French union calls for ‘massive’ strike action

ONE of France’s biggest unions called yesterday for further “massive” strike action next week against a planned pension reform that has triggered the biggest and most sustained anti-austerity protests in Europe.

A final Senate vote on President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular bill is set to be speeded up to make sure it happens today, a parliamentary source said, following pressure from the government as protests and fuel blockades drag on.

Sarkozy, a conservative who is determined to face down unions and force through an increase in the retirement age, is battling 10-day-old refinery strikes and fuel depot blockades that have dried up a quarter of the nation’s petrol pumps.