French strike easing off

PARIS - France’s crippling nationwide strike over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform plan began to ease off as the senate Tuesday passed the final legislative bill and Paris began to tally up the costs of two weeks of labour disruptions.

The interior ministry said that five of the 12 refineries which had been hit by strikes were now back in operation. Work stoppages since Oct 12 had forced the closure of petrol refineries and disrupted the country’s transport network.

One in five petrol stations ran out of fuel following a blockade on fuel depots, with the government now expecting the fuel situation to gradually return to normal.

The organization representing fuel suppliers, UFIP, has said it expects supply problems to continue despite the lifting of the blockade on depots Monday.

Rubbish collectors in the city of Marseille were among those back on the job Tuesday.

Nearly all high speed TGV trains were operating out of Paris Tuesday, while an average of six out of 10 trains countrywide were back in use, according to the state-run rail operator.

According to the government, the industrial action cost the country an estimated three billion euros.

Despite the easing of labour actions, some of the country’s more militant trade union leaders have warned that the strike will continue unabated.

“It’s not over,” CGT union secretary general Bernard Thibault said in a television interview late Monday. “It will continue, it will take other forms, the issues of this movement are not closed, whatever transpires over the coming days.”

Students also continued their protests, with several hundred students staging a demonstration outside the senate building and carrying out protest actions at seven universities.

The pension reform bill, meanwhile cleared the last hurdle with the senate, as expected, approving the final version prepared by a mediation committee.

A vote in the National Assembly Wednesday is now considered to be a formality, although the socialist opposition said it was preparing a constitutional suit to challenge the bill.

The reform aims at raising of the earliest retirement age from 60 to 62 by the year 2018. For people who have not paid enough into the state pension fund, the retirement age moves up from 65 to 67.