French rail workers begin nationwide strike

Paris April 3 (IANS) Employees of France s state-owned rail company SNCF on Tuesday began a three-month strike over President Emmanuel Macron s reform plans.

The reforms include opening lines to competition in the public sector and stripping newly recruited rail workers of a special status guaranteeing jobs for life and early retirement reports Efe news.

For a total of 36 days of strike that was set to last until the end of June the rail workers were expected to alternate between two days of strike action and three at work.

Although the cancellation of international lines only affected 25 per cent globally there were no journeys scheduled on Tuesday to Spain (Barcelona-Paris Barcelona-Lyon Barcelona-Toulouse and Madrid-Marseille).

The strike coincided with the fourth round of strike action by Air France which started in February over salary increases.

--IANS
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