paris metro has been running at about three-quarters of normal service.
About half the flights at Orly airport outside Paris were expected be cancelled, as well as 40% at the capital`s Charles de Gaulle airport, and 40% at other airports throughout the country, said the country`s civil aviation authority. Most international air and rail links were not affected, however.
In addition, one in four teachers is on strike, the government said.
The head of the CFDT union, Francois Chereque, said protester numbers would be "massive".
"We`ll see if there are more people [than on 7 September]," Mr Chereque told RMC radio, "but in the greater Paris region, for instance, more coaches have been hired to come to demonstrate in central Paris."
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